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Spectacles of sheer size and complexity often find themselves
the objects of our fascination, especially when it comes to
discovery and advancement of the species. For evidence, we need
only to look at the verve with which scores risk life and limb
to mount Everest, or the recent all-out assault on cracking the
human genome. And while the challenges involved in uncovering
a giant's secrets are daunting, the potential rewards are great.
In astronomical research, one of the waiting behemoths is the
study of galaxy cluster formation and collision, and a better
understanding of the fundamentals of the universe is the
promise it holds.
Galaxy clusters are tri-component entities, consisting of the galaxies themselves (a very small fraction of the total mass of the clusters); the intracluster medium (ICM), a hot, diffuse gas (10-30 % of total mass); and dark matter, which makes up the bulk of the total mass of the clusters. (Dark matter cannot be directly observed by scientists, but its existence and quantity is hypothesized by the gravitational effects observed in the cluster. In other words, the behavior of the cluster and its components cannot be accurately described by the proximity of observable matter, so there MUST be other, unseen matter in the system which exerts forces.) Clusters of galaxies are interesting in their own right, but scientists are learning a great deal by studying the collision of these clusters, and what happens afterward. One phenomenon of particular interest is the existence of cooling flows. Cooling flows arise from the density gradient in the ICM (more dense in the cluster center), causing it to dissipate its energy and cooling several million degrees in the process. In recently merged clusters, however, it has been observed that these flows do not exits. Scientists have postulated that the kinetic energy introduced during collision serves to override the flows and have begun investigating this idea. As in many other fields, todays workhorse computers and sophisticated algorithms have made this problem accessible to simulation scientists. Next week, we'll take a look at how scientists at the University of Chicago are using computational methods to attack this exciting project. In the meantime, a full-length article on the subject can be found at http://www.npaci.edu/enVision/v15.2/rick...
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The copyright of the article Colliding Galaxy Clusters
in Scientific Computing is owned by Adam Hughes. Permission to republish Colliding Galaxy Clusters
in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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