Cosmology involves understanding how has the universe evolved, why does it expand, how does it form structures and a lot more. Dark matter and energy also form a critical aspect of cosmology. In the recent past, there have been so many projects that brought up information on the structure and the distribution of millions of galaxies. In the future also, it is very much likely to find similar projects. All this ultimately throws light on how enormous the data would be. This big data would require special tools to extract the most useful information.
Well, a progress in this area has already made its way. The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) led an international team that developed an algorithm to analyse large-scale cosmic structures. This algorithm is called “COSMIC BIRTH”. With this method, it would now be possible to analyze the evolution of the structure of dark matter right from the early universe to the formation of present-day galaxies.
One of the key features of this algorithm that enables it to stand out from the rest is that the observations can be expressed as if they had been detected in the early universe, as explained by an IAC researcher and a leader of the group of Cosmology and Large Scale Structure (LSS) Francisco – Shu Kitaura. This feature of the algorithm would also simplify most of the calculations. The algorithm isn’t an outcome of just a few months of development. The researchers have spent good 4 years into its development. The algorithm makes use of sampling techniques that make it capable enough to deal with high-dimensional spaces. Shu Kitaura also thanked the funding programs Ramon y Cajal and Excelencia Severo Ochoa that made the entire journey smooth and worth fighting for.
On the same lines, Monica Hernández Sánchez, a doctoral student at the IAC and the University of La Laguna (ULL) expressed her views by saying that it’d be fascinating enough to use the methods of classical mechanics to reconstruct the large scale structure of huge cosmic volumes. Using the big data techniques to draw insights is exciting as well as the most promising solution that one can opt for in this particular aspect.
All the work pertaining to the above subject has been published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS). There are authors from different sections of the world who’ve penned down their articles, observations, views and experiences. Their work has garnered respect from all across the globe not only because it is insightful but also for the fact that they have dedicated this work to the French astrophysicist Olivier Le Fever, who participated in the study and who unfortunately died while it was being completed.
