Why are simulations necessary?
Cosmologists rely on simulations to study the Universe. One objective is to understand how observational effects impact scientific results. By simulating various scenarios, we may identify and mitigate potential biases that may arise during data collection.
Replicating the Universe
For the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), I designed and executed 20,000 full-sky simulations, by custom software Salmo. Each simulation was carefully constructed to replicate the survey's observational properties, effectively replicating the Universe 20,000 times.
Astronomical amount of data
The full simulation set produces data for 400 billion objects, presenting challenges in computational resources and data organization. To address these, engineering efforts in parallel computing and algorithmic optimization become essential.
