Robert
C. Berrington
Department of Physics & Astronomy
University of Wyoming
Haldan
N. Cohn
Department of Astronomy
Indiana University, Bloomington
Phyllis
Lugger
Department of Astronomy
Indiana University, Bloomington
It is very apparent that on certain scales the universe is inhomogeneous and anisotropic. On what scales did the universe first begin to form these non-uniform and anisotropic structures? As one of the largest tracers of large scale structure in the universe, galaxy cluters were origionally thought to be gravitationally relaxed systems. However, recent evidence indicates this is not the case. Are the observed galaxy cluster in the process of accreting other structures? And how do galaxy clusters come to look the way they do today?
We perform n-body simulations of these extremely large stellar systems with the hopes of addressing the previous questions. By modeling these systems we are able to closely study their structre and dynamics. First, we accurately represent the initial configuration of a galaxy cluster. By turning on time and gravity, we watch what happens. First we watch the systems in isolation, then we allow two clusters to interact. By studying the simulations we are able to closely follow the the characteristics of each galaxy within each cluter and each cluster itself. By closely following development of each galaxy within the cluter we gain an insight to how these systems evolve. With this insight, we hope to answer wether galaxy cluters are relaxed systems or if they are in the process of accreting smaller substructures.
The simulations we are running on new SCAAMP facility are designed to test the thesis that a galaxy cluster is an amalgamation of smaller subclusters. The SCAAMP facility will allow us to run simulations that are larger and more accurate than previously allowed. We will gain a better understanding of the effects of accreting structures on galaxy clusters. The ultimate hope is to combine with observational data taken with the WIYN Observatory to see if indeed galaxy cluters show evidence for this substructure.
We have used several scientific visulation tools to view our simulations. Our intentions is to use the new CAVE facility to study these cluters. The CAVE is a unique facility which allows a user to interact with the simulations in a realistic 3-dimensional environment. With this facility we are able to study the structure of these clusters throughly. An example of the simulations that we have performed are: