Computational Cosmology: from the Early Universe to the Large Scale Structure

TL;DR

This paper reviews computational methods in cosmology, highlighting how numerical simulations across various physical phenomena help test and refine models of the Universe from the Big Bang to large-scale structures.

Contribution

It provides an overview of numerical techniques applied to key cosmological issues, emphasizing their role in testing theoretical models against observations.

Findings

Numerical simulations elucidate Big Bang singularity dynamics.

Computational models help understand gravitational waves and fundamental interactions.

Simulations contribute to understanding the large-scale structure of the Universe.

Abstract

In order to account for the observable Universe, any comprehensive theory or model of cosmology must draw from many disciplines of physics, including gauge theories of strong and weak interactions, the hydrodynamics and microphysics of baryonic matter, electromagnetic fields, and spacetime curvature, for example. Although it is difficult to incorporate all these physical elements into a single complete model of our Universe, advances in computing methods and technologies have contributed significantly towards our understanding of cosmological models, the Universe, and astrophysical processes within them. A sample of numerical calculations (and numerical methods) applied to specific issues in cosmology are reviewed in this article: from the Big Bang singularity dynamics to the fundamental interactions of gravitational waves; from the quark-hadron phase transition to the large scale structure of the Universe. The emphasis, although not exclusively, is on those calculations designed to test different models of cosmology against the observed Universe.