Towards a more realistic population of bright spiral galaxies in cosmological simulations

By M. Aumer, Simon D. M. White, T. Naab, C. Scannapieco. 2013

224 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We present an update to the multiphase SPH galaxy formation code by Scannapieco et al. We include a more elaborate treatment of the production of metals, cooling rates based on individual element abundances, and a scheme for the turbulent diffusion of metals. Our SN feedback model now transfers energy to the ISM in kinetic and thermal form, and we include a prescription for the effects of radiation pressure from massive young stars on the ISM. We calibrate our new code on the well studied Aquarius haloes and then use it to simulate a sample of 16 galaxies with halo masses between 1 × 10 11 and 3 × 10 12 M⊙. In general, the stellar masses of the sample agree well with the stellar mass to halo mass relation inferred from abundance matching techniques for redshifts z = 0 4. There is however a tendency to overproduce stars at z > 4 and to underproduce them at z < 0.5 in the least massive haloes. Overly high SFRs at z < 1 for the most massive haloes are likely connected to the lack of AGN feedback in our model. The simulated sample also shows reasonable agreement with observed star formation rates, sizes, gas fractions and gas-phase metallicities at z = 0 3. Remaining discrepancies can be connected to deviations from predictions for star formation histories from abundance matching. At z = 0, the model galaxies show realistic morphologies, stellar surface density profiles, circular velocity curves and stellar metallicities, but overly flat metallicity gradients. 15 out of 16 of our galaxies contain disk components with kinematic disk fraction ranging between 15 and 65 %. The disk fraction depends on the time of the last destructive merger or misaligned infall event. Considering the remaining shortcomings of our simulations we conclude

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

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

Yule-Simpson’s paradox in Galactic Archaeology (2019, background): “More details about this simulation can be found in Aumer et al. (2013) (model Aq-D-5).”
Radiative feedback and the low efficiency of galaxy formation in low-mass haloes at high redshift (2013, methodology): “Finally, Aumer et al. (2013) implement a subgrid model similar to Hopkins’ model but in cosmological simulations with a factor of about 100 lower resolution.”
The SILCC (SImulating the LifeCycle of molecular Clouds) project – I. Chemical evolution of the supernova-driven ISM (2014, background): “…play an important role for regulating spiral galaxy evolution on larger spatial and temporal scales at all cosmic epochs (Oppenheimer et al. 2010; Aumer et al. 2013; Hirschmann et al. 2013; Stinson et al. 2013; Brook et al. 2014; Hopkins et al. 2014; Marinacci, Pakmor & Springel 2014; Übler et…”
Galaxies as simple dynamical systems: observational data disfavor dark matter and stochastic star formation (2014, methodology): “More recently, a series of new models using smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and moving-mesh simulations [161–163] are stated to reproduce realistic disk galaxies if the host dark matter halo has a quiet merger history, that is, if it undergoes no major merger after redshift z > 1 or 3.”
The Auriga Project: the properties and formation mechanisms of disc galaxies across cosmic time (2016, background): “Prompt stellar feedback was introduced by Stinson et al. (2013b) and Aumer et al. (2013), and is reported to be critical in preventing the early onset of star formation and thereby avoiding the growth of a central spheroidal component into a massive bulge.”
Vertical disc heating in Milky Way-sized galaxies in a cosmological context (2015, background): “…are now able to produce thin stellar discs with small bulges (Governato et al. 2010; Agertz et al. 2011; Guedes et al. 2011; Martig et al. 2012; Aumer et al. 2013; Stinson et al. 2013a; Marinacci et al. 2 We note that stars that migrate via satellite interactions are kinematically heated, and…”
ON THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN STAR FORMATION AND FEEDBACK IN GALAXY FORMATION SIMULATIONS (2014, methodology): “Similar results were found by Aumer et al. (2013) who considered a momentum based model of radiation pressure, although with the value of the infrared optical depth of τIR ∼ 25, larger than in the models by Hopkins et al. (2011) and Agertz et al. (2013).”
Introducing the Illustris Project: simulating the coevolution of dark and visible matter in the Universe (2014, methodology): “Nevertheless, the BTFR of our selected sample agrees slightly better with observations than the recent high-resolution simulations of Aumer et al. (2013).”
The EAGLE simulations of galaxy formation: calibration of subgrid physics and model variations (2015, background): “…curves that are, for particular galaxy masses, consistent with observational measurements (e.g. Governato et al. 2004; Okamoto et al. 2005; Sales et al. 2010; Guedes et al. 2011; Brook et al. 2012; McCarthy et al. 2012; Aumer et al. 2013; Munshi et al. 2013; Marinacci, Pakmor & Springel 2014).”
Galaxies on FIRE (Feedback In Realistic Environments): stellar feedback explains cosmologically inefficient star formation (2013, unknown): “…such discrepancies (and agree broadly with our simulations both at low masses and high redshifts) are the recent generation of models in Stinson et al. (2013); Aumer et al. (2013); Ceverino et al. (2013); Trujillo-Gomez et al. (2013) (for some additional results from these see Kannan et al. 2013).”
Size evolution of normal and compact galaxies in the EAGLE simulation (2015, background): “…reasonable galaxy sizes for disc galaxies in small galaxy samples or over specific mass ranges (Governato et al. 2004; Okamoto & Millis 2005; Sales et al. 2010; Brook et al. 2012b; McCarthy et al. 2012; Aumer et al. 2013; Munshi et al. 2013; Hopkins et al. 2014; Marinacci, Pakmor & Springel 2014).”
The formation of disc galaxies in high-resolution moving-mesh cosmological simulations (2013, methodology): “…of the results of Scannapieco et al. (2009) and Aumer et al. (2013) which partially overlap in the set of objects studied and use largely the same numerical techniques, except that Aumer et al. (2013) invoke an additional strong feedback channel in order to account for ‘early stellar feedback’.”
The EAGLE project: Simulating the evolution and assembly of galaxies and their environments (2014, background): “…sizes and masses (e.g. Governato et al. 2004, 2010; Okamoto et al. 2005; Agertz et al. 2011; Guedes et al. 2011; McCarthy et al. 2012; Brook et al. 2012; Stinson et al. 2013; Munshi et al. 2013; Aumer et al. 2013; Hopkins et al. 2013; Vogelsberger et al. 2013, 2014b; Marinacci et al. 2014).”
Constraining the Milky Way assembly history with Galactic Archaeology (2016, background): “Further details about this simulation can be found in Aumer et al. (2013), their model Aq-D-5.”
Theoretical Challenges in Galaxy Formation (2016, background): “2, Aumer et al. 2013).”
The Illustris simulation: the evolving population of black holes across cosmic time (2014, background): “Only recently several simulation efforts (Guedes et al. 2011; Aumer et al. 2013; Stinson et al. 2013; Hopkins et al. 2014; Marinacci et al. 2014), mostly based on the zoom-in technique of individual objects, have started reproducing extended, disk-dominated galaxies which in some aspects resemble…”