Simulata la formazione dell'Universo con il supercomputer del Centro svizzero di calcolo scientifico (CSCS) di Lugano. Il risultato è un cosmo virtuale che contiene circa 25 miliardi di galassie. Pubblicata sulla rivista Computational Astrophysics and Cosmology, la simulazione si deve agli astrofisici dell'università di Zurigo coordinati da Romain Teyssier.
Il risultato servirà a calibrare gli esperimenti del satellite Euclid, che l'Agenzia Spaziale Europea (ESA) intende lanciare nel 2020 per studiare energia oscura e materia oscura, che si pensa compongano rispettivamente il 72% e il 23% dell'Universo, mentre il restante 5% sarebbe composto dalla materia ordinaria, ossia quella di cui sono fatte stelle e pianeti.
Una delle immagini frutto della simulazione
''La natura dell'energia oscura e della materia oscura rimane una delle principali questioni irrisolte della scienza'', ha detto Teyssier. Il mistero, ha aggiunto, può essere risolto solo attraverso l'osservazione indiretta: quando il satellite Euclid catturerà la luce di miliardi di galassie in grandi aree del cielo, gli astronomi misureranno le piccolissime distorsioni della luce di queste galassie dovute alla presenza della massa invisibile della materia oscura.
ats/joe.p.
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