No Arabic abstract
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.
Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations are rich tools to understand the build-up of stellar mass and angular momentum in galaxies, but require some level of calibration to observations. We compare predictions at $zsim0$ from the Eagle, Hydrangea, Horizon-AGN, and Magneticum simulations with integral field spectroscopic (IFS) data from the SAMI Galaxy Survey, ATLAS3D, CALIFA and MASSIVE surveys. The main goal of this work is to simultaneously compare structural, dynamical, and stellar population measurements in order to identify key areas of success and tension. We have taken great care to ensure that our simulated measurement methods match the observational methods as closely as possible. We find that the Eagle and Hydrangea simulations reproduce many galaxy relations but with some offsets at high stellar masses. There are moderate mismatches in $R_e$ (+), $epsilon$ (-), $sigma_e$ (-), and mean stellar age (+), where a plus sign indicates that quantities are too high on average, and minus sign too low. The Horizon-AGN simulations qualitatively reproduce several galaxy relations, but there are a number of properties where we find a quantitative offset to observations. Massive galaxies are better matched to observations than galaxies at low and intermediate masses. Overall, we find mismatches in $R_e$ (+), $epsilon$ (-), $sigma_e$ (-) and $(V/sigma)_e$ (-). Magneticum matches observations well: this is the only simulation where we find ellipticities typical for disk galaxies, but there are moderate differences in $sigma_e$ (-), $(V/sigma)_e$ (-) and mean stellar age (+). Our comparison between simulations and observational data has highlighted several areas for improvement, such as the need for improved modelling resulting in a better vertical disk structure, yet our results demonstrate the vast improvement of cosmological simulations in recent years.
The evolution of galaxies at Cosmic Noon (redshift 1<z<3) passed through a dust-obscured phase, during which most stars formed and black holes in galactic nuclei started to shine, which cannot be seen in the optical and UV, but it needs rest frame mid-to-far IR spectroscopy to be unveiled. At these frequencies, dust extinction is minimal and a variety of atomic and molecular transitions, tracing most astrophysical domains, occur. The future IR space telescope mission, SPICA, currently under evaluation for the 5th Medium Size ESA Cosmic Vision Mission, fully redesigned with its 2.5 m mirror cooled down to T < 8K will perform such observations. SPICA will provide for the first time a 3-dimensional spectroscopic view of the hidden side of star formation and black hole accretion in all environments, from voids to cluster cores over 90% of cosmic time. Here we outline what SPICA will do in galaxy evolution studies.
We implement a detailed dust model into the L-Galaxies semi-analytical model which includes: injection of dust by type II and type Ia supernovae (SNe) and AGB stars; grain growth in molecular clouds; and destruction due to supernova-induced shocks, star formation, and reheating. Our grain growth model follows the dust content in molecular clouds and the inter-cloud medium separately, and allows growth only on pre-existing dust grains. At early times, this can make a significant difference to the dust growth rate. Above $zsim8$, type II SNe are the primary source of dust, whereas below $zsim8$, grain growth in molecular clouds dominates, with the total dust content being dominated by the latter below $zsim6$. However, the detailed history of galaxy formation is important for determining the dust content of any individual galaxy. We introduce a fit to the dust-to-metal (DTM) ratio as a function of metallicity and age, which can be used to deduce the DTM ratio of galaxies at any redshift. At $zlesssim3$, we find a fairly flat mean relation between metallicity and the DTM, and a positive correlation between metallicity and the dust-to-gas (DTG) ratio, in good agreement with the shape and normalisation of the observed relations. We also match the normalisation of the observed stellar mass -- dust mass relation over the redshift range of $0-4$, and to the dust mass function at $z=0$. Our results are important in interpreting observations on the dust content of galaxies across cosmic time, particularly so at high redshift.
Here we introduce GAMESH, a novel pipeline which implements self-consistent radiative and chemical feedback in a computational model of galaxy formation. By combining the cosmological chemical-evolution model GAMETE with the radiative transfer code CRASH, GAMESH can post process realistic outputs of a N-body simulation describing the redshift evolution of the forming galaxy. After introducing the GAMESH implementation and its features, we apply the code to a low-resolution N-body simulation of the Milky Way formation and we investigate the combined effects of self-consistent radiative and chemical feedback. Many physical properties, which can be directly compared with observations in the Galaxy and its surrounding satellites, are predicted by the code along the merger-tree assembly. The resulting redshift evolution of the Local Group star formation rates, reionisation and metal enrichment along with the predicted Metallicity Distribution Function of halo stars are critically compared with observations. We discuss the merits and limitations of the first release of GAMESH, also opening new directions to a full implementation of feedback processes in galaxy formation models by combining semi-analytic and numerical methods.
Galaxy evolution reveals itself not only through the evolving properties of galaxies themselves but also through its impact on the surrounding environment. The intergalactic medium in particular holds a fossil record of past galaxy activity, imprinted on its thermodynamic and chemical properties. This is most easily discerned in small galaxy groups, where the gravitational heating of this gas renders it observable by X-ray telescopes while still leaving its properties highly susceptible to the effects of galactic feedback. X-ray observations of the hot gas in groups can therefore provide a view of galactic feedback history that can complement dedicated studies of AGN and star formation activity at low and high redshift. Based on high-quality X-ray data of a sample of nearby groups, we present initial results of such a study and discuss some implications for the AGN and star formation histories of the group members.