Disk Galaxy Formation in a Λ Cold Dark Matter Universe

By Brant Robertson, Naoki Yoshida, Volker Springel, L. Hernquist. 2004

203 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We describe hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy formation in a Λ cold dark matter cosmology, performed using a subresolution model for star formation and feedback in a multiphase interstellar medium (ISM). In particular, we demonstrate the formation of a well-resolved disk galaxy. The surface brightness profile of the galaxy is exponential, with a B-band central surface brightness of 21.0 mag arcsec-2 and a scale length of Rd = 2.0 h-1 kpc. We find no evidence for a significant bulge component. The simulated galaxy falls within the I-band Tully-Fisher relation, with an absolute magnitude of I = -21.2 and a peak stellar rotation velocity of Vrot = 121.3 km s-1. While the total specific angular momentum of the stars in the galaxy agrees with observations, the angular momentum in the inner regions appears to be low by a factor of ~2. The star formation rate of the galaxy peaks at ~7 M☉ yr-1 between redshifts z = 2 and 4, with the mean stellar age decreasing from ~10 Gyr in the outer regions of the disk to ~7.5 Gyr in the center, indicating that the disk did not simply form inside-out. The stars exhibit a metallicity gradient from 0.7 Z☉ at the edge of the disk to 1.3 Z☉ in the center. Using a suite of idealized galaxy formation simulations with different models for the ISM, we show that the effective pressure support provided by star formation and feedback in our multiphase model is instrumental in allowing the formation of large, stable disk galaxies. If ISM gas is instead modeled with an isothermal equation of state, or if star formation is suppressed entirely, growing gaseous disks quickly violate the Toomre stability criterion and undergo catastrophic fragmentation.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3cf16236d695e99dc27f4f2ec3d70c2877131fd2

