The DREAMS Project: A New Suite of 1,024 Simulations to Contextualize the Milky Way and Assess Physics Uncertainties. Rose, J. C., Lisanti, M., Torrey, P., Villaescusa-Navarro, F., Garcia, A. M., Farahi, A., Filion, C., Brooks, A. M., Kallivayalil, N., Kollmann, K. E., Lilie, E., Wang, B. Y., Cruz, A., Roy, S., Pace, A. B., Ahvazi, N., O'Neil, S., Roche, C., Shen, X., & Vogelsberger, M. 2025. Version Number: 1![The DREAMS Project: A New Suite of 1,024 Simulations to Contextualize the Milky Way and Assess Physics Uncertainties [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper doi abstract bibtex We introduce a new suite of 1,024 cosmological and hydrodynamical zoom-in simulations of Milky Way-mass halos, run with Cold Dark Matter, as part of the DREAMS Project. Each simulation in the suite has a unique set of initial conditions and combination of cosmological and astrophysical parameters. The suite is designed to quantify theoretical uncertainties from halo-to-halo variance, as well as stellar and black hole feedback. We develop a novel weighting scheme that prioritizes regions of the input parameter space, yielding galaxies consistent with the observed present-day stellar mass–halo mass relation. The resulting galaxy population exhibits a wide diversity in structural properties that encompasses those of the actual Milky Way, providing a powerful statistical sample for galactic archaeology. To demonstrate the suite’s scientific utility, we investigate the connection between a galaxy’s merger history, focusing on Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE) analogs, and its present-day properties. We find that galaxies with a GSE analog have lower star formation rates, more compact disks, and more spherical stellar halos. Crucially, significant halo-to-halo scatter remains, demonstrating that matching more than the most significant events in the Milky Way’s past is necessary to recover its present-day properties. Our results highlight the necessity for large statistical samples to disentangle the stochastic nature of galaxy formation and robustly model the Milky Way’s unique history.
@misc{rose_dreams_2025,
title = {The {DREAMS} {Project}: {A} {New} {Suite} of 1,024 {Simulations} to {Contextualize} the {Milky} {Way} and {Assess} {Physics} {Uncertainties}},
copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International},
shorttitle = {The {DREAMS} {Project}},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.00148},
doi = {10.48550/ARXIV.2512.00148},
abstract = {We introduce a new suite of 1,024 cosmological and hydrodynamical zoom-in simulations of Milky Way-mass halos, run with Cold Dark Matter, as part of the DREAMS Project. Each simulation in the suite has a unique set of initial conditions and combination of cosmological and astrophysical parameters. The suite is designed to quantify theoretical uncertainties from halo-to-halo variance, as well as stellar and black hole feedback. We develop a novel weighting scheme that prioritizes regions of the input parameter space, yielding galaxies consistent with the observed present-day stellar mass–halo mass relation. The resulting galaxy population exhibits a wide diversity in structural properties that encompasses those of the actual Milky Way, providing a powerful statistical sample for galactic archaeology. To demonstrate the suite’s scientific utility, we investigate the connection between a galaxy’s merger history, focusing on Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE) analogs, and its present-day properties. We find that galaxies with a GSE analog have lower star formation rates, more compact disks, and more spherical stellar halos. Crucially, significant halo-to-halo scatter remains, demonstrating that matching more than the most significant events in the Milky Way’s past is necessary to recover its present-day properties. Our results highlight the necessity for large statistical samples to disentangle the stochastic nature of galaxy formation and robustly model the Milky Way’s unique history.},
language = {en},
urldate = {2025-12-18},
publisher = {arXiv},
author = {Rose, Jonah C. and Lisanti, Mariangela and Torrey, Paul and Villaescusa-Navarro, Francisco and Garcia, Alex M. and Farahi, Arya and Filion, Carrie and Brooks, Alyson M. and Kallivayalil, Nitya and Kollmann, Kassidy E. and Lilie, Ethan and Wang, Bonny Y. and Cruz, Akaxia and Roy, Sandip and Pace, Andrew B. and Ahvazi, Niusha and O'Neil, Stephanie and Roche, Cian and Shen, Xuejian and Vogelsberger, Mark},
year = {2025},
note = {Version Number: 1},
keywords = {Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA), FOS: Physical sciences},
}
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