Galaxy formation with radiative and chemical feedback

Here we introduce GAMESH, a novel pipeline which implements self-consistent radiative and chemical feedback in a computational model of galaxy formation. By combining the cosmological chemical-evolution model GAMETE with the radiative transfer code CRASH, GAMESH can post process realistic outputs of a N-body simulation describing the redshift evolution of the forming galaxy. After introducing the GAMESH implementation and its features, we apply the code to a low-resolution N-body simulation of the Milky Way formation and we investigate the combined effects of self-consistent radiative and chemical feedback. Many physical properties, which can be directly compared with observations in the Galaxy and its surrounding satellites, are predicted by the code along the merger-tree assembly. The resulting redshift evolution of the Local Group star formation rates, reionisation and metal enrichment along with the predicted Metallicity Distribution Function of halo stars are critically compared with observations. We discuss the merits and limitations of the first release of GAMESH, also opening new directions to a full implementation of feedback processes in galaxy formation models by combining semi-analytic and numerical methods.Comment: This version has coloured figures not present in the printed version. Submitted to MNRAS, minor revision

Stellar Motion around Spiral Arms: Gaia Mock Data

We compare the stellar motion around a spiral arm created in two different scenarios, transient/co-rotating spiral arms and density-wave-like spiral arms. We generate Gaia mock data from snapshots of the simulations following these two scenarios using our stellar population code, SNAPDRAGONS, which takes into account dust extinction and the expected Gaia errors. We compare the observed rotation velocity around a spiral arm similar in position to the Perseus arm, and find that there is a clear difference in the velocity features around the spiral arm between the co-rotating spiral arm and the density-wave-like spiral arm. Our result demonstrates that the volume and accuracy of the Gaia data are sufficient to clearly distinguish these two scenarios of the spiral arms.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of "The Milky Way Unravelled by Gaia: GREAT Science from the Gaia Data Releases", Barcelona, 1-5 December 2014, eds. N. Walton, F. Figueras, C. Soubira

Gravitational Stability of Circumnuclear Disks in Elliptical Galaxies

A significant fraction of nearby elliptical galaxies are known to have high density gas disks in their circumnuclear (CN) region (0.1 to a few kpc). Yet, ellipticals, especially luminous ones, show little signs of recent star formation (SF). To investigate the possible cause of the dearth of SF in these systems, we study the gravitational stability of CN gas disks embedded within the potentials of both the stellar bulge and the central massive black hole (BH) in ellipticals. We find that CN disks in higher mass galaxies are generally more stable than those in lower mass galaxies, because higher mass galaxies tend to have more massive BHs and more centrally concentrated stellar density profiles. We also consider the case in which the central stellar density profile has a core, which is often observed for ellipticals whose total stellar mass is higher than about 10^11 Msun. Such a cored stellar density profile leads to more unstable CN disks than the power-law density profile characteristic of less massive galaxies. However, the more massive BHs in high-mass galaxies act to stabilize the CN disk. Our results demonstrate that the gravitational potentials of both the central BH and the stellar component should be taken into account when studying the properties of CN disks, as their stability is sensitive to both the BH mass and the stellar density profile. Our results could explain the observed trend that less luminous ellipticals have a greater tendency to exhibit ongoing SF than giant ellipticals.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Galactic Wind Signatures around High Redshift Galaxies

We carry out cosmological chemodynamical simulations with different strengths of supernova (SN) feedback and study how galactic winds from star-forming galaxies affect the features of hydrogen (HI) and metal (CIV and OVI) absorption systems in the intergalactic medium at high redshift. We find that the outflows tend to escape to low density regions, and hardly affect the dense filaments visible in HI absorption. As a result, the strength of HI absorption near galaxies is not reduced by galactic winds, but even slightly increases. We also find that a lack of HI absorption for lines of sight (LOS) close to galaxies, as found by Adelberger et al., can be created by hot gas around the galaxies induced by accretion shock heating. In contrast to HI, metal absorption systems are sensitive to the presence of winds. The models without feedback can produce the strong CIV and OVI absorption lines in LOS within 50 kpc from galaxies, while strong SN feedback is capable of creating strong CIV and OVI lines out to about twice that distance. We also analyze the mean transmissivity of HI, CIV, and OVI within 1 h$^{-1}$ Mpc from star-forming galaxies. The probability distribution of the transmissivity of HI is independent of the strength of SN feedback, but strong feedback produces LOS with lower transmissivity of metal lines. Additionally, strong feedback can produce strong OVI lines even in cases where HI absorption is weak. We conclude that OVI is probably the best tracer for galactic winds at high redshift.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, ApJ in press. Higher resolution version available at http://www.ociw.edu/~dkawata/research/papers.htm

