Snapshots¶
Each FLAMINGO simulation models the evolution of a cubic volume of the Universe from just after the big bang to the present day. The state of the simulation is output at intervals as a series of “snapshots”, which record the distribution of particles in the simulated volume at an instant in time.
Snapshots contain multiple particle types which model different matter components: cold dark matter (CDM), gas, stars, black holes and neutrinos. In the dark matter only simulations only CDM and neutrino particles are present but the CDM particles account for the mass in baryons, which are assumed to trace the distribution of the CDM. In the hydro simulations all particle types are present. Many physical properties, such as position, mass and velocity, are stored for each particle.
The following sections describe the layout and contents of the snapshots.
For more information about the SWIFT simulation snapshot format used here, see the SWIFT documentation.