219 research outputs found
Tracing the Nature of Dark Energy with Galaxy Distribution
Dynamical Dark Energy (DE) is a viable alternative to the cosmological
constant. Yet, constructing tests to discriminate between Lambda and dynamical
DE models is difficult because the differences are not large. In this paper we
explore tests based on the galaxy mass function, the void probability function
(VPF), and the number of galaxy clusters. At high z the number density of
clusters shows large differences between DE models, but geometrical factors
reduce the differences substantially. We find that detecting a model dependence
in the cluster redshift distribution is a hard challenge. We show that the
galaxy redshift distribution is potentially a more sensitive characteristics.
We do so by populating dark matter halos in Nbody simulations with galaxies
using well-tested Halo Occupation Distribution (HOD). We also estimate the Void
Probability Function and find that, in samples with the same angular surface
density of galaxies in different models, the VPF is almost model independent
and cannot be used as a test for DE. Once again, geometry and cosmic evolution
compensate each other. By comparing VPF's for samples with fixed galaxy mass
limits, we find measurable differences.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, dependence on mass-luminosity relation
discussed, minor changes to match the accepted version by MNRA
Radial density profiles of time-delay lensing galaxies
We present non-parametric radial mass profiles for ten QSO strong lensing
galaxies. Five of the galaxies have profiles close to ,
while the rest are closer to r^{-1}, consistent with an NFW profile. The former
are all relatively isolated early-types and dominated by their stellar light.
The latter --though the modeling code did not know this-- are either in
clusters, or have very high mass-to-light, suggesting dark-matter dominant
lenses (one is a actually pair of merging galaxies). The same models give
H_0^{-1} = 15.2_{-1.7}^{+2.5}\Gyr (H_0 = 64_{-9}^{+8} \legacy), consistent
with a previous determination. When tested on simulated lenses taken from a
cosmological hydrodynamical simulation, our modeling pipeline recovers both H_0
and within estimated uncertainties. Our result is contrary to some
recent claims that lensing time delays imply either a low H_0 or galaxy
profiles much steeper than r^{-2}. We diagnose these claims as resulting from
an invalid modeling approximation: that small deviations from a power-law
profile have a small effect on lensing time-delays. In fact, as we show using
using both perturbation theory and numerical computation from a
galaxy-formation simulation, a first-order perturbation of an isothermal lens
can produce a zeroth-order change in the time delays.Comment: Replaced with final version accepted for publication in ApJ; very
minor changes to text; high resolution figures may be obtained at
justinread.ne
Star formation in mergers with cosmologically motivated initial conditions
We use semi-analytic models and cosmological merger trees to provide the
initial conditions for multi-merger numerical hydrodynamic simulations, and
exploit these simulations to explore the effect of galaxy interaction and
merging on star formation (SF). We compute numerical realisations of twelve
merger trees from z=1.5 to z=0. We include the effects of the large hot gaseous
halo around all galaxies, following recent obervations and predictions of
galaxy formation models. We find that including the hot gaseous halo has a
number of important effects. Firstly, as expected, the star formation rate on
long timescales is increased due to cooling of the hot halo and refuelling of
the cold gas reservoir. Secondly, we find that interactions do not always
increase the SF in the long term. This is partially due to the orbiting
galaxies transferring gravitational energy to the hot gaseous haloes and
raising their temperature. Finally we find that the relative size of the
starburst, when including the hot halo, is much smaller than previous studies
showed. Our simulations also show that the order and timing of interactions are
important for the evolution of a galaxy. When multiple galaxies interact at the
same time, the SF enhancement is less than when galaxies interact in series.