The impact of bar origin and morphology on stellar migration

Different mechanisms driving bar structure formation indicate that bar origins should be distinguishable in the stellar populations of galaxies. To study how these origins affect different bar morphologies and impact stellar orbits and migration, we analyse three simulated discs which are representative of bar formation under isolated evolution motivated by disc instability, and interaction driven tidal development. The first isolated disc and the tidally driven disc produce similar bar structure, while the second isolated disc, generated by the tidal initial condition without the companion, is visibly dissimilar. Changes to radial and vertical positions, angular momentum in the disc-plane, orbital eccentricity and the subsequent disc metallicities are assessed, as is the dependence on stellar age and formation radii. Bar origin is distinguishable, with the tidal disc displaying larger migration overall, higher metallicity difference between the inner and outer disc, as well as a population of inner disc stars displaced to large radii and below the disc-plane. The affect of closest approach on populations of stars formed before, after and during this period is evident. However, bar morphology is also found to be a significant factor in the evolution of disc stellar properties, with similar bars producing similar traits in migration tendency with radius, particularly in vertical stellar motion and in the evolution of central metallicity features

Origin of Two Distinct Populations in Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies

We study the chemical and kinematic properties of the first galaxies which formed at a high redshift, using high resolution cosmological numerical simulations, and compared them with the recent observational results for the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy by Tolstoy et al., who found two distinct stellar populations: the lower metallicity stars are more spatially extended and possess a higher velocity dispersion than the higher metallicity stars. Our calculations reproduce these observations as the result of a steep metallicity gradient, within a single populations, induced by dissipative collapse of the gas component. We also predict strong [N/O] enhancements in the lowest metallicity stars in dwarf spheroidals, due to the preferential retention of ejected gas from intermediate mass stars, compared to Type II supernovae.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Novel approach to a perfect lens

Within the framework of an exact analytical solution of Maxwell equations in a space domain, it is shown that optical scheme based on a slab with negative refractive index ($n=-1$) (Veselago lens or Pendry lens) does not possess focusing properties in the usual sense . In fact, the energy in such systems does not go from object to its "image", but from object and its "image" to an intersection point inside a metamaterial layer, or vice versa. A possibility of applying this phenomenon to a creation of entangled states of two atoms is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Coevolution of Supermassive Black Holes and Circumnuclear Disks

We propose a new evolutionary model of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) and a circumnuclear disk (CND), taking into account the mass-supply from a host galaxy and the physical states of CND. In the model, two distinct accretion modes depending on gravitational stability of the CND play a key role on accreting gas to a SMBH. (i) If the CMD is gravitationally unstable, energy feedback from supernovae (SNe) supports a geometrically thick, turbulent gas disk. The accretion in this mode is dominated by turbulent viscosity, and it is significantly larger than that in the mode (ii), i.e., the CMD is supported by gas pressure. Once the gas supply from the host is stopped, the high accretion phase ($\sim 0.01- 0.1 M_{\odot} {\rm yr}^{-1}$) changes to the low one (mode (ii), $\sim 10^{-4} M_{\odot} {\rm yr}^{-1}$), but there is a delay with $\sim 10^{8}$ yr. Through this evolution, the gas-rich CND turns into the gas poor stellar disk. We found that not all the gas supplied from the host galaxy accrete onto the SMBH even in the high accretion phase (mode (i)), because the part of gas is used to form stars. As a result, the final SMBH mass ($M_{\rm BH,final}$) is not proportional to the total gas mass supplied from the host galaxy ($M_{\rm sup}$); $M_{\rm BH,final}/M_{\rm sup}$ decreases with $M_{\rm sup}$.This would indicate that it is difficult to form a SMBH with $\sim 10^{9} M_{\odot}$ observed at high-$z$ QSOs. The evolution of the SMBH and CND would be related to the evolutionary tracks of different type of AGNs.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

The Metallicity of Pre-Galactic Globular Clusters: Observational consequences of the first stars

We explore a scenario where metal-poor globular clusters (GCs) are enriched by the first supernovae in the Universe. If the first stars in a 10^7 Msun dark halo were very massive (>180 Msun), then a pair instability supernova from a single massive star can produce sufficient iron to enrich 10^6 Msun of pristine, primordial gas to [Fe/H] ~ -2. In such a scenario, where a single massive star acts as a seed for halo GCs, the accurate abundance analysis of GC stars would allow a direct measurement of the Population III initial mass. Using the latest theoretical yields for zero metallicity stars in the mass range 140-260 Msun, we find that the metals expelled from a ~230 Msun star are consistent with [Si/Fe] and [Ca/Fe] observed in GC stars. However, no single star in this mass range can simultaneously explain all halo GC heavy-element abundance ratios, such as [V/Fe], [Ti/Fe] and [Ni/Fe]. These require a combination masses for the Population III stellar progenitors. The various observational consequences of this scenario are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Lette