Lumina cosmic simulation models early universe evolution

Researchers have introduced Lumina, a massive cosmic simulation designed to model two billion years of early universe evolution. Spanning a volume of approximately 1.5 billion light-years, the simulation is over 100 times larger than previous comparable models, allowing scientists to study large-scale cosmic structures while maintaining the resolution necessary to analyze individual galaxies.

Developed through a collaboration involving scientists from MIT, Harvard, and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, Lumina tracks the coupled evolution of galaxies, dark matter, gas, and black holes. A key feature is its ability to model the reionization of hydrogen and helium, processes where radiation from the first stars and growing black holes stripped electrons from atoms. This allows researchers to observe how these energetic processes shaped the current state of the universe.

The simulation was executed on the Frontier supercomputer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, utilizing over 15,000 GPUs and the equivalent of 100,000 processor cores. Lumina is intended to serve as a testing ground to compare theoretical predictions with observations from advanced instruments like the James Webb Space Telescope and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.