Creating the Tools to Study Galaxy Evolution Through Examination of Properties of Dark Matter Halos

Abstract

We study dark matter galaxy halos found by Jared W. Coughlin while running the Amiga Halo Finder on the output of a modified GADGET 2 large scale simulation [5], [7], [6]. The neighborhood of the halos is defined at different redshifts by using a structure finding algorithm developed by Dr. Lara A. Phillips’ group [4]. We use Python to examine how halos vary when in a cluster or a filament and to develop analytical tools that allow us to determine whether specified halos are in-falling into a major cosmic web node. We find that in the recent past the most massive halos are in clusters while in the most distant past the most massive halos are in filaments. This indicates continued heavy in-fall of material in and from filaments as massive halos form at cosmic web nodes.