502 research outputs found
Clues for the origin of the fundamental metallicity relations. I: The hierarchical building up of the structure
We analyse the evolutionary history of galaxies formed in a hierarchical
scenario consistent with the concordance -CDM model focusing on the
study of the relation between their chemical and dynamical properties. Our
simulations consistently describe the formation of the structure and its
chemical enrichment within a cosmological context. Our results indicate that
the luminosity-metallicity (LZR) and the stellar mass-metallicity (MZR)
relations are naturally generated in a hierarchical scenario. Both relations
are found to evolve with redshift. In the case of the MZR, the estimated
evolution is weaker than that deduced from observational works by approximately
0.10 dex. We also determine a characteristic stellar mass, , which segregates the simulated galaxy population
into two distinctive groups and which remains unchanged since , with a
very weak evolution of its metallicity content. The value and role played by
is consistent with the characteristic mass estimated from the SDSS galaxy
survey by Kauffmann et al. (2004). Our findings suggest that systems with
stellar masses smaller than are responsible for the evolution of this
relation at least from . Larger systems are stellar dominated and
have formed more than 50 per cent of their stars at , showing very
weak evolution since this epoch. We also found bimodal metallicity and age
distributions from , which reflects the existence of two different
galaxy populations. Although SN feedback may affect the properties of galaxies
and help to shape the MZR, it is unlikely that it will significantly modify
since, from this stellar mass is found in systems with circular
velocities larger than 100 \kms.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures. Minor changes to match accepted version.
Accepted October 3 MNRA
The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies in a constrained hydrodynamical simulation: morphological evolution
We study the two main constituent galaxies of a constrained simulation of the
Local Group as candidates for the Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda (M31). We focus
on the formation of the stellar discs and its relation to the formation of the
group as a rich system with two massive galaxies, and investigate the effects
of mergers and accretion as drivers of morphological transformations. We use a
state-of-the-art hydrodynamical code which includes star formation, feedback
and chemical enrichment to carry out our study. We run two simulations, where
we include or neglect the effects of radiation pressure from stars, to
investigate the impact of this process on the morphologies and star formation
rates of the simulated galaxies. We find that the simulated M31 and MW have
different formation histories, even though both inhabit, at z=0, the same
environment. These differences directly translate into and explain variations
in their star formation rates, in-situ fractions and final morphologies. The
M31 candidate has an active merger history, as a result of which its stellar
disc is unable to survive unaffected until the present time. In contrast, the
MW candidate has a smoother history with no major mergers at late times, and
forms a disc that grows steadily; at z=0 the simulated MW has an extended,
rotationally-supported disc which is dominant over the bulge. Our two feedback
implementations predict similar evolution of the galaxies and their discs,
although some variations are detected, the most important of which is the
formation time of the discs: in the model with weaker/stronger feedback the
discs form earlier/later. In summary, by comparing the formation histories of
the two galaxies, we conclude that the particular merger/accretion history of a
galaxy rather than its environment at the LG-scales is the main driver of the
formation and subsequent growth or destruction of galaxy discs.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&
The Effect of Environment on Milky Way-mass galaxies in a Constrained Simulation of the Local Group
In this letter we present, for the first time, a study of star formation
rate, gas fraction and galaxy morphology of a constrained simulation of the
Milky Way (MW) and Andromeda (M31) galaxies, compared to other MW-mass
galaxies. By combining with unconstrained simulations we cover a sufficient
volume to compare these galaxies environmental densities ranging from the field
to that of the Local Group (LG). This is particularly relevant as it has been
shown that, quite generally, galaxy properties depend intimately upon their
environment, most prominently when galaxies in clusters are compared to those
in the field. For galaxies in loose groups such as the LG, however,
environmental effects have been less clear. We consider the galaxy's
environmental density in spheres of 1200 kpc (comoving) and find that whilst
environment does not appear to directly affect morphology, there is a positive
trend with star formation rates. This enhancement in star formation occurs
systematically for galaxies in higher density environments, regardless whether
they are part of the LG or in filaments. Our simulations suggest that the
richer environment at Mpc-scales may help replenish the star-forming gas,
allowing higher specific star formation rates in galaxies such as the MW.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted to ApJ
The host galaxies of long-duration GRBs in a cosmological hierarchical scenario
We developed a Monte Carlo code to generate long-duration gamma ray burst
(LGRB) events within cosmological hydrodynamical simulations consistent with
the concordance model. As structure is assembled, LGRBs are generated in the
substructure that formed galaxies today. We adopted the collapsar model so that
LGRBs are produced by single, massive stars at the final stage of their
evolution. We found that the observed properties of the LGRB host galaxies
(HGs) are reproduced if LGRBs are also required to be generated by low
metallicity stars. The low metallicity condition imposed on the progenitor
