170 research outputs found
Properties of Dark Matter Haloes in Clusters, Filaments, Sheets and Voids
Using a series of high-resolution N-body simulations of the concordance
cosmology we investigate how the formation histories, shapes and angular
momenta of dark-matter haloes depend on environment. We first present a
classification scheme that allows to distinguish between haloes in clusters,
filaments, sheets and voids in the large-scale distribution of matter. This
method is based on a local-stability criterion for the orbits of test particles
and closely relates to the Zel'dovich approximation. Applying this scheme to
our simulations we then find that: i) Mass assembly histories and formation
redshifts strongly depend on environment for haloes of mass M<M* (haloes of a
given mass tend to be older in clusters and younger in voids) and are
independent of it for larger masses; ii) Low-mass haloes in clusters are
generally less spherical and more oblate than in other regions; iii) Low-mass
haloes in clusters have a higher median spin than in filaments and present a
more prominent fraction of rapidly spinning objects; we identify recent major
mergers as a likely source of this effect. For all these relations, we provide
accurate functional fits as a function of halo mass and environment. We also
look for correlations between halo-spin directions and the large-scale
structures: the strongest effect is seen in sheets where halo spins tend to lie
within the plane of symmetry of the mass distribution. Finally, we measure the
spatial auto-correlation of spin directions and the cross-correlation between
the directions of intrinsic and orbital angular momenta of neighbouring haloes.
While the first quantity is always very small, we find that spin-orbit
correlations are rather strong especially for low-mass haloes in clusters and
high-mass haloes in filaments.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures. Version accepted for publication in MNRAS
(references added). Version with high-resolution figures available at
http://www.exp-astro.phys.ethz.ch/hahn/pub/HPCD06.pd
Bulges or Bars from Secular Evolution?
We use high resolution collisionless -body simulations to study the
secular evolution of disk galaxies and in particular the final properties of
disks that suffer a bar and perhaps a bar-buckling instability. Although we
find that bars are not destroyed by the buckling instability, when we decompose
the radial density profiles of the secularly-evolved disks into inner S\'ersic
and outer exponential components, for favorable viewing angles, the resulting
structural parameters, scaling relations and global kinematics of the bar
components are in good agreement with those obtained for bulges of late-type
galaxies. Round bulges may require a different formation channel or
dissipational processes.Comment: Accepted to ApJL. 4 figures, 2 in color Corrected minor typos and
reference lis
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