The effects of photoionization on galaxy formation – I. Model and results at z=0

By A. Benson, C. Lacey, C. Baugh, Shaun Cole, C. Caltech, Sissa, U. Durham. 2001

355 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We develop a coupled model for the evolution of the global properties of the intergalactic medium (IGM) and the formation of galaxies, in the presence of a photoionizing background due to stars and quasars. We use this model to predict the thermodynamic history of the IGM when photoionized by galaxies forming in a cold dark matter (CDM) universe. The evolution of the galaxies is calculated using a semi-analytical model, including a detailed treatment of the effects of tidal stripping and dynamical friction on satellite galaxies orbiting inside larger dark matter halos. We include in the model the negative feedback on galaxy formation from the photoionizing background. Photoionization inhibits galaxy formation in low-mass dark matter halos in two ways: (i) heating of the IGM and inhibition of the collapse of gas into dark halos by the IGM pressure, and (ii) reduction in the radiative cooling of gas within halos. The result of our method is a self-consistent model of galaxy formation and the IGM. The IGM is reheated twice (during reionization of Hi and Heii), and we find that the star formation rate per unit volume is slightly suppressed after each episode of reheating. We find that galaxies brighter than L⋆ are mostly unaffected by reionization, while the abundance of faint galaxies is significantly reduced, leading to present-day galaxy luminosity functions with shallow faint end slopes, in good agreement with recent observational data. Reionization also affects other properties of these faint galaxies, in a readily understandable way.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ee2c37b6e868d1d622fa15728aa320b7479b2ee8

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Citations in the corpus

What Shapes the Luminosity Function of Galaxies? (2003, methodology): “Throughout this paper, we use the same parameter values adopted by Benson et al. (2002), with the exception of a larger baryon fraction corresponding to b ¼ 0:045, consistent with constraints from big bang nucleosynthesis (O’Meara et al. 2001).”
The Halo Occupation Distribution and the Physics of Galaxy Formation (2002, background): “Mergers within halos also affect PðNjMÞ, but this process should be similar in the two calculations, since the assumptions about mergers in the SA model reproduce the results of numerical calculations (Benson et al. 2002).”
Cosmic Dawn (CoDa): the first radiation-hydrodynamics simulation of reionization and galaxy formation in the Local Universe (2015, background): “This process could provide a credible solution to the “missing satellites problem” (Klypin et al. 1999; Moore et al. 1999), by inhibiting star formation in low mass galaxies at early times (Bullock et al. 2000; Benson et al. 2002b,a, 2003).”
Galactic stellar haloes in the CDM model (2009, methodology): “…satellites and an improved understanding of the completeness of the Milky Way sample (Koposov et al. 2008; Tollerud et al. 2008, and referenes therein) have reduced the deficit of observed satellites to the point of qualitative agreement with the prediction of the model of Benson et al. (2002b).”
A primer on hierarchical galaxy formation: the semi-analytical approach (2006, methodology): “The faint end of the luminosity function can be matched with a combination of supernova feedback and the suppression of gas cooling in low mass haloes as a result of the presence of a background of photo-ionising radiation (e.g. Benson et al. 2002a).”
Semianalytical Model of Galaxy Formation with High-Resolution N-Body Simulations (2004, background): “…suppression of gas cooling in small halos by photoionization heating may have significant impact on the faint-end slope of the galaxy luminosity function (e.g., Efstathiou 1992; Somerville 2002; Benson et al. 2002, 2003), but such models depend on the details of the implementation of the process.”
The missing massive satellites of the Milky Way (2012, background): “…reflects the relatively small number of subhalos massive enough to host luminous galaxies (see, e.g., Kauffmann et al. 1993; Bullock et al. 2000; Benson et al. 2002; Somerville ⋆ Email: jie.wang@durham.ac.uk 2002; Cooper et al. 2010; Li et al. 2010; Macciò et al. 2010; Guo et al. 2011; Font et…”
The morgana model for the rise of galaxies and active nuclei (2006, background): “As suggested by Benson et al. (2002), to mimic the effect of the ultraviolet (UV) background we simply suppress any cooling in all haloes with Vc < 50 km s−1.”
The Velocity Dispersion Function of Early-Type Galaxies (2003, background): “…of galaxies which form in halos as a function of parent halo mass (e.g., Kauffmann et al. 1999; Somerville & Primack 1999; Springel et al. 2001; Benson et al. 2002), so they can be used to predict the mass function of galaxies, the total mass of a galaxy is notoriously difficult to measure…”
Galaxies–intergalactic medium interaction calculation – I. Galaxy formation as a function of large-scale environment (2009, background): “For example, while semi-analytic techniques can be extended to study the evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM; e.g. Benson et al. 2002), they are not well suited for studying the interaction of gas with galactic ejecta, such as winds, and the associated dynamical evolution.”
The First Cosmic Structures and Their Effects (2004, background): “These effects have been thoroughly discussed by Bullock, Kravstov & Weinberg (2000), Benson et al. (2002), and Somerville (2002), to which we refer the interested reader.”
Galaxy Evolution from Halo Occupation Distribution Modeling of DEEP2 and SDSS Galaxy Clustering (2007, background): “The evolution of dark matter halos can be solved with analytic approaches (e.g., Taylor & Babul 2001, 2004; Benson et al. 2002; Oguri & Lee 2004; van den Bosch et al. 2005; Zentner et al. 2005) and cosmological simulations (e.g., Springel et al. 2005).”
The mass function and average mass-loss rate of dark matter subhaloes (2004, background): “Finally, the average mass-loss rates derived here may prove useful in semi-analytical models for galaxy formation, where a proper treatment of the evolution of subhaloes is extremely important (Benson et al. 2002; Kang et al. 2004; Springel et al. 2001).”
A Direct Measurement of Major Galaxy Mergers at z ≲ 3 (2003, methodology): “These predicted merger fractions were computed by finding all major mergers, defined, for purposes of this model, as systems merging with a mass ratio of 1:3 or higher and within the 12 past Gyr, at a given redshift, in the semi-analytic simulation of Benson et al. (2002).”
Redefining the Missing Satellites Problem (2007, background): “…solutions to this ‘Missing Satellites Problem’ (MSP) that rely on the idea that galaxy formation is inefficient in the smallest dark matter halos (Bullock et al. 2000; Benson et al. 2002; Somerville 2002; Stoehr et al. 2002; Kravtsov et al. 2004; Moore et al. 2006; Gnedin & Kravtsov 2006).”
Linking early‐ and late‐type galaxies to their dark matter haloes (2002, methodology): “…models (e.g., White & Rees 1978; Kauffmann, White & Guiderdoni 1993; Somerville & Primack 1999; Kauffmann et al. 1999; Cole et al. 2000; Benson et al. 2002; van den Bosch 2002). c© 0000 RAS A downside of this approach, however, is that phenomenological descriptions have to be used to…”
The Orbital Poles of Milky Way Satellite Galaxies: A Rotationally Supported Disk of Satellites (2008, methodology): “…the CDM paradigm, the suppression of star formation is usually empirically explained either by feedback processes that heat the halo gas (e.g., Kauffmann et al.1993) or by the epoch of reionization, which inhibits the formation of small satellites not already seeded (e.g., Benson et al. 2002).”