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Register a new userThe Local Group: The Ultimate Deep Field
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Michael Boylan-Kolchin
Publication date
2016
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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Near-field cosmology -- using detailed observations of the Local Group and its environs to study wide-ranging questions in galaxy formation and dark matter physics -- has become a mature and rich field over the past decade. There are lingering concerns, however, that the relatively small size of the present-day Local Group ($sim 2$ Mpc diameter) imposes insurmountable sample-variance uncertainties, limiting its broader utility. We consider the region spanned by the Local Groups progenitors at earlier times and show that it reaches $3 approx 7$ co-moving Mpc in linear size (a volume of $approx 350,{rm Mpc}^3$) at $z=7$. This size at early cosmic epochs is large enough to be representative in terms of the matter density and counts of dark matter halos with $M_{rm vir}(z=7) lesssim 2times 10^{9},M_{odot}$. The Local Groups stellar fossil record traces the cosmic evolution of galaxies with $10^{3} lesssim M_{star}(z=0) / M_{odot} lesssim 10^{9}$ (reaching $M_{1500} > -9$ at $zsim7$) over a region that is comparable to or larger than the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) for the entire history of the Universe. It is highly complementary to the HUDF, as it probes much fainter galaxies but does not contain the intrinsically rarer, brighter sources that are detectable in the HUDF. Archaeological studies in the Local Group also provide the ability to trace the evolution of individual galaxies across time as opposed to evaluating statistical connections between temporally distinct populations. In the JWST era, resolved stellar populations will probe regions larger than the HUDF and any deep JWST fields, further enhancing the value of near-field cosmology.
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We use recent proper motion measurements of the tangential velocity of M31, along with its radial velocity and distance, to derive the likelihood of the sum of halo masses of the Milky Way and M31. This is done using a sample halo pairs in the Bolshoi cosmological simulation of $Lambda$CDM cosmology selected to match properties and environment of the Local Group. The resulting likelihood gives estimate of the sum of masses of $M_{rm MW,200}+M_{rm M31,200}=$ $2.40_{-1.05}^{+1.95}times10^{12},M_{odot}$ ($90%$ confidence interval). This estimate is consistent with individual mass estimates for the Milky Way and M31 and is consistent, albeit somewhat on the low side, with the mass estimated using the timing argument. We show that although the timing argument is unbiased on average for all pairs, for pairs constrained to have radial and tangential velocities similar to that of the Local Group the argument overestimates the sum of masses by a factor of $1.6$. Using similar technique we estimate the total dark matter mass enclosed within $1$ Mpc from the Local Group barycenter to be $M_{rm LG}(r<1, {rm Mpc})=4.2_{-2.0}^{+3.4}times10^{12},M_{odot}$ ($90%$ confidence interval).
We explore the characteristics of the cosmic web around Local Group(LG) like pairs using a cosmological simulation in the $Lambda$CDM cosmology. We use the Hessian of the gravitational potential to classify regions on scales of $sim 2$ Mpc as a peak, sheet, filament or void. The sample of LG counterparts is represented by two samples of halo pairs. The first is a general sample composed by pairs with similar masses and isolation criteria as observed for the LG. The second is a subset with additional observed kinematic constraints such as relative pair velocity and separation. We find that the pairs in the LG sample with all constraints are: (i) Preferentially located in filaments and sheets, (ii) Located in in a narrow range of local overdensity $0<delta<2$, web ellipticity $0.1<e<1.0$ and prolateness $-0.4<p<0.4$. (iii) Strongly aligned with the cosmic web. The alignments are such that the pair orbital angular momentum tends to be perpendicular to the smallest tidal eigenvector, $hat{e}_3$, which lies along the filament direction or the sheet plane. A stronger alignment is present for the vector linking the two halos with the vector $hat{e}_3$. Additionally, we fail to find a strong correlation of the spin of each halo in the pair with the cosmic web. All these trends are expected to a great extent from the selection on the LG total mass on the general sample. Applied to the observed LG, there is a potential conflict between the alignments of the different planes of satellites and the numerical evidence for satellite accretion along filaments; the direction defined by $hat{e}_3$. This highlights the relevance of achieving a precise characterization of the place of the LG in the cosmic web in the cosmological context provided by $Lambda$CDM.
We present the first detailed structure formation and radiative transfer simulations of the reionization history of our cosmic neighbourhood. To this end, we follow the formation of the Local Group of galaxies and nearby clusters by means of constrained simulations, which use the available observational constraints to construct a representation of those structures which reproduces their actual positions and properties at the present time. We find that the reionization history of the Local Group is strongly dependent on the assumed photon production efficiencies of the ionizing sources, which are still poorly constrained. If sources are relatively efficient, i.e. the process is photon-rich, the Local Group is primarily ionized externally by the nearby clusters. Alternatively, if the sources are inefficient, i.e. reionization is photon-poor the Local Group evolves largely isolated and reionizes itself. The mode of reionization, external vs. internal, has important implications for the evolution of our neighbourhood, in terms of e.g. its satellite galaxy populations and primordial stellar populations. This therefore provides an important avenue for understanding the young universe by detailed studies of our nearby structures.
The confinement of most satellite galaxies in the Local Group to thin planes presents a challenge to the theory of hierarchical galaxy clustering. The PAndAS collaboration has identified a particularly thin configuration with kinematic coherence among companions of M31 and there have been long standing claims that the dwarf companions to the Milky Way lie in a plane roughly orthogonal to the disk of our galaxy. This discussion investigates the possible origins of four Local Group planes: the plane similar, but not identical to that identified by PAndAS, an adjacent slightly tilted plane, and two planes near the Milky Way: one with nearer galaxies and the other with more distant ones. Plausible orbits are found by using a combination of Numerical Action methods and a backward in time integration procedure. For M31, M33, IC10, and LeoI, solutions are found that are consistent with measurements of their proper motions. For galaxies in planes, there must be commonalities in their proper motions, and this constraint greatly limits the number of physically plausible solutions. Key to the formation of the planar structures has been the evacuation of the Local Void and consequent build-up of the Local Sheet, a wall of this void. Most of the M31 companion galaxies were born in early-forming filamentary or sheet-like substrata that chased M31 out of the void. M31 is a moving target because of its attraction toward the Milky Way, and the result has been alignments stretched toward our galaxy. In the case of the configuration around the Milky Way, it appears that our galaxy was in a three-way competition for companions with M31 and Centaurus A. Only those within a modest band fell our way. The Milky Ways attraction toward the Virgo Cluster resulted in alignments along the Milky Way-Virgo Cluster line.
We contend that a single power law halo mass distribution is appropriate for direct matching to the stellar masses of observed Local Group dwarf galaxies, allowing the determination of the slope of the stellar mass-halo mass relation for low mass galaxies. Errors in halo masses are well defined as the Poisson noise of simulated local group realisations, which we determine using constrained local universe simulations (CLUES). For the stellar mass range 10$^7$<M*<10$^8$M$_odot$, for which we likely have a complete census of observed galaxies, we find that the stellar mass-halo mass relation follows a power law with slope of 3.1, significantly steeper than most values in the literature. The steep relation between stellar and halo masses indicates that Local Group dwarf galaxies are hosted by dark matter halos with a small range of mass. Our methodology is robust down to the stellar mass to which the census of observed Local Group galaxies is complete, but the significant uncertainty in the currently measured slope of the stellar-to halo mass relation will decrease dramatically if the Local Group completeness limit was $10^{6.5}$M$odot$ or below, highlighting the importance of pushing such limit to lower masses and larger volumes.
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