JWST Science Simulations: Galaxy Formation

Supercomputer simulations of planeratry evolution. Part 1: Turbulent Molecular Cloud Nebula with Protostellar ObjectsThe Advanced Visualization Laboratory (AVL) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) collaborated with NASA and Drs. Alexei Kritsuk and Michael Norman to visualize a computational data set of a turbulent molecular cloud nebula forming protostellar objects and accretion disks approximately 100 AU in diameter, on the order of the size of our solar system. AVL used its Amore software to interpolate and render the Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) simulation generated from ENZO code for cosmology and astrophysics. The AMR simulation was developed by Drs. Kritsuk and Norman at the Laboratory for Computational Astrophysics. The AMR simulation generated more than 2 terabytes of data and follows star formation processes in a self-gravitating turbulent molecular cloud with a dynamic range of half-a-million in linear scale, resolving both the large-scale filamentary structure of the molecular cloud (~5 parsec) and accretion disks around emerging young protostellar objects (down to 2 AU). Part 2: Protoplanetary Disk and Planet FormationThe Advanced Visualization Laboratory (AVL) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) collaborated with NASA and Dr. Aaron Boley to visualize the 16,000 year evolution of a young, isolated protoplanetary disk which surrounds a newly-formed protostar. The disk forms spiral arms and a dense clump as a result of gravitational collapse. Dr. Aaron Boley developed this computational model to investigate the response of young disks to mass accretion from their surrounding envelopes, including the direct formation of planets and brown dwarfs through gravitational instability. The main formation mechanism for gas giant planets has been debated within the scientific community for over a decade. One of these theories is s lifetime, at large radii, and through the disk instability mechanism. After the main accretion phase is over, gas giants can form in the inner disk, over a period of a million years, through the core accretion mechanism, which researchers are addressing in other studies.Thanks to R. H. Durisen, L. Mayer, and G. Lake for comments and discussions relating to this research. This study was supported in part by the University of Zurich, Institute for Theoretical Physics, and by a Swiss Federal Grant. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center.AVL at NCSA, University of Illinois. JWST Science Simulations: Nebula Tour 1.This visualization shows a tour of a turbulent molecular cloud forming multiple protoplanetary disks. Credits: NCSA, NASA, A. Kritsuk, M. Norman JWST Science Simulations: Nebula Tour 2This visualization shows a tour of a turbulent molecular cloud forming multiple protoplanetary disks. Credits: NCSA, NASA, A. Kritsuk, M. Norman JWST Science Simulations: Nebula Tour 3.This visualization shows a tour of a turbulent molecular cloud forming multiple protoplanetary disks. Credits: NCSA, NASA, A. Kritsuk, M. Norman JWST Science Simulations: Nebula Tour 4.This visualization shows a tour of a turbulent molecular cloud forming multiple protoplanetary disks. Credits: NCSA, NASA, A. Kritsuk, M. Norman JWST Science Simulations: Protoplanetary Disc. This visualization shows a visual tour of a nebula, a turbulent molecular cloud with multiple protostellar objects, to a close-up view of a single protoplanetary disk entering a phase of violent instability, which forms clumps that may become planets or brown dwarfs. Drs. Alexei Kritsuk and Michael Norman provided the computational data of the turbulent molecular cloud. Dr. Aaron Boley provided the computational data for the isolated protoplanetary disk. The Advanced Visualization Laboratory (AVL) at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) collaborated with NASA and Drs. Alexei Kritsuk, Michael Norman, and Aaron Boley to visualize and transition between two computational data sets. AVL rendered the data sets using in-house software. Credits: NCSA, NASA, A. Kritsuk, M. Norman, A. Boley JWST Science Simulations: Solar System Birth. A visualization of the evolution of a young, isolated protoplanetary disk over 16,000 years to study planetary formation. Credits: NCSA, NASA, A. Boley JWST Science Simulations:

See 13.7 billion years of cosmic evolution in under a minute. This supercomputer simulation shows the formation of galaxies similar to the Milky Way over 13.7 billion years. When galaxies get close, gravity pulls them together, causing a collision. Following a collision, stars and other material begin settling into orbits around a new galactic core. Millions or even billions of years may pass before galaxies merge completely into a single larger galaxy.