Over recent decades, cosmological simulations of galaxy formation have been instrumental in advancing our understanding of structure and galaxy formation in the Universe. These simulations follow the nonlinear evolution of galaxies, modelling a variety of physical processes over an enormous range of time and length scales. A better understanding of the relevant physical processes, improved numerical methods and increased computing power have led to simulations that can reproduce a large number of the observed galaxy properties. Modern simulations model dark matter, dark energy and ordinary matter in an expanding space-time starting from well-defined initial conditions. The modelling of ordinary matter is most challenging due to the large array of physical processes affecting this component. Cosmological simulations have also proven useful to study alternative cosmological models and their impact on the galaxy population. This Technical Review presents a concise overview of the methodology of cosmological simulations of galaxy formation and their different applications.

在最近的几十年中，银河系形成的宇宙学模拟在增进我们对宇宙结构和银河系形成的理解方面发挥了作用。这些模拟遵循星系的非线性演化，在很大的时间和长度范围内对各种物理过程进行建模。对相关物理过程的更好理解，改进的数值方法和增强的计算能力已导致可以再现大量观测到的星系特性的模拟。现代模拟从定义明确的初始条件开始，在不断扩展的时空中对暗物质，暗能量和普通物质进行建模。普通物质的建模最具挑战性，因为影响该组件的物理过程种类繁多。宇宙模拟还被证明对研究替代宇宙模型及其对星系种群的影响很有用。本技术评论简要概述了银河系形成的宇宙学模拟方法及其不同应用。