No Arabic abstract
We present hydrodynamical N-body simulations of clusters of galaxies with feedback taken from semi-analytic models of galaxy formation. The advantage of this technique is that the source of feedback in our simulations is a population of galaxies that closely resembles that found in the real universe. We demonstrate that, to achieve the high entropy levels found in clusters, active galactic nuclei must inject a large fraction of their energy into the intergalactic/intracluster media throughout the growth period of the central black hole. These simulations reinforce the argument of Bower et al. (2008), who arrived at the same conclusion on the basis of purely semi-analytic reasoning.
We present hydrodynamical N-body simulations of clusters of galaxies with feedback taken from semi-analytic models of galaxy formation. The advantage of this technique is that the source of feedback in our simulations is a population of galaxies that closely resembles that found in the real universe. We demonstrate that, to achieve the high entropy levels found in clusters, active galactic nuclei must inject a large fraction of their energy into the intergalactic/intracluster media throughout the growth period of the central black hole. These simulations reinforce the argument of Bower et al., who arrived at the same conclusion on the basis of purely semi-analytic reasoning.
It is now possible for hydrodynamical simulations to reproduce a representative galaxy population. Accordingly, it is timely to assess critically some of the assumptions of traditional semi-analytic galaxy formation models. We use the Eagle simulations to assess assumptions built into the Galform semi-analytic model, focussing on those relating to baryon cycling, angular momentum and feedback. We show that the assumption in Galform that newly formed stars have the same specific angular momentum as the total disc leads to a significant overestimate of the total stellar specific angular momentum of disc galaxies. In Eagle, stars form preferentially out of low specific angular momentum gas in the interstellar medium (ISM) due to the assumed gas density threshold for stars to form, leading to more realistic galaxy sizes. We find that stellar mass assembly is similar between Galform and Eagle but that the evolution of gas properties is different, with various indications that the rate of baryon cycling in Eagle is slower than is assumed in Galform. Finally, by matching individual galaxies between Eagle and Galform, we find that an artificial dependence of AGN feedback and gas infall rates on halo mass doubling events in Galform drives most of the scatter in stellar mass between individual objects. Put together our results suggest that the Galform semi-analytic model can be significantly improved in light of recent advances.
The sterile neutrino is a viable dark matter candidate that can be produced in the early Universe via non-equilibrium processes, and would therefore possess a highly non-thermal spectrum of primordial velocities. In this paper we analyse the process of structure formation with this class of dark matter particles. To this end we construct primordial dark matter power spectra as a function of the lepton asymmetry, $L_6$, that is present in the primordial plasma and leads to resonant sterile neutrino production. We compare these power spectra with those of thermally produced dark matter particles and show that resonantly produced sterile neutrinos are much colder than their thermal relic counterparts. We also demonstrate that the shape of these power spectra is not determined by the free-streaming scale alone. We then use the power spectra as an input for semi-analytic models of galaxy formation in order to predict the number of luminous satellite galaxies in a Milky Way-like halo. By assuming that the mass of the Milky Way halo must be no more than $2times10^{12}M_{odot}$ (the adopted upper bound based on current astronomical observations) we are able to constrain the value of $L_6$ for $M_sle 8$~keV. We also show that the range of $L_6$ that is in best agreement with the 3.5~keV line (if produced by decays of 7~keV sterile neutrino) requires that the Milky Way halo has a mass no smaller than $1.5times10^{12}M_{odot}$. Finally, we compare the power spectra obtained by direct integration of the Boltzmann equations for a non-resonantly produced sterile neutrino with the fitting formula of Viel~et~al. and find that the latter significantly underestimates the power amplitude on scales relevant to satellite galaxies.
It is now widely accepted that heating processes play a fundamental role in galaxy clusters, struggling in an intricate but fascinating `dance with its antagonist, radiative cooling. Last generation observations, especially X-ray, are giving us tiny hints about the notes of this endless ballet. Cavities, shocks, turbulence and wide absorption-lines indicate the central active nucleus is injecting huge amount of energy in the intracluster medium. However, which is the real dominant engine of self-regulated heating? One of the model we propose are massive subrelativistic outflows, probably generated by a wind disc or just the result of the entrainment on kpc scale by the fast radio jet. Using a modified version of AMR code FLASH 3.2, we explored several feedback mechanisms which self-regulate the mechanical power. Two are the best schemes that answer our primary question, id est quenching cooling flow and at the same time preserving a cool core appearance for a long term evolution (7 Gyr): one more explosive (with efficiencies 0.005 - 0.01), triggered by central cooled gas, and the other gentler, ignited by hot gas Bondi accretion (with efficiency 0.1). These three-dimensional simulations show that the total energy injected is not the key aspect, but the results strongly depend on how energy is given to the ICM. We follow the dynamics of best model (temperature, density, SB maps and profiles) and produce many observable predictions: buoyant bubbles, ripples, turbulence, iron abundance maps and hydrostatic equilibrium deviation. We present a deep discussion of merits and flaws of all our models, with a critical eye towards observational concordance.
We construct the Numerical Galaxy Catalog ($ u$GC), based on a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation combined with high-resolution N-body simulations in a $Lambda$-dominated flat cold dark matter ($Lambda$CDM) cosmological model. The model includes several essential ingredients for galaxy formation, such as merging histories of dark halos directly taken from N-body simulations, radiative gas cooling, star formation, heating by supernova explosions (supernova feedback), mergers of galaxies, population synthesis, and extinction by internal dust and intervening HI clouds. As the first paper in a series using this model, we focus on basic photometric, structural and kinematical properties of galaxies at present and high redshifts. Two sets of model parameters are examined, strong and weak supernova feedback models, which are in good agreement with observational luminosity functions of local galaxies in a range of observational uncertainty. Both models agree well with many observations such as cold gas mass-to-stellar luminosity ratios of spiral galaxies, HI mass functions, galaxy sizes, faint galaxy number counts and photometric redshift distributions in optical pass-bands, isophotal angular sizes, and cosmic star formation rates. In particular, the strong supernova feedback model is in much better agreement with near-infrared (K-band) faint galaxy number counts and redshift distribution than the weak feedback model and our previous semi-analytic models based on the extended Press-Schechter formalism. (Abridged)