Predicted future fate of COSMOS galaxy protoclusters over 11 Gyr with constrained simulations

Abstract

Cosmological simulations are crucial tools in studying the Universe, but they typically do not directly match real observed structures. Constrained cosmological simulations, on the other hand, are designed to match the observed distribution of galaxies. Here we present constrained simulations based on spectroscopic surveys at a redshift of z~2.3, corresponding to an epoch of nearly 11 Gyrs ago. This allows us to 'fast-forward' the simulation to our present-day and study the evolution of observed cosmic structures self-consistently. We confirm that several previously-reported protoclusters will evolve into massive galaxy clusters by our present epoch, including the 'Hyperion' structure that we predict will collapse into a giant filamentary supercluster spanning 100 Megaparsecs. We also discover previously unknown protoclusters, with lower final masses than typically detectable by other methods, that nearly double the number of known protoclusters within this volume. Constrained simulations, applied to future high-redshift datasets, represents a unique opportunity for studying early structure formation and matching galaxy properties between high and low redshifts.

Submitted: 10 November 2021; Accepted: 28 April 2022 in Nature Astronomy https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-022-01693-0 32 pages, 9 Figures

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• Evaluating the variance of individual halo properties in constrained cosmological simulations
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• LATIS: A Sample of IGM-selected Protoclusters and Protogroups at $z\sim 2.5$
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• Quantifying the Impact of Incompleteness on Identifying and Interpreting Galaxy Protocluster Populations with the TNG-Cluster Simulation
• Learning the Universe: Learning to Optimize Cosmic Initial Conditions with Non-Differentiable Structure Formation Models
• Cosmic Vine: High abundance of massive galaxies and dark matter halos in a forming cluster at z=3.44
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• The HST-Hyperion Survey: Companion Fraction and Overdensity in a z ~ 2.5 Proto-supercluster
• The Photometric Analysis of the Environment Around Two Dusty Star-Forming Galaxies at $z\sim 2$
• Fueling and feedback mechanisms at the nodes of the cosmic web