We study the statistical properties of mergers between central and satellite galaxies in galaxy clusters in the redshift range $0<z<1$, using a sample of dark-matter only cosmological N-body simulations from Le SBARBINE dataset. Using a spherical ove
rdensity algorithm to identify dark-matter haloes, we construct halo merger trees for different values of the over-density $Delta_c$. While the virial overdensity definition allows us to probe the accretion of satellites at the cluster virial radius $r_{vir}$, higher overdensities probe satellite mergers in the central region of the cluster, down to $approx 0.06 r_{vir}$, which can be considered a proxy for the accretion of satellite galaxies onto central galaxies. We find that the characteristic merger mass ratio increases for increasing values of $Delta_c$: more than $60%$ of the mass accreted by central galaxies since $zapprox 1$ comes from major mergers. The orbits of satellites accreting onto central galaxies tend to be more tangential and more bound than orbits of haloes accreting at the virial radius. The obtained distributions of merger mass ratios and orbital parameters are useful to model the evolution of the high-mass end of the galaxy scaling relations without resorting to hydrodynamic cosmological simulations.
Exploiting the data of the Grism Lens-Amplified Survey from Space (GLASS), we characterize the spatial distribution of star formation in 76 high star forming galaxies in 10 clusters at 0.3< z <0.7. All these galaxies are likely restricted to first in
fall. In a companion paper we contrast the properties of field and cluster galaxies, whereas here we correlate the properties of H{alpha} emitters to a number of tracers of the cluster environment to investigate its role in driving galaxy transformations. H{alpha} emitters are found in the clusters out to 0.5 virial radii, the maximum radius covered by GLASS. The peak of the H{alpha} emission is offset with respect to the peak of the UV-continuum. We decompose this offsets into a radial and tangential component. The radial compo- nent points away from the cluster center in 60% of the cases, with 95% confidence. The decompositions agree with cosmological simulations, i.e. the H{alpha} emission offset correlates with galaxy velocity and ram-pressure stripping signatures. Trends between H{alpha} emitter properties and surface mass density distributions and X-ray emissions emerge only for unrelaxed clusters. The lack of strong correlations with the global environment does not allow us to identify a unique environmental effect originating from the cluster center. In contrast, correla- tions between H{alpha} morphology and local number density emerge. We conclude that local effects, uncorrelated to the cluster-centric radius, play a more important role in shaping galaxy properties.
We continue the study of collisionless systems governed by additive $r^{-alpha}$ interparticle forces by focusing on the influence of the force exponent $alpha$ on radial orbital anisotropy. In this preparatory work we construct the radially anisotro
pic Osipkov-Merritt phase-space distribution functions for self-consistent spherical Hernquist models with $r^{-alpha}$ forces and $1leqalpha<3$. The resulting systems are isotropic at the center and increasingly dominated by radial orbits at radii larger than the anisotropy radius $r_a$. For radially anisotropic models we determine the minimum value of the anisotropy radius $r_{ac}$ as a function of $alpha$ for phase-space consistency (such that the phase-space distribution function is nowhere negative for $r_ageq r_{ac}$). We find that $r_{ac}$ decreases for decreasing $alpha$, and that the amount of kinetic energy that can be stored in the radial direction relative to that stored in the tangential directions for marginally consistent models increases for decreasing $alpha$. In particular, we find that isotropic systems are consistent in the explored range of $alpha$. By means of direct $N$-body simulations we finally verify that the isotropic systems are also stable.
We present an approach to the design of distribution functions that depend on the phase-space coordinates through the action integrals. The approach makes it easy to construct a dynamical model of a given stellar component. We illustrate the approach
by deriving distribution functions that self-consistently generate several popular stellar systems, including the Hernquist, Jaffe, and Navarro, Frenk and White models. We focus on non-rotating spherical systems, but extension to flattened and rotating systems is trivial. Our distribution functions are easily added to each other and to previously published distribution functions for discs to create self-consistent multi-component galaxies. The models this approach makes possible should prove valuable both for the interpretation of observational data and for exploring the non-equilibrium dynamics of galaxies via N-body simulation.
Simulations of the clustering of cold dark matter yield dark-matter halos that have central density cusps, but observations of totally dark-matter dominated dwarf spheroidal galaxies imply that they do not have cuspy central density profiles. We use
analytic calculations and numerical modelling to argue that whenever stars form, central density cusps are likely to be erased. Gas that accumulates in the potential well of an initially cuspy dark-matter halo settles into a disc. Eventually the surface density of the gas exceeds the threshold for fragmentation into self-gravitating clouds. The clouds are massive enough to transfer energy to the dark-matter particles via dynamical friction on a short time-scale. The halos central cusp is heated to form a core with central logarithmic density slope gamma=0 before stellar feedback makes its impact. Since star formation is an inefficient process, the clouds are disrupted by feedback when only a small fraction of their mass has been converted to stars, and the dark matter dominates the final mass distribution.
