The evolution of galaxy intrinsic alignments in the MassiveBlack II universe


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We investigate the redshift evolution of the intrinsic alignments (IA) of galaxies in the texttt{MassiveBlackII} (MBII) simulation. We select galaxy samples above fixed subhalo mass cuts ($M_h>10^{11,12,13}~M_{odot}/h$) at $z=0.6$ and trace their progenitors to $z=3$ along their merger trees. Dark matter components of $z=0.6$ galaxies are more spherical than their progenitors while stellar matter components tend to be less spherical than their progenitors. The distribution of the galaxy-subhalo misalignment angle peaks at $sim10~mathrm{deg}$ with a mild increase with time. The evolution of the ellipticity-direction~(ED) correlation amplitude $omega(r)$ of galaxies (which quantifies the tendency of galaxies to preferentially point towards surrounding matter overdensities) is governed by the evolution in the alignment of underlying dark matter~(DM) subhaloes to the matter density of field, as well as the alignment between galaxies and their DM subhaloes. At scales $sim1~mathrm{cMpc}/h$, the alignment between DM subhaloes and matter overdensity gets suppressed with time, whereas the alignment between galaxies and DM subhaloes is enhanced. These competing tendencies lead to a complex redshift evolution of $omega(r)$ for galaxies at $sim1~mathrm{cMpc}/h$. At scales $>1~mathrm{cMpc}/h$, alignment between DM subhaloes and matter overdensity does not evolve significantly; the evolution of the galaxy-subhalo misalignment therefore leads to an increase in $omega(r)$ for galaxies by a factor of $sim4$ from $z=3$ to $0.6$ at scales $>1~mathrm{cMpc}/h$. The balance between competing physical effects is scale dependant, leading to different conclusions at much smaller scales($sim0.1~mathrm{Mpc}/h$).

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