ترغب بنشر مسار تعليمي؟ اضغط هنا

The history of stellar metallicity in a simulated disc galaxy

131   0   0.0 ( 0 )
 نشر من قبل Owain Snaith Dr
 تاريخ النشر 2015
  مجال البحث فيزياء
والبحث باللغة English




اسأل ChatGPT حول البحث

We explore the chemical distribution of stars in a simulated galaxy. Using simulations of the same initial conditions but with two different feedback schemes (MUGS and MaGICC), we examine the features of the age-metallicity relation (AMR), and the three-dimensional age-metallicity-[O/Fe] distribution, both for the galaxy as a whole and decomposed into disc, bulge, halo, and satellites. The MUGS simulation, which uses traditional supernova feedback, is replete with chemical substructure. This sub- structure is absent from the MaGICC simulation, which includes early feedback from stellar winds, a modified IMF and more efficient feedback. The reduced amount of substructure is due to the almost complete lack of satellites in MaGICC. We identify a significant separation between the bulge and disc AMRs, where the bulge is considerably more metal-rich with a smaller spread in metallicity at any given time than the disc. Our results suggest, however, that identifying the substructure in observations will require exquisite age resolution, on the order of 0.25 Gyr. Certain satellites show exotic features in the AMR, even forming a sawtooth shape of increasing metallicity followed by sharp declines which correspond to pericentric passages. This fact, along with the large spread in stellar age at a given metallicity, compromises the use of metallicity as an age indicator, although alpha abundance provides a more robust clock at early times. This may also impact algorithms that are used to reconstruct star formation histories from resolved stellar populations, which frequently assume a monotonically-increasing AMR.

