No Arabic abstract
We examine the global HI properties of galaxies in quarter-billion particle cosmological simulations using Gadget-2, focusing on how galactic outflows impact HI content. We consider four outflow models, including a new one (ezw) motivated by recent interstellar medium simulations in which the wind speed and mass loading factor scale as expected for momentum-driven outflows for larger galaxies and energy-driven outflows for dwarfs (sigma<75 km/s). To obtain predicted HI masses, we employ a simple but effective local correction for particle self-shielding, and an observationally-constrained transition from neutral to molecular hydrogen. Our ezw simulation produces an HI mass function whose faint-end slope of -1.3 agrees well with observations from the ALFALFA survey; other models agree less well. Satellite galaxies have a bimodal distribution in HI fraction versus halo mass, with smaller satellites and/or those in larger halos more often being HI-deficient. At a given stellar mass, HI content correlates with star formation rate and inversely correlates with metallicity, as expected if driven by stochasticity in the accretion rate. To higher redshifts, massive HI galaxies disappear and the mass function steepens. The global cosmic HI density conspires to remain fairly constant from z~5-0, but the relative contribution from smaller galaxies increases with redshift.
We study the nature of rapidly star-forming galaxies at z=2 in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations, and compare their properties to observations of sub-millimetre galaxies (SMGs). We identify simulated SMGs as the most rapidly star-forming systems that match the observed number density of SMGs. In our models, SMGs are massive galaxies sitting at the centres of large potential wells, being fed by smooth infall and gas-rich satellites at rates comparable to their star formation rates (SFR). They are not typically undergoing major mergers that significantly boost their quiescent SFR, but they still often show complex gas morphologies and kinematics. Our simulated SMGs have stellar masses of log M*/Mo~11-11.7, SFRs of ~180-500 Mo/yr, a clustering length of 10 Mpc/h, and solar metallicities. The SFRs are lower than those inferred from far-IR data by a factor of 3, which we suggest may owe to one or more systematic effects in the SFR calibrations. SMGs at z=2 live in ~10^13 Mo halos, and by z=0 they mostly end up as brightest group galaxies in ~10^14 Mo halos. We predict that higher-M* SMGs should have on average lower specific SFRs, less disturbed morphologies, and higher clustering. We also predict that deeper far-IR surveys will smoothly join SMGs onto the massive end of the SFR-M* relationship defined by lower-mass z=2 galaxies. Overall, our simulated rapid star-formers provide as good a match to available SMG data as merger-based scenarios, offering an alternative scenario that emerges naturally from cosmological simulations.
We examine the past and current work on the star formation (SF) histories of dwarf galaxies in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. The results obtained from different numerical methods are still somewhat mixed, but the differences are understandable if we consider the numerical and resolution effects. It remains a challenge to simulate the episodic nature of SF history in dwarf galaxies at late times within the cosmological context of a cold dark matter model. More work is needed to solve the mysteries of SF history of dwarf galaxies employing large-scale hydrodynamic simulations on the next generation of supercomputers.
Massive galaxies today typically are not forming stars despite being surrounded by hot gaseous halos with short central cooling times. This likely owes to some form of quenching feedback such as merger-driven quasar activity or radio jets emerging from central black holes. Here we implement heuristic prescriptions for these phenomena on-the-fly within cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. We constrain them by comparing to observed luminosity functions and color-magnitude diagrams from SDSS. We find that quenching from mergers alone does not produce a realistic red sequence, because 1 - 2 Gyr after a merger the remnant accretes new fuel and star formation reignites. In contrast, quenching by continuously adding thermal energy to hot gaseous halos quantitatively matches the red galaxy luminosity function and produces a reasonable red sequence. Small discrepancies remain - a shallow red sequence slope suggests that our models underestimate metal production or retention in massive red galaxies, while a deficit of massive blue galaxies may reflect the fact that observed heating is intermittent rather than continuous. Overall, injection of energy into hot halo gas appears to be a necessary and sufficient condition to broadly produce red and dead massive galaxies as observed.
Recently Menard et al. detected a subtle but systematic change in the mean color of quasars as a function of their projected separation from foreground galaxies, extending to comoving separations of ~10Mpc/h, which they interpret as a signature of reddening by intergalactic dust. We present theoretical models of this remarkable observation, using SPH cosmological simulations of a (50Mpc/h)^3 volume. Our primary model uses a simulation with galactic winds and assumes that dust traces the intergalactic metals. The predicted galaxy-dust correlation function is similar in form to the galaxy-mass correlation function, and reproducing the MSFR data requires a dust-to-metal mass ratio of 0.24, about half the value in the Galactic ISM. Roughly half of the reddening arises in dust that is more than 100Kpc/h from the nearest massive galaxy. We also examine a simulation with no galactic winds, which predicts a much smaller fraction of intergalactic metals (3% vs. 35%) and therefore requires an unphysical dust-to-metal ratio of 2.18 to reproduce the MSFR data. In both models, the signal is dominated by sightlines with E(g-i)=0.001-0.1. The no-wind simulation can be reconciled with the data if we also allow reddening to arise in galaxies up to several x 10^10 Msun. The wind model predicts a mean visual extinction of A_V ~0.0133 mag out to z=0.5, with a sightline-to-sightline dispersion similar to the mean, which could be significant for future supernova cosmology studies. Reproducing the MSFR results in these simulations requires that a large fraction of ISM dust survive its expulsion from galaxies and its residence in the intergalactic medium. Future observational studies that provide higher precision and measure the dependence on galaxy type and environment will allow detailed tests for models of enriched galactic outflows and the survival of IG dust.
What type of objects are being detected as $zsim 3$ Lyman break galaxies? Are they predominantly the most massive galaxies at that epoch, or are many of them smaller galaxies undergoing a short-lived burst of merger-induced star formation? We attempt to address this question using high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulations including star formation and feedback. Our $Lambda$CDM simulation, together with Bruzual-Charlot population synthesis models, reproduces the observed number density and luminosity function of Lyman break galaxies when dust is incorporated. The inclusion of dust is crucial for this agreement. In our simulation, these galaxies are predominantly the most massive objects at this epoch, and have a significant population of older stars. Nevertheless, it is possible that our simulations lack the resolution and requisite physics to produce starbursts, despite having a physical resolution of $la 700$ pc at z=3. Thus we cannot rule out merger-induced starburst galaxies also contributing to the observed population of high-redshift objects.