No Arabic abstract
Using self-consistent cosmological simulations of disc galaxy formation, we analyse the 1.4 GHz radio flux from high-redshift progenitors of present-day normal spirals within the context of present-day and planned next-generation observational facilities. We demonstrate that while current radio facilities such as the Very Large Array (VLA) are unlikely to trace these progenitors beyond redshifts z<0.2, future facilities such as the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) will readily probe their characteristics to redshifts z<2, and are likely to provide detections beyond z~3. We also demonstrate that the progenitors of present-day cD galaxies can emit in excess of 10 uJy of flux at redshifts z>1, and may be a non-negligible contributor to the micro-Jansky source counts derived from current deep VLA cm-wave surveys.
We investigate the structure of galaxies formed in a suite of high-resolution cosmological simulations. Consistent with observations of high-redshift galaxies, our simulated galaxies show irregular, prolate shapes with thick stellar disks, which are dominated by turbulent motions instead of rotation. Yet molecular gas and young stars are restricted to relatively thin disks. We examine the accuracy of applying the Toomre linear stability analysis to predict the location and amount of gas available for star formation. We find that the Toomre criterion still works for these irregular galaxies, after correcting for multiple gas and stellar components: the $Q$ parameter in $rm{H_2}$ rich regions is in the range $0.5-1$, remarkably close to unity. Due to the violent stellar feedback from supernovae and strong turbulent motions, young stars and molecular gas are not always spatially associated. Neither the $Q$ map nor the $rm{H_2}$ surface density map coincide with recent star formation exactly. We argue that the Toomre criterion is a better indicator of future star formation than a single $rm{H_2}$ surface density threshold because of the smaller dynamic range of $Q$. The depletion time of molecular gas is below 1~Gyr on kpc scale, but with large scatter. Centering the aperture on density peaks of gas/young stars systematically biases the depletion time to larger/smaller values and increases the scatter.
We compute the infrared (IR) emission from high-redshift galaxies in cosmological smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations by coupling the output of the simulation with the population synthesis code `GRASIL by Silva et al. Based on the stellar mass, metallicity and formation time of each star particle, we estimate the full spectral energy distribution of each star particle from ultraviolet to IR, and compute the luminosity function of simulated galaxies in the Spitzer broadband filters for direct comparison with the available Spitzer observations.
CO measurements of z~1-4 galaxies have found that their baryonic gas fractions are significantly higher than galaxies at z=0, with values ranging from 20-80 %. Here, we suggest that the gas fractions inferred from observations of star-forming galaxies at high-z are overestimated, owing to the adoption of locally-calibrated CO-H2 conversion factors (Xco). Evidence from both observations and numerical models suggest that Xco varies smoothly with the physical properties of galaxies, and that Xco can be parameterised simply as a function of both gas phase metallicity and observed CO surface brightness. When applying this functional form, we find fgas ~10-40 % in galaxies with M*=10^10-10^12 Msun at high-z. Moreover, the scatter in the observed fgas-M* relation is lowered by a factor of two. The lower inferred gas fractions arise physically because the interstellar media of high-z galaxies have higher velocity dispersions and gas temperatures than their local counterparts, which results in an Xco that is lower than the z=0 value for both quiescent discs and starbursts. We further compare these gas fractions to those predicted by cosmological galaxy formation models. We show that while the canonically inferred gas fractions from observations are a factor of 2-3 larger at a given stellar mass than predicted by models, our rederived Xco values for z=1-4 galaxies results in revised gas fractions that agree significantly better with the simulations.
At peak, long-duration gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous sources of electromagnetic radiation known. Since their progenitors are massive stars, they provide a tracer of star formation and star-forming galaxies over the whole of cosmic history. Their bright power-law afterglows provide ideal backlights for absorption studies of the interstellar and intergalactic medium back to the reionization era. The proposed THESEUS mission is designed to detect large samples of GRBs at $z>6$ in the 2030s, at a time when supporting observations with major next generation facilities will be possible, thus enabling a range of transformative science. THESEUS will allow us to explore the faint end of the luminosity function of galaxies and the star formation rate density to high redshifts; constrain the progress of re-ionisation beyond $zgtrsim6$; study in detail early chemical enrichment from stellar explosions, including signatures of Population III stars; and potentially characterize the dark energy equation of state at the highest redshifts.
We present preliminary results from simulated large sky coverage (~100 square degrees) Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (SZE) cluster surveys using the cosmological adaptive mesh refinement N-body/hydro code Enzo. We have generated simulated light cones to match the resolution and sensitivity of current and future SZE instruments. These simulations are the most advanced calculations of their kind. The simulated sky surveys allow a direct comparison of large N-body/hydro cosmological simulations to current and pending sky surveys. Our synthetic surveys provide an indispensable guide for observers in the interpretation of large area sky surveys, and will develop the tools necessary to discriminate between models for cluster baryonic physics, and to accurately determine cosmological parameters.