[Press release] The Cosmic Neutrino Background: World's First Six-dimensional Simulations

In this research, we solved the Vlasov-Poisson equations directly by running our new high-precision numerical scheme for solving the Vlasov equation developed by the University of Tsukuba and the University of Tokyo on Japan's most powerful supercomputer, yielding 6-dimensional distributions of the neutrinos permeating our universe. This was the first successful simulation of this type in the world. This achievement allowed an accurate investigation of the collective motion of neutrinos in the large scale structure of the universe, with important implications for galaxy formation. The research builds a foundation to construct a theoretical model for accurately measuring the mass of neutrinos.

References

1. Press release (University of Tsukuba)
2. [Original paper] Cosmological Vlasov–Poisson Simulations of Structure Formation with Relic Neutrinos: Nonlinear Clustering and the Neutrino Mass, Yoshikawa, K., Tanaka, S., Yoshida, N., Saito, S., 2020. The Astrophysical Journal, 904, p.159.
3. Corresponding author: Kohji Yoshikawa