A multi-university team of researchers from Japan creates the world's fastest astrophysics simulator using an artificial intelligence (AI) system to predict the shape of the universe itself. The scientists hope that in doing so, they'll liberate the mysteries surrounding dark matter and dark energy.
Dubbed "Dark Emulator," the AI device parses massive troves of astrophysics data. The device makes use of the facts to build simulations of our universe. It taps into a big database complete of records gleaned from special telescopes that compare current data with what scientists anticipate based on theories surrounding the universe's origin.
Simulation to demonstrate what the universe looks like
The simulation basically attempts to demonstrate what the universe may look like, such as its edges, based on the big bang concept and the subsequent rapid growth that keeps taking place.
The lead author on the team's research paper, Takahiro Nishimichi, told Phys.Org they built an "extraordinarily" big database using a supercomputer, which took them three years to finish.
"Using this result, I hope we could work toward uncovering the greatest mystery of modern physics, which is to uncover what dark energy is," Nishimichi said.
Scientists would be able to form better theories on how dark matter works by understanding the overall cosmology of the entire universe. However, nobody could still prove that dark matter exists through scientific rigor, observation, and measurement. And that leaves astrophysicists struggling to provide a unified concept of the universe that encompasses all of the different thoughts in play.
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Nishimichi said the method they've conceptualized would be useful in other fields such as natural sciences or social sciences.
New technology to reconcile theories with quantum mechanics
The group from Japan hopes to reconcile theories with the information we're capable of glean from Dark Emulator. The AI gadget doesn't merely analyze information for free ends; it learns from every simulation it creates and uses the output to tell the subsequent iteration.
It does this by studying the invisible tendrils between galaxies and performing astronomical (literally) feats of mathematics to create more specific simulations. According to a paper the group posted in Astrophysical Journal, it's extraordinarily accurate.
"The emulator predicts the halo-matter cross-correlation, relevant for galaxy-galaxy lensing, with an accuracy better than 2% and the halo autocorrelation, applicable for galaxy clustering correlation, with an accuracy higher than 4%."
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Eventually, this technology could help flesh out our know-how of the universe and permit scientists to determine exactly what dark matter is and how darkish energy works. For now, the move would mean filling in some big blanks we have in our know-how of what the universe honestly looks like.
But in the future, having clear information of darkish energy could result in myriad far-off technology fiction technology along with warp drives, time-travel, and teleportation. That is, of course, if dark matter even exists.
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