No Arabic abstract
The model of a radial minor merger proposed by Quinn (1984), which successfully reproduces the observed regular shell systems in shell galaxies, is ideal for a test-particle simulation. We compare such a simulation with a self-consistent one. They agree very well in positions of the first generation of shells but potentially important effects -- dynamical friction and gradual decay of the dwarf galaxy -- are not present in the test-particle model, therefore we look for a proper way to include them.
We present new deep observations of shell structures in the halo of the nearby elliptical galaxy NGC 7600, alongside a movie of galaxy formation in a cold dark matter universe (available at http://www.virgo.dur.ac.uk/shell-galaxies). The movie, based on an ab initio cosmological simulation, shows how continuous accretion of clumps of dark matter and stars creates a swath of diffuse circumgalactic structures. The disruption of a massive clump on a near-radial orbit creates a complex system of transient concentric shells which bare a striking resemblance to those of NGC 7600. With the aid of the simulation we interpret NGC 7600 in the context of the CDM model.
We present a variation of the recently updated Munich semi-analytical galaxy formation model, L-Galaxies, with a new gas stripping method. Extending earlier work, we directly measure the local environmental properties of galaxies to formulate a more accurate treatment of ram-pressure stripping for all galaxies. We fully re-calibrate the modified L-Galaxies model using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method with the stellar mass function and quenched fraction of galaxies at $0leq zleq2$ as constraints. Due to this re-calibration, global galaxy population relations, including the stellar mass function, quenched fractions versus galaxy mass and HI mass function are all largely unchanged and remain consistent with observations. By comparing to data on galaxy properties in different environments from the SDSS and HSC surveys, we demonstrate that our modified model improves the agreement with the quenched fractions and star formation rates of galaxies as a function of environment, stellar mass, and redshift. Overall, in the vicinity of haloes with total mass $10^{12}$ to $10^{15}rm M_{odot}$ at $z=0$, our new model produces higher quenched fractions and stronger environmental dependencies, better recovering observed trends with halocentric distance up to several virial radii. By analysing the actual amount of gas stripped from galaxies in our model, we show that those in the vicinity of massive haloes lose a large fraction of their hot halo gas before they become satellites. We demonstrate that this affects galaxy quenching both within and beyond the halo boundary. This is likely to influence the correlations between galaxies up to tens of megaparsecs.
We present a suite of 15 cosmological zoom-in simulations of isolated dark matter halos, all with masses of $M_{rm halo} approx 10^{10},{rm M}_odot$ at $z=0$, in order to understand the relationship between halo assembly, galaxy formation, and feedbacks effects on the central density structure in dwarf galaxies. These simulations are part of the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project and are performed at extremely high resolution. The resultant galaxies have stellar masses that are consistent with rough abundance matching estimates, coinciding with the faintest galaxies that can be seen beyond the virial radius of the Milky Way ($M_star/{rm M}_odotapprox 10^5-10^7$). This non-negligible spread in stellar mass at $z=0$ in halos within a narrow range of virial masses is strongly correlated with central halo density or maximum circular velocity $V_{rm max}$. Much of this dependence of $M_star$ on a second parameter (beyond $M_{rm halo}$) is a direct consequence of the $M_{rm halo}sim10^{10},{rm M}_odot$ mass scale coinciding with the threshold for strong reionization suppression: the densest, earliest-forming halos remain above the UV-suppression scale throughout their histories while late-forming systems fall below the UV-suppression scale over longer periods and form fewer stars as a result. In fact, the latest-forming, lowest-concentration halo in our suite fails to form any stars. Halos that form galaxies with $M_stargtrsim2times10^{6},{rm M}_odot$ have reduced central densities relative to dark-matter-only simulations, and the radial extent of the density modifications is well-approximated by the galaxy half-mass radius $r_{1/2}$. This apparent stellar mass threshold of $M_star approx 2times 10^{6} approx 2times 10^{-4} ,M_{rm halo}$ is broadly consistent with previous work and provides a testable prediction of FIRE feedback models in LCDM.
Using samples drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we study for the first time the relation between large-scale environments (Clusters, Groups and Voids) and the stellar Initial Mass Function (IMF). We perform an observational approach based on the comparison of IMF-sensitive indices of quiescent galaxies with similar mass in varying environments. These galaxies are selected within a narrow redshift interval ($ 0.020 < z < 0.055 $) and spanning a range in velocity dispersion from 100 to 200 kms$^{-1}$. The results of this paper are based upon analysis of composite spectra created by stacking the spectra of galaxies, binned by their velocity dispersion and redshift. The trends of spectral indices as measured from the stacked spectra, with respect to velocity dispersion, are compared in different environments. We find a lack of dependence of the IMF on the environment for intermediate-mass galaxy regime. We verify this finding by providing a more quantitative measurement of the IMF variations among galactic environments using MILES stellar population models with a precision of $DeltaGamma_{b}sim0.2$.
We introduce the Virgo Consortiums EAGLE project, a suite of hydrodynamical simulations that follow the formation of galaxies and black holes in representative volumes. We discuss the limitations of such simulations in light of their finite resolution and poorly constrained subgrid physics, and how these affect their predictive power. One major improvement is our treatment of feedback from massive stars and AGN in which thermal energy is injected into the gas without the need to turn off cooling or hydrodynamical forces, allowing winds to develop without predetermined speed or mass loading factors. Because the feedback efficiencies cannot be predicted from first principles, we calibrate them to the z~0 galaxy stellar mass function and the amplitude of the galaxy-central black hole mass relation, also taking galaxy sizes into account. The observed galaxy mass function is reproduced to $lesssim 0.2$ dex over the full mass range, $10^8 < M_*/M_odot lesssim 10^{11}$, a level of agreement close to that attained by semi-analytic models, and unprecedented for hydrodynamical simulations. We compare our results to a representative set of low-redshift observables not considered in the calibration, and find good agreement with the observed galaxy specific star formation rates, passive fractions, Tully-Fisher relation, total stellar luminosities of galaxy clusters, and column density distributions of intergalactic CIV and OVI. While the mass-metallicity relations for gas and stars are consistent with observations for $M_* gtrsim 10^9 M_odot$, they are insufficiently steep at lower masses. The gas fractions and temperatures are too high for clusters of galaxies, but for groups these discrepancies can be resolved by adopting a higher heating temperature in the subgrid prescription for AGN feedback. EAGLE constitutes a valuable new resource for studies of galaxy formation.