A Supercomputer Just Created the Largest Universe Simulation Ever

Last calendar month , a team of investigator put the then - fastest supercomputer in the world to work on a rather declamatory dilemma : the nature of the universe ’s atomic and dark matter .

The supercomputer is called Frontier ; a team of researchers recently used it to execute the expectant astrophysical simulation of the macrocosm yet . The supercomputer ’s simulation size of it corresponds to surveys take by large telescope observatories , which to this point had not been possible . The calculations undergird the simulations offer a new foundation for cosmological simulations of the universe ’s matter content , from everything we see to the inconspicuous stuff that only interacts with ordinary matter gravitationally .

What exactly did the Frontier supercomputer calculate?

Frontier is an exascale - class supercomputer , capable of run a quintillion ( one billion - billion ) computation per second . In other words , a juiced simple machine worthy of the immense undertaking that is simulating the physics and evolution of both the known and unidentified universe .

“ If we want to bonk what the population is up to , we need to simulate both of these things : gravity as well as all the other aperient including hot gas , and the formation of stars , black holes and galaxies , ” said Salman Habib , the division director for computational science at Argonne National Laboratory , in an Oak Ridge National Laboratoryrelease . “ The astrophysical ‘ kitchen sink ’ so to speak . ”

The issue we know about — the poppycock we can see , from black holes , to molecular cloud , to planets and moon — only accounts for about 5 % of the universe ’s content , according to CERN . A more sizable lump of the macrocosm is only deduce by gravitative effects it seems to have on the seeable ( or atomic ) matter . That inconspicuous clump is called sorry matter , a catch - all term for a identification number of particles and objects that could be responsible for for about27 % of the universe . The remaining 68 % of the universe of discourse ’s makeup is attributed to dingy get-up-and-go , which is creditworthy for the accelerating pace of the universe ’s expansion .

A sample of simulations showing a model of the expanding universe (left) and a zoomed-in view of tracer particles (right).

A sample of simulations showing a model of the expanding universe (left) and a zoomed-in view of tracer particles (right).Image: Argonne National Laboratory, U.S Dept of Energy

How does Frontier change our understanding of the universe?

“ If we were to simulate a big chunk of the population surveyed by one of the full-grown telescopes such as the Rubin Observatory in Chile , you ’re talking about calculate at huge clod of time — 1000000000 of old age of expansion , ” Habib say . “ Until recently , we could n’t even suppose doing such a gravid simulation like that except in the gravity - only approximation . ”

In the top graphic , the left over range of a function shows the evolution of the expanding cosmos over billions of year in a region containing a clustering of galaxies , and the correct image shows the shaping and movement of galaxy over time in one section of that image .

“ It ’s not only the gauze-like size of the forcible demesne , which is necessary to make unmediated comparison to New sight observation enabled by exascale computing , ” said Bronson Messer , the conductor of science for Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility , in a laboratoryrelease . “ It ’s also the added strong-arm realism of including the baryons and all the other dynamic physics that makes this simulation a rightful tour de forcefulness for Frontier . ”

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Frontier is no longer the fastest supercomputer in the world

Frontier is one of several exascale supercomputer used by the Department of Energy , andcomprisesmore than 9,400 CPUs and over 37,000 GPUs . It domiciliate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory , though the late simulations were run by Argonne researchers .

The Frontier results were possible thanks to the supercomputer ’s computer code , the Hardware / Hybrid Accelerated Cosmology Code ( or HACC ) . The fifteen - year - old computer code was updated as part of the DOE ’s $ 1.8 billion , eight - yearExascale Computing Project , which concluded this twelvemonth .

The simulations ’ resolution were announced last month , when Frontier was still the flying supercomputer in the world . But shortly after , Frontier was overshadow by the El Capitan supercomputer as the world ’s degraded . El Capitan is control at 1.742 quintillion computation per second gear , with a total peak performance of 2.79 quintillion calculation per second , according to a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratoryrelease .

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