Introducing the AIDA-TNG project: galaxy formation in alternative dark matter models

Understand

We introduce the AIDA-TNG project, a suite of cosmological magnetohydrodynamic simulations that simultaneously model galaxy formation and different variations of the underlying dark matter model.

• We consider the standard cold dark matter model and five variations, including three warm dark matter scenarios and two self-interacting models with constant or velocity-dependent cross-section.
• In each model, we simulate two cosmological boxes of 51.7 and 110.7 Mpc on a side, with the same initial conditions as TNG50 and TNG100, and combine the variations in the physics of dark matter with the fiducial IllustrisTNG galaxy formation model.
• The AIDA-TNG runs are thus ideal for studying the simultaneous effect of baryons and alternative dark matter models on observable properties of galaxies and large-scale structures.