Simulations of the formation of galaxies during the reionization – EMMA

The Emma project aims at investigating the formation of galaxies and the buildup of the large-scale structures in the Universe during reionisation. It will participate to the theoretical effort that accompanies the growth of the observational knowledge driven by existing or forthcoming facilities such as HST, JWST, LOFAR or SKA. For this purpose, it will rely on the development of a cosmological simulation code that handles collisionless matter, hydrodynamics and radiative transfer in a self-consistent way and accelerated by GPUs (Graphics processing Units). Using these devices, we aim at literally cancel the cost of adding radiation to the modeling and be able to produce highly resolved simulations with a large number of elements. With this tool, the project will first explore the relation between the processes at play during the reionisation and the statistical properties at high z (>5) of the galaxies (like the luminosity function, the SFR) and the intergalactic medium (e.g. neutral state, amount of UV radiation). Second, it will also investigate the imprint of the past local reionisation on the properties seen today of the satellites in Milky Way–like galaxies (such as their stellar mass or their radial distribution). During this project, the products of the simulation will be distributed thanks to the development of a remote access tool that takes advantage of existing Virtual Observatory solutions.