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

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

Citations in the corpus

• Merger Histories of Galaxy Halos and Implications for Disk Survival (2007, background): “While there have been some successes in forming galaxies with disks in cosmological simulations (Abadi et al. 2003; Sommer-Larsen et al. 2003; Brook et al. 2004; Robertson et al. 2004; Kaufmann et al. 2007a; Governato et al. 2007), the general problem is far from resolved.”
• Λ Cold Dark Matter, Stellar Feedback, and the Galactic Halo Abundance Pattern (2005, background): “…in order to account for galactic-scale data (e.g. Spergel & Steinhardt 2000; Kaplinghat et al. 2000; Colín et al. 2000) or if physical and dynamical processes can explain the data in the context of the standard paradigm (e.g. Bullock et al. 2000; Alam et al. 2002; Robertson et al. 2004).”
• Rapid Formation of Exponential Disks and Bulges at High Redshift from the Dynamical Evolution of Clump-Cluster and Chain Galaxies (2007, background): “There are other theoretical ways to make exponential disks too (e.g., Freeman 1970, Fall & Efstathiou 1980, Robertson et al. 2004).”
• The Relation between Quasar and Merging Galaxy Luminosity Functions and the Merger-driven Star Formation History of the Universe (2006, background): “Feedback from supernovae is captured in this subresolution model through an effective equation of state for star-forming gas, enabling us to stably evolve disks with arbitrary gas fractions (see, e.g., Springel et al. 2005b; Springel & Hernquist 2005; Robertson et al. 2004, 2006b).”
• Determining the Properties and Evolution of Red Galaxies from the Quasar Luminosity Function (2005, background): “…is captured in this sub-resolution model through an effectiv equation of state for star-forming gas, enabling us to evolve disks with large gas fractions so that they are stable against fragmentation (see, e.g. Springel et al. 2005b; Springel & Hernquist 2005; Robertson et al. 2004, 2005a).”
• The effects of gas on morphological transformation in mergers: implications for bulge and disc demographics (2009, background): “…fragmentation and angular momentum transport (Weil, Eke & Efstathiou 1998; Sommer-Larsen, Gelato & Vedel 1999; Thacker & Couchman 2000, 2001; Abadi et al. 2003; Sommer-Larsen, Götz & Portinari 2003; Governato et al. 2004, 2007; Robertson et al. 2004; Okamoto et al. 2005; Scannapieco et al. 2008).”
• The CO-H2 Conversion Factor in Disc Galaxies and Mergers (2011, methodology): “The subgrid turbulent velocity dispersion is calculated from the external pressure from the hot ISM (Robertson et al. 2004) usingσ2 = P/ρcell though we impose a ceiling of 10 km s−1 which comes from average values found in turbulent feedback simulations (e.g Dib et al. 2006; Joung et al. 2009;…”
• THE ROLE OF STELLAR FEEDBACK IN THE FORMATION OF GALAXIES (2007, background): “…improvements in both the resolution (sub-kpc scales) and modeling of the feedback have resulted in simulations with extended galactic disks (SommerLarsen et al. 2003; Governato et al. 2004; Robertson et al. 2004; Brook et al. 2004; Okamoto et al. 2005; D’Onghia et al. 2006; Governato et al. 2007).”
• Formation of z~6 Quasars from Hierarchical Galaxy Mergers (2006, methodology): “This EOS describes the dynamics of star-forming gas, accounts for the consequences of stellar feedback on galactic scales, and enables us to construct equilibrium disk models even with large gas fractions (Robertson et al. 2004; Springel & Hernquist 2005).”
• ISM properties in hydrodynamic galaxy simulations: turbulence cascades, cloud formation, role of gravity and feedback (2010, background): “…more generally models where the ISM is only modelled as a smooth stable gas at ∼104 K or more (e.g. the stabilizing EoS by Springel & Hernquist 2003; Robertson et al. 2004), would not be affected by catastrophic gas dissipation if they do not include feedback sources, as they do not resolve the…”
• Direct Cosmological Simulations of the Growth of Black Holes and Galaxies (2007, background): “…in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations is an essentially unsolved problem, and the outlook for obtaining a solution to this long-standing challenge has been only slightly improved by recent works on disk galaxy formation (Robertson et al. 2004; Governato et al. 2007; Okamoto et al. 2008).”
• A new class of accurate, mesh-free hydrodynamic simulation methods (2014, methodology): “This has been used in a wide range of previous and current work on cosmological galaxy formation (e.g. Springel & Hernquist 2003b; Robertson et al. 2004; Di Matteo et al. 2005; Hopkins et al. 2006, 2008a,b; Narayanan et al. 2006; Vogelsberger et al. 2013).”
• Modelling feedback from stars and black holes in galaxy mergers (2004, unknown): “4 is fitted to an accuracy of 1 per cent by (Robertson et al. 2004) log Peff = 0.050 (log nH)3 − 0.246 (log nH)2+ + 1.749 log nH − 10.6.”
• DISSIPATION AND EXTRA LIGHT IN GALACTIC NUCLEI. IV. EVOLUTION IN THE SCALING RELATIONS OF SPHEROIDS (2008, background): “…the uncertain physics of e.g. star formation and feedback probably important to form disks with the appropriate scale lengths, thicknesses, and bulge-to-disk ratios for their masses (Robertson et al. 2004; D’Onghia et al. 2006; Governato et al. 2007; Ceverino & Klypin 2007; Zavala et al. 2007).”
• The properties of satellite galaxies in simulations of galaxy formation (2009, methodology): “…is a long history of attempts to simulate the formation of spiral galaxies from ΛCDM initial conditions (e.g. Abadi et al. 2003a; Sommer-Larsen et al. 2003; Governato et al. 2004; Robertson et al. 2004; Okamoto et al. 2005; Governato et al. 2007; Ceverino & Klypin 2009; Scannapieco et al. 2009).”
• HISTORY OF GALAXY INTERACTIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON STAR FORMATION OVER THE LAST 7 Gyr FROM GEMS (2009, background): “…stellar disks, transforming them via violent relaxation, into systems with a steep or r1/4 de Vaucouleurs-type stellar profile, such as ellipticals (e.g., Negroponte & White 1983; Barnes & Hernquist 1991; Mihos & Hernquist 1996; Struck 1997; Naab & Burkert 2001; but see Robertson et al. 2004).”
• Formation of Early-Type Galaxies from Cosmological Initial Conditions (2005, background): “…simulations from realistic cosmological initial conditions have been done so far, and most of these have concentrated on the formation of disk galaxies rather than early-type spheroidal systems (Sommer-Larsen et al. 2003; Abadi et al. 2003; Governato et al. 2004; Robertson et al. 2004).”
• On the onset of galactic winds in quiescent star forming galaxies (2007, methodology): “In this way, we can reproduce a stiffer equation of state for the dense gas, leading to thicker, more stable discs (Toomre 1964, Robertson et al. 2004).”
• The Fundamental Scaling Relations of Elliptical Galaxies (2005, background): “Increasing qEOS improves the dynamical stability of the gas and can prevent Toomre (1964) instability even in gas-rich systems (Springel & Hernquist 2003, 2005; Robertson et al. 2004, 2005a).”