Recent progress in simulating galaxy formation from the largest to the smallest scales

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in galaxy formation simulations, emphasizing the balance between large-volume and high-resolution approaches to understand cosmic structures and processes.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive summary of recent progress and key developments in galaxy formation simulations over the past five years.

Findings

Large-volume simulations improve statistical understanding of galaxy populations.

High-resolution simulations reveal emergent phenomena in galaxy formation.

Advances are driven by novel simulation techniques balancing volume and resolution.

Abstract

Galaxy formation simulations are an essential part of the modern toolkit of astrophysicists and cosmologists alike. Astrophysicists use the simulations to study the emergence of galaxy populations from the Big Bang, as well as problems including the formation of stars and supermassive black holes. For cosmologists, galaxy formation simulations are needed to understand how baryonic processes affect measurements of dark matter and dark energy. Owing to the extreme dynamic range of galaxy formation, advances are driven by novel approaches using simulations with different tradeoffs between volume and resolution. Large-volume but low-resolution simulations provide the best statistics, while higher resolution simulations of smaller cosmic volumes can be evolved with more self-consistent physics and reveal important emergent phenomena. I summarize recent progress in galaxy formation simulations, including major developments in the past five years, and highlight some key areas likely to drive further advances over the next decade.