Image of simulated galaxies with a zoomed view of an SMBH binary

KETJU

The KETJU project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and the Academy of Finland (AoF), studies the dynamics and impact of supermassive black holes using numerical simulations. The code that enables these simulation is publicly available.

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Image of a simulated Local group of galaxies with the Milky Way and M31

SIBELIUS

The SIBELIUS project, also funded by the Academy of Finland (AoF), investigates the formation and evolution of the Local Group of galaxies in their true cosmic environment by utilising constrained numerical simulations.

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Other research topics of our group members include the formation and evolution of stellar clusters, radiative transfer in the vicinity of compact objects, the formation of the first supermassive black holes, and the formation and evolution of massive galaxies.

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Latest News

New group members: The summer students and visiting students for 2026 have joined the group

The research group welcomes Laura Savikoski and Laura Laine, who have joined the group for three months over the summer period. They will be both working on their respective Master thesis over the summer.

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Published Article: Cylindrical cosmological simulations with STEPS

In this paper we introduce using the STEPS code a compactified simulation framework that is only periodic along a single axis, characterised by an infinite topology with isotropic boundary conditions towards the perpendicular directions.

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Published Article: Rapid sinking and efficient mergers of supermassive black holes in compact high-redshift galaxies

In this paper we model the dynamics of supermassive black holes from seeding down to their coalescence at sub-parsec scales due to gravitational wave (GW) emission by utilising a new version of the KETJU code, which combines regularised integration of sufficiently massive SMBHs with a dynamical friction subgrid model for lower mass SMBHs.

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Contact

For any enquiries, please contact Prof. Peter Johansson