قيم البحث

اقرأ أيضاً

Within a cosmological hydrodynamical simulation, we form a disc galaxy with sub- components which can be assigned to a thin stellar disc, thick disk, and a low mass stellar halo via a chemical decomposition. The thin and thick disc populations so sel ected are distinct in their ages, kinematics, and metallicities. Thin disc stars are young (<6.6 Gyr), possess low velocity dispersion ({sigma}U,V,W = 41, 31, 25 km/s), high [Fe/H], and low [O/Fe]. The thick disc stars are old (6.6<age<9.8 Gyrs), lag the thin disc by sim21 km/s, possess higher velocity dispersion ({sigma}U,V,W = 49, 44, 35 km/s), relatively low [Fe/H] and high [O/Fe]. The halo component comprises less than 4% of stars in the solar annulus of the simulation, has low metallicity, a velocity ellipsoid defined by ({sigma}U,V,W = 62, 46, 45 km/s) and is formed primarily in-situ during an early merger epoch. Gas-rich mergers during this epoch play a major role in fuelling the formation of the old disc stars (the thick disc). This is consistent with studies which show that cold accretion is the main source of a disc galaxys baryons. Our simulation initially forms a relatively short (scalelength sim1.7 kpc at z=1) and kinematically hot disc, primarily from gas accreted during the galaxys merger epoch. Far from being a competing formation scenario, migration is crucial for reconciling the short, hot, discs which form at high redshift in {Lambda}CDM, with the properties of the thick disc at z=0. The thick disc, as defined by its abundances maintains its relatively short scale-length at z = 0 (2.31 kpc) compared with the total disc scale-length of 2.73 kpc. The inside-out nature of disc growth is imprinted the evolution of abundances such that the metal poor {alpha}-young population has a larger scale-length (4.07 kpc) than the more chemically evolved metal rich {alpha}-young population (2.74 kpc).
We study how feedback influences baryon infall onto galaxies using cosmological, zoom-in simulations of haloes with present mass $M_{vir}=6.9times10^{11} M_{odot}$ to $1.7times10^{12} M_{odot}$. Starting at z=4 from identical initial conditions, impl ementations of weak and strong stellar feedback produce bulge- and disc-dominated galaxies, respectively. Strong feedback favours disc formation: (1) because conversion of gas into stars is suppressed at early times, as required by abundance matching arguments, resulting in flat star formation histories and higher gas fractions; (2) because 50% of the stars form in situ from recycled disc gas with angular momentum only weakly related to that of the z=0 dark halo; (3) because late-time gas accretion is typically an order of magnitude stronger and has higher specific angular momentum, with recycled gas dominating over primordial infall; (4) because 25-30% of the total accreted gas is ejected entirely before z~1, removing primarily low angular momentum material which enriches the nearby inter-galactic medium. Most recycled gas roughly conserves its angular momentum, but material ejected for long times and to large radii can gain significant angular momentum before re-accretion. These processes lower galaxy formation efficiency in addition to promoting disc formation.
A number of Local Group dwarf galaxies are known to have two spatially segregated stellar metallicity populations, a centrally concentrated metal-rich population and a more extended metal-poor population. In this work we discuss mechanisms that lead to the formation of two spatially segregated metallicity populations. Using a set of high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of Local Group-like environments, we select a sample of satellite and field galaxies, spanning the stellar mass range $10^6-10^9$M$_{odot}$, that exhibit bimodality in their metallicity distributions. Among those, we identify a subsample with a strong spatial segregation in the two populations. We find three distinct mechanisms for their formation. In field dwarfs and in a small fraction of satellites, a merger causes the metal-poor stars to migrate to larger radii and encourages the available gas to sink to the centre of the dwarf. Most of the gas is subsequently blown out of the halo through star formation feedback, but the remaining gas is consumed in the formation of a metal-rich population. In the exclusive case of satellites that have retained some of their gas at infall, it is the compression of this gas by ram pressure near pericentre that triggers the formation of metal-rich stars, whilst simultaneously preventing star formation at larger radii through stripping. Additionally, in a small number of field and satellite dwarfs, interactions with gaseous filaments and other galaxies can result in the formation of a metal-rich population. Regardless of the formation mechanism, a history of mergers typically enhances the spatial segregation.
Massive early-type galaxies commonly have gas discs which are kinematically misaligned with the stellar component. These discs feel a torque from the stars and the angular momentum vectors are expected to align quickly. We present results on the evol ution of a misaligned gas disc in a cosmological simulation of a massive early-type galaxy from the Feedback In Realistic Environments project. This galaxy experiences a merger which, together with a strong galactic wind, removes most of the original gas disc. The galaxy subsequently reforms a gas disc through accretion of cold gas, but it is initially 120 degrees misaligned with the stellar rotation axis. This misalignment persists for about 2 Gyr before the gas-star misalignment angle drops below 20 degrees. The time it takes for the gaseous and stellar components to align is much longer than previously thought, because the gas disc is accreting a significant amount of mass for about 1.5 Gyr after the merger, during which the angular momentum change induced by accreted gas dominates over that induced by stellar torques. Once the gas accretion rate has decreased sufficiently, the gas disc decouples from the surrounding halo gas and realigns with the stellar component in about 6 dynamical times. During the late evolution of the misaligned gas disc, the centre aligns faster than the outskirts, resulting in a warped disc. We discuss the observational consequences of the long survival of our misaligned gas disc and how our results can be used to calibrate merger rate estimates from observed gas misalignments.
Using cosmological galaxy formation simulations from the MaGICC project, spanning more than three magnitudes in stellar mass (~10^7-3x10^{10} Msun), we trace the baryonic cycle of infalling gas from the virial radius through to its participation in t he star formation process. An emphasis is placed upon the temporal history of chemical enrichment during its passage through the corona and CGM. We derive the distributions of time between gas crossing the virial radius and being accreted to the star forming region (which allows mixing within the corona), as well as the time between gas being accreted to the star forming region and then forming stars (which allows mixing within the disc). Significant numbers of stars are formed from gas that cycles back through the hot halo after first accreting to the star forming region. Gas entering high mass galaxies is pre-enriched in low mass proto-galaxies prior to entering the virial radius of the central progenitor, with only small amounts of primordial gas accreted, even at high redshift (z~5). After entering the virial radius, significant further enrichment occurs prior to the accretion of the gas to the star forming region, with gas that is feeding the star forming region surpassing 0.1Z by z=0. Mixing with halo gas, itself enriched via galactic fountains, is thus crucial in determining the metallicity at which gas is accreted to the disc. The lowest mass simulation (Mvir~2x10^{10}Msun, with M*~10^7Msun), by contrast, accretes primordial gas through the virial radius and onto the disc at all times. Much like the classical analytical solutions to the `G-dwarf problem, overproduction of low-metallicity stars is ameliorated by the inefficiency of star formation. Finally, gas outflow/metal removal rates from star forming regions as a function of galactic mass are presented.
التعليقات
جاري جلب التعليقات جاري جلب التعليقات
سجل دخول لتتمكن من متابعة معايير البحث التي قمت باختيارها
mircosoft-partner

هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا