The Jiutian simulations for the CSST extra-galactic surveys

Abstract

We provide an overview of the Jiutian simulations, a hybrid simulation suite for the China space survey telescope (CSST) extra-galactic surveys. It consists of four complementary modules: the primary runs with high resolutions with the fiducial concordance cosmology, the emulator runs exploring the parameter uncertainties around the fiducial cosmology, the reconstruction runs intended for recovering the observed Universe position by position, and the extension runs employing extended cosmologies beyond the standard model. For the primary runs, two independent pipelines are adopted to construct subhaloes and merger trees. On top of them, four sets of mock galaxy light-cone catalogs are produced from semi-analytical models and subhalo abundance matching, providing a variety of observational properties including galaxy spectral energy distribution (SED), emission lines, lensing distortions, and mock images. The 129 emulator runs are used to train the CSST emulator, achieving one percent accuracy in predicting the matter power spectrum over k ⩽ 10 hMpc⁻¹ and z ⩽ 2. The reconstruction runs employ a number of subgrid baryonic models to predict the evolution and galaxy population resembling certain regions in the real Universe with constrained initial conditions, enabling controlled investigation of galaxy formation on top of structure formation. The extension runs cover models with warm dark matter, f(R) gravity, interacting dark energy, and nonzero neutrino masses, revealing differences in the cosmic structure under alternative cosmological models. We introduce the specifications for each run, the data products derived from them, the corresponding pipeline developments, and present some main tests. Using the primary runs, we also show that the subhalo peak mass functions of different levels are approximately universal. These simulations form a comprehensive and open simulation library for CSST surveys and beyond.