The Institute for Computational Cosmology (ICC) is a research institute at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It was founded in November 2002 as part of the Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics, which also includes the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (IPPP). The ICC's primary mission is to advance fundamental knowledge in

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...

. Topics of active research include: the nature of

dark matter In astronomy, dark matter is an invisible and hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light or other electromagnetic radiation. Dark matter is implied by gravity, gravitational effects that cannot be explained by general relat ...

and

dark energy In physical cosmology and astronomy, dark energy is a proposed form of energy that affects the universe on the largest scales. Its primary effect is to drive the accelerating expansion of the universe. It also slows the rate of structure format ...

, the evolution of cosmic structure, the formation of galaxies, and the determination of fundamental parameters. The current director of the ICC is Shaun Cole. ICC researchers have played a central role in the development of the standard model of

Lambda-CDM model The Lambda-CDM, Lambda cold dark matter, or ΛCDM model is a mathematical model of the Big Bang theory with three major components: # a cosmological constant, denoted by lambda (Λ), associated with dark energy; # the postulated cold dark mat ...

(ΛCDM). The complex nature of questions in cosmology often means that advances require

supercomputer A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...

simulations A simulation is an imitative representation of a process or system that could exist in the real world. In this broad sense, simulation can often be used interchangeably with model. Sometimes a clear distinction between the two terms is made, in ...

in which a virtual Universe is allowed to evolve for 13.8 billion years from the

Big Bang The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...

to the present day. The simulation is rerun with altered pre-conditions or physics, until it matches the observed Universe. This approach has required one of the most powerful supercomputers for academic research in the world, the “Cosmology Machine (COSMA)” as part of the DiRAC

supercomputing A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...

consortium.Listed as 12th overall in the UK, 134th in the world by

History

Durham University's extragalactic astronomy group was founded in the late 1970s, and secured in 1984–5 with the appointments of

Carlos Frenk Carlos Silvestre Frenk (born 27 October 1951) is a Mexican-British cosmologist. Frenk graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the University of Cambridge, spending his early research career in the United States, before ...

, Richard Ellis and Tom Shanks. A group researching theoretical cosmology grew steadily during the 1980s and 1990s, mainly funded by the UK

Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) was one of a number of research councils in the United Kingdom. It directed, coordinated and funded research in particle physics and astronomy for the people of the UK. Its head office w ...

(PPARC). A dedicated building for theoretical cosmology was then funded through private donations, principally from alumnus Peter Ogden, and opened in 2002 by the Prime Minister,

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

. The group has grown in these new facilities, and the ICC now hosts more than 60 researchers, including theoretical and observational cosmologists, as well as astroparticle physicists. Although the ICC is strictly speaking a theoretical institute, theory and observations in cosmology are intimately interwoven. Uniquely amongst Durham University's Research Institutes, the ICC and IPPP are structurally integrated within an academic and teaching department,

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

. The physics department as a whole was awarded grade 5A in the 2001

Research Assessment Exercise The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was an exercise undertaken approximately every five years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils ( HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW, DELNI) to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British ...

(RAE) carried out by the UK government, with the international excellence of research in Astronomy and Particle Physics specifically highlighted. The department's research in Space Science and Astrophysics was rated as number one in Europe and fourth in the world by Thomson Reuters from its Essential Science Indicators (1998–2008). In November 2016, the ICC moved into the brand new ''Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics'' building, designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind. The new building now houses all three astronomy groups in the Department of Physics, including the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation and the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, as well as the Institute for Computational Cosmology.

Supercomputer

The ICC's highest resolution simulations of the evolution of the Universe are performed on the Cosmology Machine (COSMA). COSMA-5 was installed in October 2012, as a hub of the UK national Distributed Research utilitising Advanced Computing (DiRAC) consortium. COSMA-5 includes 6720 2.6 GHz Intel Sandy Bridge

Central processing unit A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary Processor (computing), processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes Instruction (computing), instructions ...

(CPU) cores, 53,760 GB of RAM, and 2.4 PB of data storage; it is one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. The ICC acts as one of the two main nodes of the international Virgo Consortium for cosmological supercomputer simulations.

Outreach

A founding goal of the ICC is to "stimulate young people to aspire to be the scientists of tomorrow". A full-time outreach officer is employed to develop teaching materials that draw upon current research and coordinate
programme of activities
in schools across the North East of England. The ICC has been involved in a number of outreach events aimed at communicating science to the general public, notably: * The ICC's 3D short movie "Cosmic Origins", which combines sequences of real astronomical data and supercomputer simulations, won first prize for best stereoscopic movie at Stereoscopic Displays and Applications XXI. The movie, and its sequel "Cosmic Origins 2" provided the core

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

of a touring public exhibition that visited the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

’s Summer Science Exhibitions 2009, 2010 and 2013, See Further 2010, the British Science Festival 2013, and Thailand's National Science and Technology Fair 2013. *In 2015, the ICC collaborated on The World Machine project, the centrepiece of the 2015 Durham Lumiere light festival. This was a celebration of cosmology, projected onto the facade of

Durham Cathedral Durham Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the Mother Church#Cathedral, mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the ...

. * In July 2016, the ICC hosted an exhibition titled ''Galaxy Makers: How to make a galaxy'' at the

2016 Summer Exhibition.

References

{{authority control Astronomy institutes and departments Research institutes in the United Kingdom Astronomy in the United Kingdom Educational institutions established in 2002 2002 establishments in England