SHORT-LIVED STAR-FORMING GIANT CLUMPS IN COSMOLOGICAL SIMULATIONS OF z ≈ 2 DISKS

By Shy Genel, T. Naab, R. Genzel, N. F. Förster Schreiber, A. Sternberg, Ludwig Oser, Peter H. Johansson, R. Dav'e, B. Oppenheimer, A. Burkert. 2010

148 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Many observed massive star-forming z ≈ 2 galaxies are large disks that exhibit irregular morphologies, with ≈1 kpc, ≈108–1010M⊙ clumps. We present the largest sample to date of high-resolution cosmological smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations that zoom-in on the formation of individual M* ≈ 1010.5M⊙ galaxies in ≈1012M⊙ halos at z ≈ 2. Our code includes strong stellar feedback parameterized as momentum-driven galactic winds. This model reproduces many characteristic features of this observed class of galaxies, such as their clumpy morphologies, smooth and monotonic velocity gradients, high gas fractions (fg ≈ 50%), and high specific star formation rates (≳1 Gyr−1). In accord with recent models, giant clumps (Mclump ≈ (5 × 108–109)M⊙) form in situ via gravitational instabilities. However, the galactic winds are critical for their subsequent evolution. The giant clumps we obtain are short-lived and are disrupted by wind-driven mass loss. They do not virialize or migrate to the galaxy centers as suggested in recent work neglecting strong winds. By phenomenologically implementing the winds that are observed from high-redshift galaxies and in particular from individual clumps, our simulations reproduce well new observational constraints on clump kinematics and clump ages. In particular, the observation that older clumps appear closer to their galaxy centers is reproduced in our simulations, as a result of inside–out formation of the disks rather than inward clump migration.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/22f2dfbdc30e46acf8f66760793e8446d5450f25

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. P. Hopkins
2. L. Hernquist
3. A. Dekel
4. R. Somerville
5. R. Dav'e
6. T. Naab
7. M. Cappellari
8. Volker Springel

