The EAGLE simulations of galaxy formation: Public release of particle
  data
  This manual accompanies the release of the particle data for 24 simulations
of the EAGLE suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy
formation by the virgo consortium. It describes how to download these snapshots
and how to extract datasets from them, emphasising the meaning of variables,
and their units. We provide examples for extracting the particle data in
python. This data release complements our earlier release of numerous
integrated properties of the galaxies in EAGLE through an SQL relational
database. This database has been updated to include the additional simulations
that are part of the present data release. Scientists wanting to use EAGLE may
find it useful to first investigate whether their analysis can be performed
using the database, before accessing the particle data. The particles in the
snapshot files are indexed by a peano-hilbert key. This allows for an eased
extraction of simply connected spatial volumes, without needing to read the
entire snapshot. This makes it possible to analyse many aspects of galaxies
using modest computing resources, even when using EAGLE simulations with large
numbers of particles. A reading routine is provided to simplify this process.
