Local Group Simulations

The Local Group is a galaxy cluster that consists of our own Milky Way galaxy, the neighbouring Andromeda galaxy, as well as hundreds of smaller galaxies. Due to its proximity, it is the environment in which we can observe galaxy formation and evolution with the highest precision. It is also where the faintest known galaxies have been detected, allowing us to probe the underlying dark matter structures in the greatest detail. By testing the lower limits of galaxy and structure formation in the Local Group, we hope to not only gain new insights into the physics of galaxies, but also to one day reveal the nature of dark matter.

To study the Local Group, high precision observations need to be matched by high resolution simulations. From the EAGLE volume, we have selected regions that look like the Local Group on large scales, and re-simulated them with more than 100 x higher resolution.

The above image contains a zoom-in on one of our high resolution simulations: the top left shows star light emitted from the galaxies that have formed, with the two large spiral galaxies similar to the Milky Way and Andromeda. The bottom right fades into the distribution of dark matter in the same simulation region, and shows the vast number of dark matter halos predicted to exist within the Local Group.