In Instrumentation

1. P. Hopkins
2. L. Hernquist
3. M. Cappellari
4. A. Dekel
5. R. Somerville
6. R. Dav'e
7. P. V. van Dokkum
8. T. Naab

In Nuclear and High Energy Physics

1. L. Hernquist
2. E. Quataert
3. P. Hopkins
4. Volker Springel
5. M. Vogelsberger
6. P. Torrey
7. T. Naab
8. D. Sijacki

Citations in the corpus

• A DIVERSITY OF PROGENITORS AND HISTORIES FOR ISOLATED SPIRAL GALAXIES (2012, background): “It is also probably not a consequence of our implementation of supernova feedback (that could dissolve the clumps in some cases, see Genel et al. 2012), because our feedback is rather weak.”
• DIRECT NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF RADIATION PRESSURE-DRIVEN TURBULENCE AND WINDS IN STAR CLUSTERS AND GALACTIC DISKS (2012, background): “…most molecular clouds (Murray et al. 2010) or only those forming the most luminous star clusters (Fall et al. 2010), and whether giant clumps in z ∼ 2 galaxies survive for long times (Krumholz & Dekel 2010) or are rapidly disrupted by stellar feedback (Hopkins et al. 2011a; Genel et al. 2012).”
• The SINS/zC-SINF Survey of z ∼ 2 Galaxy Kinematics: SINFONI Adaptive Optics–assisted Data and Kiloparsec-scale Emission-line Properties (2018, background): “…externallydriven perturbations caused by non-axisymmetric substructures such as massive disk clumps, bars, and spiral arms, or induced by minor mergers and interactions (e.g., Bournaud et al. 2007; Genel et al. 2012; Ceverino et al. 2012), which may also be difficult to disentangle from each other.”
• Physical Models of Galaxy Formation in a Cosmological Framework (2014, methodology): “Models with significant ISM pressurization, either imposed (Genel et al. 2012) or selfconsistently generated (Faucher-Giguère et al. 2013), matched stellar fraction constraints and still produced massive clumps, but these were less prominent and quicker to disrupt.”
• FORMING COMPACT MASSIVE GALAXIES (2015, unknown): “These models are the same as those in Genel et al. (2012), and are updated versions of the momentum-driven wind models of Oppenheimer & Davé (2006) in cosmological simulations.”
• THE LONG LIVES OF GIANT CLUMPS AND THE BIRTH OF OUTFLOWS IN GAS-RICH GALAXIES AT HIGH REDSHIFT (2013, methodology): “Short-lived clump models Other numerical simulations of high-redshift clumpy disks have used strong momentum-driven feedback to model short-lived clumps (Genel et al. 2012, Hopkins et al. 2012).”
• Stellar Feedback in Galaxies and the Origin of Galaxy-scale Winds (2011, background): “…lacking the ability to directly resolve the relevant feedback processes, put in winds ‘by hand’ by e.g. forcing an outflow rate that scales in a user-specified manner with the SFR or other parameters (Springel & Hernquist 2003a; Oppenheimer & Davé 2008; Sales et al. 2010; Genel et al. 2012).”
• PHIBSS: MOLECULAR GAS CONTENT AND SCALING RELATIONS IN z ∼ 1–3 MASSIVE, MAIN-SEQUENCE STAR-FORMING GALAXIES (2012, background): “…semi-continuous gas flows from the cosmic web, or by minor galaxy mergers, plausibly creating gas rich disks (Kereŝ et al. 2005, 2009, Bower et al. 2006, Kitzbichler & White 2007, Ocvirk, Pichon & Teyssier 2008, Dekel et al.2009, Genel et al. 2010, 2012, Governato et al. 2010, Agertz et al. 2011).”
• Radiative feedback and the low efficiency of galaxy formation in low-mass haloes at high redshift (2013, background): “This is apparently at odds with the simulations of Hopkins et al. (2012) and Genel et al. (2012), where giant clumps are also dispersed after a few internal dynamical times (10-100 Myr), due to the very strong feedback assumed.”
• Toy models for galaxy formation versus simulations (2013, background): “…even if bound clumps were to disrupt by stellar feedback in less than a migration time, as sometimes assumed (Murray, Quataert & Thompson 2010; Genel et al. 2012; Hopkins et al. 2012), though this scenario is not realistic based on theoretical and observational grounds (Krumholz & Dekel 2010;…”
• THE SINS SURVEY OF z ∼ 2 GALAXY KINEMATICS: PROPERTIES OF THE GIANT STAR-FORMING CLUMPS (2010, methodology): “The most extreme clumps may also not have enough time for virialization before much of the gas is expelled, as is suggested by the simulations of Genel et al. (2010).”
• The ATLAS3D project – XX. Mass–size and mass–σ distributions of early-type galaxies: bulge fraction drives kinematics, mass-to-light ratio, molecular gas fraction and stellar initial mass function (2012, background): “In that situation, bulges may form naturally as the clumps collide and sink to the centre (Bournaud, Elmegreen & Elmegreen 2007; Dekel, Sari & Ceverino 2009b), unless they are efficiently destroyed by stellar feedback (Genel et al. 2012; Hopkins et al. 2012).”
• EVOLVING GRAVITATIONALLY UNSTABLE DISKS OVER COSMIC TIME: IMPLICATIONS FOR THICK DISK FORMATION (2011, background): “However, it remains an open question whether these clumps are disrupted on a dynamical timescale by a stellar feedback process, just like giant molecular clouds, their low-redshift analogues (Krumholz & Dekel 2010; Genel et al. 2012).”
• The Morphologies of Massive Galaxies at 1<z<3 in the CANDELS-UDS Field: Compact Bulges, and the Rise and Fall of Massive Disks (2012, background): “…observationally (e.g. Wuyts et al. 2012) and theoretically C© 2012 The Authors, MNRAS 427, 1666–1701 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society C© 2012 RAS Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/427/2/1666/977234 by guest on 29 July 2018 (e.g. Genel et al. 2012).”
• SMOOTH(ER) STELLAR MASS MAPS IN CANDELS: CONSTRAINTS ON THE LONGEVITY OF CLUMPS IN HIGH-REDSHIFT STAR-FORMING GALAXIES (2012, background): “…for such short-lived star-forming clumps has been presented on the basis of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) cosmological zoom-in simulations (Genel et al. 2012) as well as complementary SPH simulations with pc-scale resolution of isolated high-redshift, gas-rich disks (Hopkins et al. 2011).”
• Wet Disc Contraction to Galactic Blue Nuggets and Quenching to Red Nuggets (2013, background): “…disrupted by stellar feedback in less than a migration time, as has been reproduced in simulations with unrealistically strong radiative stellar feedback (Murray, Quataert & Thompson 2010; Genel et al. 2012; Hopkins, Quataert & Murray 2012; Hopkins et al. 2012), inflow at the rate comparable to eq.”
• Theoretical Challenges in Galaxy Formation (2016, background): “…demonstrated that realistic present day spiral galaxies (Grand et al. 2016; Marinacci, Pakmor & Springel 2014) as well as gas rich massive high-redshift disks (Anglés-Alcázar et al. 2014, Genel et al. 2012) can be formed with a momentum driven wind model in which ’decoupling’ has been applied.”
• Structural and Star-forming Relations since z ∼ 3: Connecting Compact Star-forming and Quiescent Galaxies (2015, background): “…instabilities, which can still cause enhanced gas inflows or inward migration of stellar clumps (e.g., Dekel et al. 2009b; Bournaud et al. 2011; Genel et al. 2012), and secular processes (Kormendy & Kennicutt 2004) associated with torques and dynamical friction in the presence of bars and…”