Early-type galaxies (ETGs) are observed to be more compact, on average, at $z gtrsim 2$ than at $zsimeq 0$, at fixed stellar mass. Recent observational works suggest that such size evolution could reflect the similar evolution of the host dark matter
halo density as a function of the time of galaxy quenching. We explore this hypothesis by studying the distribution of halo central velocity dispersion ($sigma_0$) and half-mass radius ($r_{rm h}$) as functions of halo mass $M$ and redshift $z$, in a cosmological $Lambda$-CDM $N$-body simulation. In the range $0lesssim zlesssim 2.5$, we find $sigma_0propto M^{0.31-0.37}$ and $r_{rm h}propto M^{0.28-0.32}$, close to the values expected for homologous virialized systems. At fixed $M$ in the range $10^{11} M_odot lesssim Mlesssim 5.5 times 10^{14} M_odot$ we find $sigma_0propto(1+z)^{0.35}$ and $r_{rm h}propto(1+z)^{-0.7}$. We show that such evolution of the halo scaling laws is driven by individual haloes growing in mass following the evolutionary tracks $sigma_0propto M^{0.2}$ and $r_{rm h}propto M^{0.6}$, consistent with simple dissipationless merging models in which the encounter orbital energy is accounted for. We compare the $N$-body data with ETGs observed at $0lesssim zlesssim3$ by populating the haloes with a stellar component under simple but justified assumptions: the resulting galaxies evolve consistently with the observed ETGs up to $z simeq 2$, but the model has difficulty reproducing the fast evolution observed at $zgtrsim 2$. We conclude that a substantial fraction of the size evolution of ETGs can be ascribed to a systematic dependence on redshift of the dark matter haloes structural properties.
Dissipationless (gas-free or dry) mergers have been suggested to play a major role in the formation and evolution of early-type galaxies, particularly in growing their mass and size without altering their stellar populations. We perform a new test of
the dry merger hypothesis by comparing N-body simulations of realistic systems to empirical constraints provided by recent studies of lens early-type galaxies. We find that major and minor dry mergers: i) preserve the nearly isothermal structure of early-type galaxies within the observed scatter; ii) do not change more than the observed scatter the ratio between total mass M and virial mass R_e*sigma/2G (where R_e is the half-light radius and sigma the projected velocity dispersion); iii) increase strongly galaxy sizes [as M^(0.85+/-0.17)] and weakly velocity dispersions [as M^(0.06+/-0.08)] with mass, thus moving galaxies away from the local observed M-R_e and M-sigma relations; iv) introduce substantial scatter in the M-R_e and M-sigma relations. Our findings imply that, unless there is a high degree of fine tuning of the mix of progenitors and types of interactions, present-day massive early-type galaxies cannot have assembled more than ~50% of their mass, and increased their size by more than a factor ~1.8, via dry merging.
We apply the joint lensing and dynamics code for the analysis of early-type galaxies, CAULDRON, to a rotating N-body stellar system with dark matter halo which significantly violates the two major assumptions of the method, i.e. axial symmetry suppor
ted by a two-integral distribution function. The goal is to study how CAULDRON performs in an extreme case, and to determine which galaxy properties can still be robustly recovered. Three data sets, corresponding to orthogonal lines of sight, are generated from the N-body system and analysed with the identical procedure followed in the study of real lens galaxies, adopting an axisymmetric power-law total density distribution. We find that several global properties of the N-body system are recovered with remarkable accuracy, despite the fact that the adopted power-law model is too simple to account for the lack of symmetry of the true density distribution. In particular, the logarithmic slope of the total density distribution is robustly recovered to within less than 10 per cent (with the exception of the ill-constrained very inner regions), the inferred angle-averaged radial profile of the total mass closely follows the true distribution, and the dark matter fraction of the system (inside the effective radius) is correctly determined within ~ 10 per cent of the total mass. Unless the line of sight direction is almost parallel to the total angular momentum vector of the system, reliably recovered quantities also include the angular momentum, the V/sigma ratio, and the anisotropy parameter delta. We conclude that the CAULDRON code can be safely and effectively applied to real early-type lens galaxies, providing reliable information also for systems that depart significantly from the methods assumptions.
We describe some results obtained with N-MODY, a code for N-body simulations of collisionless stellar systems in modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND). We found that a few fundamental dynamical processes are profoundly different in MOND and in Newtonian
gravity with dark matter. In particular, violent relaxation, phase mixing and galaxy merging take significantly longer in MOND than in Newtonian gravity, while dynamical friction is more effective in a MOND system than in an equivalent Newtonian system with dark matter.
We describe the numerical code N-MODY, a parallel particle-mesh code for collisionless N-body simulations in modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND). N-MODY is based on a numerical potential solver in spherical coordinates that solves the non-linear MOND
field equation, and is ideally suited to simulate isolated stellar systems. N-MODY can be used also to compute the MOND potential of arbitrary static density distributions. A few applications of N-MODY indicate that some astrophysically relevant dynamical processes are profoundly different in MOND and in Newtonian gravity with dark matter.
