No Arabic abstract
We adapt a modern scheme of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) to our tree N-body/SPH galactic chemodynamics code GCD+. The applied scheme includes imple- mentations of the artificial viscosity switch and artificial thermal conductivity pro- posed by Morris & Monaghan (1997), Rosswog & Price (2007) and Price (2008), to model discontinuities and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities more accurately. We first present hydrodynamics test simulations and contrast the results to runs undertaken without artificial viscosity switch or thermal conduction. In addition, we also explore the different levels of smoothing by adopting larger or smaller smoothing lengths, i.e. a larger or smaller number of neighbour particles, Nnb. We demonstrate that the new version of GCD+ is capable of modelling Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities to a simi- lar level as the mesh code, Athena. From the Gresho vortex, point-like explosion and self-similar collapse tests, we conclude that setting the smoothing length to keep the number of neighbour particles as high as Nnb~58 is preferable to adopting smaller smoothing lengths. We present our optimised parameter sets from the hydrodynamics tests.
We present an implementation of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) with improved accuracy for simulations of galaxies and the large-scale structure. In particular, we combine, implement, modify and test a vast majority of SPH improvement techniques in the latest instalment of the GADGET code. We use the Wendland kernel functions, a particle wake-up time-step limiting mechanism and a time-dependent scheme for artificial viscosity, which includes a high-order gradient computation and shear flow limiter. Additionally, we include a novel prescription for time-dependent artificial conduction, which corrects for gravitationally induced pressure gradients and largely improves the SPH performance in capturing the development of gas-dynamical instabilities. We extensively test our new implementation in a wide range of hydrodynamical standard tests including weak and strong shocks as well as shear flows, turbulent spectra, gas mixing, hydrostatic equilibria and self-gravitating gas clouds. We jointly employ all modifications; however, when necessary we study the performance of individual code modules. We approximate hydrodynamical states more accurately and with significantly less noise than standard SPH. Furthermore, the new implementation promotes the mixing of entropy between different fluid phases, also within cosmological simulations. Finally, we study the performance of the hydrodynamical solver in the context of radiative galaxy formation and non-radiative galaxy cluster formation. We find galactic disks to be colder, thinner and more extended and our results on galaxy clusters show entropy cores instead of steadily declining entropy profiles. In summary, we demonstrate that our improved SPH implementation overcomes most of the undesirable limitations of standard SPH, thus becoming the core of an efficient code for large cosmological simulations.
We present a novel Lyman alpha (Ly$alpha$) radiative transfer code, SEURAT, where line scatterings are solved adaptively with the resolution of the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). The radiative transfer method implemented in SEURAT is based on a Monte Carlo algorithm in which the scattering and absorption by dust are also incorporated. We perform standard test calculations to verify the validity of the code; (i) emergent spectra from a static uniform sphere, (ii) emergent spectra from an expanding uniform sphere, and (iii) escape fraction from a dusty slab. Thereby we demonstrate that our code solves the Ly$alpha$ radiative transfer with sufficient accuracy. We emphasise that SEURAT can treat the transfer of Ly$alpha$ photons even in highly complex systems that have significantly inhomogeneous density fields. The high adaptivity of SEURAT is desirable to solve the propagation of Ly$alpha$ photons in the interstellar medium of young star-forming galaxies like Ly$alpha$ emitters (LAEs). Thus, SEURAT provides a powerful tool to model the emergent spectra of Ly$alpha$ emission, which can be compared to the observations of LAEs.
We present the McMaster Unbiased Galaxy Simulations (MUGS), the first 9 galaxies of an unbiased selection ranging in total mass from 5$times10^{11}$ M$_odot$ to 2$times10^{12}$ M$_odot$ simulated using n-body smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) at high resolution. The simulations include a treatment of low temperature metal cooling, UV background radiation, star formation, and physically motivated stellar feedback. Mock images of the simulations show that the simulations lie within the observed range of relations such as that between color and magnitude and that between brightness and circular velocity (Tully-Fisher). The greatest discrepancy between the simulated galaxies and observed galaxies is the high concentration of material at the center of the galaxies as represented by the centrally peaked rotation curves and the high bulge-to-total ratios of the simulations determined both kinematically and photometrically. This central concentration represents the excess of low angular momentum material that long has plagued morphological studies of simulated galaxies and suggests that higher resolutions and a more accurate description of feedback will be required to simulate more realistic galaxies. Even with the excess central mass concentrations, the simulations suggest the important role merger history and halo spin play in the formation of disks.
We present photometry and spectroscopy of nine Type II-P/L supernovae (SNe) with redshifts in the 0.045 < z < 0.335 range, with a view to re-examining their utility as distance indicators. Specifically, we apply the expanding photosphere method (EPM) and the standardized candle method (SCM) to each target, and find that both methods yield distances that are in reasonable agreement with each other. The current record-holder for the highest-redshift spectroscopically confirmed SN II-P is PS1-13bni (z = 0.335 +0.009 -0.012), and illustrates the promise of Type II SNe as cosmological tools. We updated existing EPM and SCM Hubble diagrams by adding our sample to those previously published. Within the context of Type II SN distance measuring techniques, we investigated two related questions. First, we explored the possibility of utilising spectral lines other than the traditionally used Fe II 5169 to infer the photospheric velocity of SN ejecta. Using local well-observed objects, we derive an epoch-dependent relation between the strong Balmer line and Fe II 5169 velocities that is applicable 30 to 40 days post-explosion. Motivated in part by the continuum of key observables such as rise time and decline rates exhibited from II-P to II-L SNe, we assessed the possibility of using Hubble-flow Type II-L SNe as distance indicators. These yield similar distances as the Type II-P SNe. Although these initial results are encouraging, a significantly larger sample of SNe II-L would be required to draw definitive conclusions.
Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) have recently attracted much attention as a possible way to extend the Hubble diagram to very high redshift. To this aim, the luminosity (or isotropic emitted energy) of a GRB at redshift z must be evaluated from a correlation with a distance independent quantity so that one can then solve for the luminosity distance D_L(z) and hence the distance modulus mu(z). Averaging over five different two parameters correlations and using a fiducial cosmological model to calibrate them, Schaefer (2007) has compiled a sample of 69 GRBs with measured mu(z) which has since then been widely used to constrain cosmological parameters. We update here that sample by many aspects. First, we add a recently found correlation for the X - ray afterglow and use a Bayesian inspired fitting method to calibrate the different GRBs correlations known insofar assuming a fiducial LCDM model in agreement with the recent WMAP5 data. Averaging over six correlations, we end with a new GRBs Hubble diagram comprising 83 objects. We also extensively explore the impact of varying the fiducial cosmological model considering how the estimated mu(z) change as a function of the $(Omega_M, w_0, w_a)$ parameters of the Chevallier - Polarski - Linder phenomenological dark energy equation of state. In order to avoid the need of assuming an {it a priori} cosmological model, we present a new calibration procedure based on a model independent local regression estimate of mu(z) using the Union SNeIa sample to calibrate the GRBs correlations. This finally gives us a GRBs Hubble diagram made out of 69 GRBs whose estimated distance modulus mu(z) is almost independent on the underlying cosmological model.