Rapid Formation of Exponential Disks and Bulges at High Redshift from the Dynamical Evolution of Clump-Cluster and Chain Galaxies

By Frédéric Bournaud, Bruce G. Elmegreen, D. Elmegreen. 2007

365 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Many galaxies at high redshift have peculiar morphologies dominated by 108-109 M☉ kpc-sized clumps. Using numerical simulations, we show that these "clump clusters" can result from fragmentation in gravitationally unstable primordial disks. They appear as "chain galaxies" when observed edge-on. In less than 1 Gyr, clump formation, migration, disruption, and interaction with the disk cause these systems to evolve from initially uniform disks into regular spiral galaxies with an exponential or double-exponential disk profile and a central bulge. The inner exponential is the initial disk size, and the outer exponential is from material flung out by spiral arms and clump torques. A nuclear black hole may form at the same time as the bulge from smaller black holes that grow inside the dense cores of each clump. The properties and lifetimes of the clumps in our models are consistent with observations of the clumps in high-redshift galaxies, and the stellar motions in our models are consistent with the observed velocity dispersions and lack of organized rotation in chain galaxies. We suggest that violently unstable disks are the first step in spiral galaxy formation. The associated starburst activity gives a short timescale for the initial stellar disk to form.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6726742eef4e69522953808403105570a9ae7e98

