The Big Bang, which led to the emergence of the universe, suddenly revealed the matter and energy that made up the entire universe, and allowed it to spread in all directions at a temperature of 1,000 trillion degrees and at the speed of light. During the few hundred million years after the explosion, the universe cooled to temperatures where quarks and photons could exist. At this time, hydrogen and helium atoms began to appear. This period is characterized as the “dark age” because the stars did not yet exist and could not shine.
Over time, huge clouds of basic gases were compressed so much that they started to shine and illuminated the universe, at which time the cosmic ionization process began. The mechanism behind how the light of newborn stars interacts with the surrounding gases to reveal ionized plasma, which creates heavier elements, is not yet fully understood.
However, a research team from MIT has announced that they have prepared the most detailed mathematical model ever to describe this process.
Named after the Etruscan goddess of the dawn, the Thesan simulation models the cosmic reionization period by looking at the interactions between gases, gravity and radiation in a space of 100 million cubic light years. Using this model, researchers can look 400,000 to 1 billion years after the Big Bang and see how changing different variables affects the results produced.
NASA Einstein Fellow Aaron Smith of the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Studies at MIT says, “The Thesan simulation acts as a bridge to the early universe,” and continues: “Ideal for upcoming observing facilities that will fundamentally change our understanding of the universe. It is intended to serve as a simulation counterpart.”
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