stars of LGRBs selects a sample of HGs with mean gas abundances of 12 + log O/H
\~ 8.6. For z<1 the simulated HGs of low metallicity LGRB progenitors tend to
be faint, slow rotators with high star formation efficiency, compared with the
general galaxy population, in agreement with observations. At higher redshift,
our results suggest that larger systems with high star formation activity could
also contribute to the generation of LGRBs from low metallicity progenitors
since the fraction of low metallicity gas available for star formation
increases for all systems with look-back time. Under the hypothesis of our LGRB
model, our results support the claim that LGRBs could be unbiased tracers of
star formation at high redshifts.Comment: Final revised version with minor changes. 9 pages, 9 figures,
mn2e.cls. To appear in MNRA
The Detectability of the First Stars and Their Cluster Enrichment Signatures
We conduct a comprehensive investigation of the detectability of the first stars and their enrichment signatures in galaxy clusters. We show that the mean metallicity of outflows from objects containing these Population III (PopIII) stars is well above the critical transition metallicity (Z_cr \sim 10^-4) that marks the formation of normal stars. Thus the fraction of PopIII objects formed as a function of redshift is heavily dependent on the distribution of metals and fairly independent of the precise value of Z_cr. Using an analytical model of inhomogenous structure formation, we study the evolution of PopIII objects as a function of the star formation efficiency, IMF, and efficiency of outflow generation. For all models, PopIII objects tend to be in the 10^6.5-10^7.0 solar mass range, just large enough to cool within a Hubble time, but small enough that they are not clustered near areas of previous star formation. Although the mean metallicity exceeds Z_cr at a redshift of 15 in all models, the peak of PopIII star formation occurs at z \sim 10, and such stars continue to form well into the observable range. We discuss the observational properties of these objects, some of which may have already been detected in ongoing surveys of high-redshift Lyman-alpha emitters. Finally, we combine our PopIII distributions with the yield models of Heger and Woosley (2002) to study their impact on the intracluster medium (ICM) in galaxy clusters. We find that PopIII stars can contribute no more than 20% of the iron observed in the ICM, although their peculiar elemental yields help to reconcile theoretical models with the observed Fe and Si/Fe abundances. However, these stars tend to overproduce S/Fe and their associated SN heating falls far short of the observed level of 1 keV per ICM gas particle
Fingerprints of the hierarchical building up of the structure on the gas kinematics of galaxies
Recent observational and theoretical works have suggested that the
Tully-Fisher Relation might be generalised to include dispersion-dominated
systems by combining the rotation and dispersion velocity in the definition of
the kinematical indicator. Mergers and interactions have been pointed out as
responsible of driving turbulent and disordered gas kinematics, which could
generate Tully-Fisher Relation outliers. We intend to investigate the gas
kinematics of galaxies by using a simulated sample which includes both, gas
disc-dominated and spheroid-dominated systems. Cosmological hydrodynamical
simulations which include a multiphase model and physically-motivated Supernova
feedback were performed in order to follow the evolution of galaxies as they
are assembled. Both the baryonic and stellar Tully-Fisher relations for gas
disc-dominated systems are tight while, as more dispersion-dominated systems
are included, the scatter increases. We found a clear correlation between
and morphology, with dispersion-dominated systems
exhibiting the larger values (). Mergers and interactions can affect the
rotation curves directly or indirectly inducing a scatter in the Tully-Fisher
Relation larger than the simulated evolution since . Kinematical
indicators which combine rotation velocity and dispersion velocity can reduce
the scatter in the baryonic and the stellar mass-velocity relations. Our
findings also show that the lowest scatter in both relations is obtained if the
velocity indicators are measured at the maximum of the rotation curve.
Moreover, the rotation velocity estimated at the maximum of the gas rotation
curve is found to be the best proxy for the potential well regardless of
morphology.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&
A model for molecular hydrogen-dependent star formation in simulations of galaxy evolution
Star formation, together with the associated chemical and energy feedback, is
one of the most important processes in galaxy evolution. The star formation
activity in galaxies defines and affects many of their fundamental properties,
such as stellar mass, morphology and chemical enrichment levels. Simple models
for star formation in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations have shown to be
successful in reproducing the star formation rate (SFR) levels and shapes of
different types of galaxies. However, with the advent of high-resolution
simulations and more detailed observations, more sophisticated star formation
models are needed; in particular, to better understand the relation between
star formation and the amount of gas in the atomic and molecular phases. In
this work, we apply a novel star formation model, recently developed to work in
the context of hydrodynamical simulations, to the study of the SFR in Milky
Way-mass galaxies. The new implementation describes the formation of molecular
hydrogen from atomic material, considering also possible dependencies with the
chemical abundance of the gas. This allows to implement various star formation
models, where the SFR of a gas cloud is determined by the atomic and/or
molecular gas phases, and to compare their predictions to recent observational
results.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures. To appear in the 64nd Bulletin of the Argentine
Astronomical Societ
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