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

In Instrumentation

Citations in the corpus

On the frequency, intensity, and duration of starburst episodes triggered by galaxy interactions and mergers (2008, background): “…is evidence that disks can become clumpy as a result of their internal evolution only, without mergers/interactions being required (Elmegreen et al. 2007; Bournaud et al. 2007a) (see also Bournaud et al. 2008), which can then be another way to trigger star formation without galaxy interactions.”
A DIVERSITY OF PROGENITORS AND HISTORIES FOR ISOLATED SPIRAL GALAXIES (2012, methodology): “The non-fragmentation of our rings is probably not an artifact of the sticky-particle technique, which has already been successfully used to model gravitationally unstable disks (see for instance Bournaud et al. 2007a).”
Integral field spectroscopy with SINFONI of VVDS galaxies I. Galaxy dynamics and mass assembly at 1.2 < z < 1.6 (2009, background): “Gas-rich primordial disks may evolve through a clumpy phase into bright early-type disk galaxies with a massive exponential disk, a classical bulge and possibly a central black hole (Noguchi 1999; Immeli et al. 2004a,b; Elmegreen et al. 2005; Bournaud et al. 2007, 2008).”
CONSTRAINTS ON THE ASSEMBLY AND DYNAMICS OF GALAXIES. I. DETAILED REST-FRAME OPTICAL MORPHOLOGIES ON KILOPARSEC SCALE OF z ∼ 2 STAR-FORMING GALAXIES (2010, background): “…isolated galaxy where clumps formed from fragmentation in a Toomre-unstable gas-rich disk and where efficient secular processes drive its early dynamical evolution (Genzel et al. 2008, see also Carollo et al. 2007; Bournaud et al. 2007; Dekel et al. 2009; Agertz et al. 2009; Ceverino et al. 2010).”
Stellar populations in the Milky Way bulge region: towards solving the Galactic bulge and bar shapes using 2MASS data (2011, background): “The second structure (the thicker bulge) has a smaller velocity dispersion, thus could be either a classical bulge flattened by the potential of the bar or formed by early mergers, as in the Bournaud et al. (2007) scenario.”
MORPHOLOGICAL QUENCHING OF STAR FORMATION: MAKING EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES RED (2009, background): “The formation of disk galaxies could be explained by a variety of processes, from smooth gas accretion and internal evolution (Elmegreen et al. 2005; Bournaud et al. 2007a; Genzel et al. 2008; Dekel et al. 2009a,b) to the early merging of gas-rich galaxies (Robertson et al. 2006; Springel &…”
BLACK HOLE GROWTH AND ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI OBSCURATION BY INSTABILITY-DRIVEN INFLOWS IN HIGH-REDSHIFT DISK GALAXIES FED BY COLD STREAMS (2011, background): “If giant clumps survive stellar feedback for a few 108 yr, they migrate into a central bulge (Noguchi 1999; Bournaud et al. 2007), as supported by observations (Genzel et al. 2008).”
Rotational support of giant clumps in high-z disc galaxies (2011, methodology): “…clumps has been addressed by simulations in the idealized context of an isolated galaxy (Noguchi 1999; Immeli et al. 2004a,b; Elmegreen et al. 2005; Bournaud et al. 2007; Elmegreen et al. 2008; Bournaud & Elmegreen 2009), and in a cosmological context, using analytic theory (Dekel , Sari &…”
THE SINS SURVEY: MODELING THE DYNAMICS OF z ∼ 2 GALAXIES AND THE HIGH-z TULLY–FISHER RELATION (2009, background): “We find evidence for large, massive, gas-rich rotating disks in place at z ∼ 2, requiring rapid and efficient mass accretion (Förster Schreiber et al. 2006; Genzel et al. 2006, 2008; Shapiro et al. 2008; see also e.g. Wright et al. 2007, Bournaud et al. 2007, van Starkenburg et al. 2008).”
CANDELS: THE COSMIC ASSEMBLY NEAR-INFRARED DEEP EXTRAGALACTIC LEGACY SURVEY—THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS, IMAGING DATA PRODUCTS, AND MOSAICS (2011, background): “The empirical evidence is now reminiscent of the “clump-merging” scenario for the growth of bulges in gas-rich disks from numerical simulations (e.g., Noguchi 1999; Immeli et al. 2004; Bournaud et al. 2007; Elmegreen et al. 2008).”
Kinemetry of SINS High-Redshift Star-Forming Galaxies: Distinguishing Rotating Disks from Major Mergers (2008, methodology): “…local systems cannot truly emulate the protogalaxy population at z 2, in which such phenomena asmassive (108Y109M ) clumps of star formation affect the structure and kinematics of the systems (Bournaud et al. 2007), we supplement our template galaxies with synthetic systems of various complexity.”
Evolution of density profiles in high-z galaxies: compaction and quenching inside-out (2015, background): “…are characterized by turbulence and perturbations in the form of large transient features and giant clumps (Noguchi 1998; Immeli et al. 2004a,b; Genzel et al. 2006; Bournaud et al. 2007; Genzel et al. 2008; Agertz et al. 2009; Dekel et al. 2009b; Ceverino et al. 2010, 2012; Mandelker et al. 2014).”
CONSTRAINTS ON THE ASSEMBLY AND DYNAMICS OF GALAXIES. II. PROPERTIES OF KILOPARSEC-SCALE CLUMPS IN REST-FRAME OPTICAL EMISSION OF z ∼ 2 STAR-FORMING GALAXIES (2011, background): “…gas-rich Toomre-unstable disks indicate that they can fragment into large and massive star-forming clumps (e.g., Noguchi 1999; Immeli et al. 2004a,b; Bournaud et al. 2007; Genzel et al. 2008; Dekel et al. 2009; Agertz et al. 2009; Ceverino et al. 2010; Aumer et al. 2010; Genel et al. 2010).”
OBSCURATION-DEPENDENT EVOLUTION OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI (2015, background): “Most black hole formation models include an early stage of gas inflows caused by mergers (e.g. Hopkins et al. 2006a; Somerville et al. 2008) or secular processes (e.g. Fanidakis et al. 2012; Bournaud et al. 2007; Ciotti & Ostriker 1997, 2001).”
Radiative feedback and the low efficiency of galaxy formation in low-mass haloes at high redshift (2013, background): “However, these GMCs should not be confused with the giant clumps seen in more massive, marginally unstable discs (Noguchi 1999; Elmegreen & Elmegreen 2005; Bournaud et al. 2007; Genzel et al. 2008; Dekel et al. 2009; Agertz et al. 2009; Ceverino et al. 2010, 2012; Mandelker et al. 2013).”