Bolshoi Simulation: Bolshoi Fly-Through, by Anatoly Klypin and Joel Primack, visualized by Chris Henze, NASA Ames Research Center. Music: “Her Knees Deep in My Mind” by Ray Lynch, album: Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening © 2002, used by permission.

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Galaxies in Observed and Simulated Universes: We see galaxies in the sky, but cannot see the dark matter clumps surrounding them. However, we can simulate them as they form in a model Universe. In this video we show how good the agreement is between the observed distribution of galaxies in the SDSS sky survey and the predicted distribution of model galaxies associated with dark matter halos in the Bolshoi simulation. It's hard to tell them apart!

Statistics of Satellite Galaxies Around Milky Way-Like Hosts
Busha, Wechsler, Behroozi, Gerke, Klypin, and Primack
2011, arXiv:1011.6373

original source: http://risa.stanford.edu/milkyway/

 

Bolshoi-Populating Halos with Galaxies
Risa Wechsler (Stanford)

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How typical are the satellites of the Milky Way? We are interested in the cosmological context of the Milky Way — is it a special galaxy in any way? We found thousands of galaxies like it in the SDSS sky survey, and also thousands of matching halos in the Bolshoi simulation, and asked, how many have neighbours like the Magellanic Clouds? In both the real and simulated Universes we find that roughly 5% of Milky Way-like galaxies have 2 satellites like the Magellanic Clouds — our galaxy is a bit unusual!

How Common are the Magellanic Clouds?
Liu, Gerke, Wechsler, Behroozi, and Busha
2011, ApJ, 733, 62, arXiv:1011.2255

original source: http://risa.stanford.edu/milkyway/

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The Formation of the Milky Way and its Neighbors: How did our galaxy form and when did its neighbors arrive? We found all the dark matter halos in the Bolshoi simulation that had subhalos with speeds, distances, and masses that matched the Magellanic Clouds, and then visualized one of them to show what the Milky Way's development may have been like. The Magellanic Clouds likely arrived together, recently!

The Mass Distribution and Assembly of the Milky Way from the Properties of the Magellanic Clouds
Busha, Marshall, Wechsler, Klypin, and Primack
2011, arXiv:1011.2203

original source: http://risa.stanford.edu/milkyway/

 

Bolshoi and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Original source: http://risa.stanford.edu/milkyway/

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Excerpts from “Inside the Milky Way”: Watch Joel R. Primack explain dark matter, the Bolshoi simulation and the Pleiades Supercomputer at Nasa Ames. Excerpts were taken from the National Geographic Television high-def special “Inside the Milky Way.”

The Bolshoi Simulations and their Implications: This is a lecture recording of a talk given by Joel Primack at the 2011 Santa Cruz Galaxy Workshop. The lecture gives an overview of the Bolshoi simulation suite.