The Via Lactea INCITE simulation: Galactic dark matter substructure at high resolution

Abstract

It is a clear and unique prediction of the cold dark matter paradigm of cosmological structure formation that galaxies form hierarchically and are embedded in massive, extended dark halos teeming with self-bound substructure, or "subhalos." The amount and spatial distribution of subhalos around their host provide unique information and clues on the galaxy assembly process and the nature of the dark matter. Here we present results from the Via Lactea INCITE simulation, a one billion particle, one million CPU-hour simulation of the formation and evolution of a galactic dark matter halo and its substructure population. © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd.