The DARWIN Project: Cosmological Simulations of Galaxy Formation down to Dwarf Scales in Diverse Environments

@misc{lee2026darwin,
  title = {{The DARWIN Project: Cosmological Simulations of Galaxy Formation down to Dwarf Scales in Diverse Environments}},
  author = {Jaehyun Lee and Kyungwon Chun and Taysun Kimm and Yonghwi Kim and Jihye Shin and Ena Choi and Sungwook E. Hong and Myoungwon Jeon and Hannah Jhee and Minyong Jung and Hyeonyong Kim and Ji-hoon Kim and Juhan Kim and Oh-Kyoung Kwon and Hyunmi Song and Yohan Dubois and Ji-Hoon Ha and Daniel Han and San Han and Jun Yong Park and Christophe Pichon},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.25786},
  eprint = {2610.25786},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.25786},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - The DARWIN Project: Cosmological Simulations of Galaxy Formation down to Dwarf Scales in Diverse Environments
AU  - Jaehyun Lee
AU  - Kyungwon Chun
AU  - Taysun Kimm
AU  - Yonghwi Kim
AU  - Jihye Shin
AU  - Ena Choi
AU  - Sungwook E. Hong
AU  - Myoungwon Jeon
AU  - Hannah Jhee
AU  - Minyong Jung
AU  - Hyeonyong Kim
AU  - Ji-hoon Kim
AU  - Juhan Kim
AU  - Oh-Kyoung Kwon
AU  - Hyunmi Song
AU  - Yohan Dubois
AU  - Ji-Hoon Ha
AU  - Daniel Han
AU  - San Han
AU  - Jun Yong Park
AU  - Christophe Pichon
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/23
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.25786
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.25786
AB  - We present the DARWIN project, a suite of cosmological simulations with RAMSES to study dwarf-galaxy formation and evolution across diverse environments. DARWIN-1 is a full-box simulation in a cubic volume of (65.5 cMpc)^3 with a minimum cell size of 500pc, while DARWIN-2 comprises zoom-in simulations of 24 field regions and a Milky Way analog connected to a filament, reaching 62.5pc resolution. The simulations employ baryonic physics tailored to their aims. For DARWIN-2, we include radiative transfer in three photon energy bands to trace hydrogen and helium ionization. DARWIN-1 reproduces the cosmic star formation rate density and galaxy stellar mass functions reasonably well at z>1. Both simulations broadly reproduce observed stellar mass-halo mass relations, chemical abundances, star-formation surface densities, and black hole-galaxy scaling relations. At lower redshift, DARWIN-1 shows an excess in the number density of massive galaxies, although the inferred stellar content of massive halos depends on the definition of galaxy stellar mass. Other systematic differences arise from spatial resolution, feedback efficiency, and environmental selection. To facilitate comparison with observations, we generate mock images using the radiative transfer codes SKIRT and Powderday. We also explore a machine-learning approach to mitigate resolution-driven biases in the dwarf galaxy properties of DARWIN-1 using the higher-resolution DARWIN-2 simulations. The DARWIN simulation suite therefore provides a comprehensive numerical framework for studying the formation, evolution, and internal physics of dwarf galaxies in a cosmological context.
ER  -