14 research outputs found
Reconciling radio relic observations and simulations: The NVSS sample
The diffusive shock acceleration scenario is usually invoked to explain radio
relics, although the detailed driving mechanism is still a matter of debate.
Our aim is to constrain models for the origin of radio relics by comparing
observed relic samples with simulated ones. Here we present a framework to
homogeneously extract the whole sample of known radio relics from NVSS so that
it can be used for comparison with cosmological simulations. In this way, we
can better handle intrinsic biases in the analysis of the radio relic
population. In addition, we show some properties of the resulting NVSS sample
relics such as the correlation between relic shape and orientation with respect
to the cluster. Also, we briefly discuss the typical relic surface brightness
and its relation to projected cluster distance and relic angular sizes.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Proceedings of "The many facets of extragalactic
radio surveys: towards new scientific challenges" (EXTRA-RADSUR2015). 20-23
October 2015. Bologna, Ital
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
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 clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: single-probe measurements from CMASS anisotropic galaxy clustering
With the largest spectroscopic galaxy survey volume drawn from the SDSS-III
Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), we can extract cosmological
constraints from the measurements of redshift and geometric distortions at
quasi-linear scales (e.g. above 50 Mpc). We analyze the broad-range
shape of the monopole and quadrupole correlation functions of the BOSS Data
Release 12 (DR12) CMASS galaxy sample, at the effective redshift , to
obtain constraints on the Hubble expansion rate , the angular-diameter
distance , the normalized growth rate , and the
physical matter density . We obtain robust measurements by
including a polynomial as the model for the systematic errors, and find it
works very well against the systematic effects, e.g., ones induced by stars and
seeing. We provide accurate measurements ,
, , = , , , ,
where is the comoving sound horizon at the drag epoch and
Mpc is the sound scale of the fiducial cosmology used in
this study. The parameters which are not well constrained by our galaxy
clustering analysis are marginalized over with wide flat priors. Since no
priors from other data sets, e.g., cosmic microwave background (CMB), are
adopted and no dark energy models are assumed, our results from BOSS CMASS
galaxy clustering alone may be combined with other data sets, i.e., CMB, SNe,
lensing or other galaxy clustering data to constrain the parameters of a given
cosmological model. The uncertainty on the dark energy equation of state
parameter, , from CMB+CMASS is about 8 per cent. The uncertainty on the
curvature fraction, , is 0.3 per cent. We do not find deviation from
flat CDM.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. The latest version matches and the accepted
version by MNRAS. A bug in the first version has been identified and fixed in
the new version. We have redone the analysis with newest data (BOSS DR12
Recommended from our members
The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the Data Release 9 Spectroscopic Galaxy Sample
We present measurements of galaxy clustering from the Baryon Oscillation
Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), which is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III
(SDSS-III). These use the Data Release 9 (DR9) CMASS sample, which contains
264,283 massive galaxies covering 3275 square degrees with an effective
redshift z=0.57 and redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.7. Assuming a concordance
Lambda-CDM cosmological model, this sample covers an effective volume of 2.2
Gpc^3, and represents the largest sample of the Universe ever surveyed at this
density, n = 3 x 10^-4 h^-3 Mpc^3. We measure the angle-averaged galaxy
correlation function and power spectrum, including density-field reconstruction
of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature. The acoustic features are
detected at a significance of 5\sigma in both the correlation function and
power spectrum. Combining with the SDSS-II Luminous Red Galaxy Sample, the
detection significance increases to 6.7\sigma. Fitting for the position of the
acoustic features measures the distance to z=0.57 relative to the sound horizon
DV /rs = 13.67 +/- 0.22 at z=0.57. Assuming a fiducial sound horizon of 153.19
Mpc, which matches cosmic microwave background constraints, this corresponds to
a distance DV(z=0.57) = 2094 +/- 34 Mpc. At 1.7 per cent, this is the most
precise distance constraint ever obtained from a galaxy survey. We place this
result alongside previous BAO measurements in a cosmological distance ladder
and find excellent agreement with the current supernova measurements. We use
these distance measurements to constrain various cosmological models, finding
continuing support for a flat Universe with a cosmological constant.Comment: 33 page