Max Planck Institutes and Experts

Scientists at the Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics have carried out the worldwide largest cosmological simulation of structure formation and used it to make accurate theoretical predictions for the growth of galaxies and supermassive black holes. For the first time, the model allows a detailed comparison of the theory of hierarchical galaxy formation to observations in a volume comparable to that of the largest spectroscopic redshift surveys, including rare objects such as the first quasars or massive galaxy clusters.

Researchers at the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics have developed new relativistic models which allow predictions of so far unknown properties of short gamma-ray bursts. Their simulations will come under scrutiny by the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer, a NASA mission that was launched on November 20, 2004.

Biomimetic systems with fine-tuned properties have many potential applications such as drug delivery systems or biosensors. In order to design such systems, one needs a detailed understanding of the underlying nanostructures and nanoprocesses. These structures are very thin and have a thickness of a few nanometers which makes them rather flexible and mobile. There is no experimental method by which one could directly image the dynamics of these structures. Therefore, it is rather appealing to use computer simulations in order to visualize these processes. A particularly powerful simulation method is provided by Dissipative Particle Dynamics which can be used to monitor supramolecular systems with a linear dimension of up to 50 nanometers over a time period of several microseconds. In this article, we discuss three examples for such systems: lipid membranes that contain several components and form different intramembrane domains; vesicles composed of diblock copolymers which could be used as drug delivery systems; and tension-induced fusion of bilayer membranes. The method of Dissipative-Particle-Dynamics can be used to optimize nanostructures and -processes in silico before one performs many costly experiments.

Experimental investigations by means of 3-dimensional scanning microscopy together with diffraction techniques as well as numerical simulations such as the Texture Component Crystal Plasticity Finite Element Method are used for the microstructure analysis and the development of new steels.

The application of in-situ surface vibrational spectroscopy to study catalytic reactions on model catalysts helps to bridge the “pressure gap” between surface studies and heterogeneous catalysis. The discussed examples include CO adsorption and hydrogenation and methanol oxidation on Pd nanoparticles and Pd(111) at atmospheric pressure.