All these effects show the importance of including hot gas and cosmologically
motivated merger trees in galaxy evolution models.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA
From Discs to Bulges: effect of mergers on the morphology of galaxies
We study the effect of mergers on the morphology of galaxies by means of the
simulated merger tree approach first proposed by Moster et al. This method
combines N-body cosmological simulations and semi-analytic techniques to
extract realistic initial conditions for galaxy mergers. These are then evolved
using high resolution hydrodynamical simulations, which include dark matter,
stars, cold gas in the disc and hot gas in the halo. We show that the satellite
mass accretion is not as effective as previously thought, as there is
substantial stellar stripping before the final merger. The fraction of stellar
disc mass transferred to the bulge is quite low, even in the case of a major
merger, mainly due to the dispersion of part of the stellar disc mass into the
halo. We confirm the findings of Hopkins et al., that a gas rich disc is able
to survive major mergers more efficiently. The enhanced star formation
associated with the merger is not localised to the bulge of galaxy, but a
substantial fraction takes place in the disc too. The inclusion of the hot gas
reservoir in the galaxy model contributes to reducing the efficiency of bulge
formation. Overall, our findings suggest that mergers are not as efficient as
previously thought in transforming discs into bulges. This possibly alleviates
some of the tensions between observations of bulgeless galaxies and the
hierarchical scenario for structure formation.Comment: MNRAS Accepted, 17 pages, 11 figures, 3 Table
Non linear predictions from linear theories in models with Dark Energy
We study the cluster mass function and its evolution in different models with
Dark Energy arising from a self--interacting scalar field, with Ratra-Peebles
and SUGRA potentials. Computations are based on a Press & Schechter
approximation. The mass functions we obtain are compared with results holding
for open models or models with Dark Energy due to a cosmological constant.
Evolution results, in the Dark Energy cases, closely approach open models.Comment: 13 pages, 3 new figures included, references added. Accepted for
pubblication in New Astronom
On the dependence of galaxy morphologies on galaxy mergers
The distribution of galaxy morphological types is a key test for models of
galaxy formation and evolution, providing strong constraints on the relative
contribution of different physical processes responsible for the growth of the
spheroidal components. In this paper, we make use of a suite of semi-analytic
models to study the efficiency of galaxy mergers in disrupting galaxy discs and
building galaxy bulges. In particular, we compare standard prescriptions
usually adopted in semi-analytic models, with new prescriptions proposed by
Kannan et al., based on results from high-resolution hydrodynamical
simulations, and we show that these new implementations reduce the efficiency
of bulge formation through mergers. In addition, we compare our model results
with a variety of observational measurements of the fraction of
spheroid-dominated galaxies as a function of stellar and halo mass, showing
that the present uncertainties in the data represent an important limitation to
our understanding of spheroid formation. Our results indicate that the main
tension between theoretical models and observations does not stem from the
survival of purely disc structures (i.e. bulgeless galaxies), rather from the
distribution of galaxies of different morphological types, as a function of
their stellar mass.Comment: MNRAS in press, 11 pages, 5 figure
Modeling Luminosity-Dependent Galaxy Clustering Through Cosmic Time
We employ high-resolution dissipationless simulations of the concordance LCDM
cosmology to model the observed luminosity dependence and evolution of galaxy
clustering through most of the age of the universe, from z~5 to z~0. We use a
simple, non-parametric model which monotonically relates galaxy luminosities to
the maximum circular velocity of dark matter halos (V_max) by preserving the
observed galaxy luminosity function in order to match the halos in simulations
with observed galaxies. The novel feature of the model is the use of the
maximum circular velocity at the time of accretion, V_max,acc, for subhalos,
the halos located within virial regions of larger halos. We argue that for
subhalos in dissipationless simulations, V_max,acc reflects the luminosity and
stellar mass of the associated galaxies better than the circular velocity at
the epoch of observation, V_max,now. The simulations and our model L-V_max
relation predict the shape, amplitude, and luminosity dependence of the
two-point correlation function in excellent agreement with the observed galaxy
clustering in the SDSS data at z~0 and in the DEEP2 samples at z~1 over the
entire probed range of projected separations, 0.1<r_p/(Mpc/h)<10.0. In
particular, the small-scale upturn of the correlation function from the
power-law form in the SDSS and DEEP2 luminosity-selected samples is reproduced
very well. At z~3-5, our predictions also match the observed shape and
amplitude of the angular two-point correlation function of Lyman-break galaxies
(LBGs) on both large and small scales, including the small-scale upturn.Comment: 16 pages 11 figures, ApJ in pres
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