Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
This Supercomputer Is Generating Millions of Universes
How does one study the formation of a galaxy? Or the formation of the oldest thing known to exist, the universe? There are many ways, including powerful telescopes both on land and in space. But Peter Behroozi, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona Steward Observatory, and his team, came up with a different method: generating millions of different universes on a supercomputer.
Examining all the generated universes together, Behroozi's team hoped, would show the likelihood of different physical theories of universal and galactic formation. The team wanted to specifically focus on the role that mysterious dark matter plays in galaxy formation, as well as how galaxies evolve over time and how they give birth to stars.
"On the computer, we can create many different universes and compare them to the actual one, and that lets us infer which rules lead to the one we see," said Behroozi, the study's lead author, in a press statement.
The virtual universes, each known as an "Ex Machina," feature a system that would put any open-world video game to shame. They contain 12 million galaxies and start 400 million years after the Big Bang, evolving all to the present day.
The tests challenged commonly held ideas on the formation of galaxies.
[...] "We took the past 20 years of astronomical observations and compared them to the millions of mock universes we generated," Behroozi explained. "We pieced together thousands of pieces of information to see which ones matched. Did the universe we created look right? If not, we'd go back and make modifications, and check again."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @01:32AM
Why am I suddenly hearing Super Mario music in my head while I read this article?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday August 18 2019, @01:32AM
Suck it! BITCHES!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @01:55AM (6 children)
What if they create a universe populated with Hitlers, and the Hitler scientists figure out how to get into our universe.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @02:20AM (1 child)
Then they'll fix up the place.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @02:28AM
Finally, a perfect universe, freedom from Jews!
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @02:42AM (2 children)
Yeah our world has enough socialists already.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @02:48AM (1 child)
Our nation needs more national socialists.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @03:14AM
Don't worry portland is on top of it.
(Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Sunday August 18 2019, @03:12AM
It's okay. The things they write about in Popular Mechanics never happen anyway.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 18 2019, @07:05AM
That computer came from the Hugo Awards estate. The new breed of writers auctioned the computer off, and the Sad Puppies are suing to have it returned. The current regime at Hugo says there has to be less science in science fiction, and more feelings, so this is where we're at.
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Sunday August 18 2019, @12:25PM
Sounds like the lowest resolution simulation in the history of computing