Low-metallicity stellar halo populations as tracers of dark matter haloes

We analyse the density profiles of the stellar halo populations in eight Milky-Way mass galaxies, simulated within the $\Lambda$-Cold Dark Matter scenario. We find that accreted stars can be well-fitted by an Einasto profile, as well as any subsample defined according to metallicity. We detect a clear correlation between the Einasto fitting parameters of the low-metallicity stellar populations and those of the dark matter haloes. The correlations for stars with [Fe/H]$<-3$ allow us to predict the shape of the dark matter profiles within residuals of $\sim 10$ per cent, in case the contribution from in situ stars remains small. Using Einasto parameters estimated for the stellar halo of the Milky Way and assuming the later formed with significant contributions from accreted low-mass satellite, our simulations predict $\alpha \sim 0.15$ and $r_2 \sim 15$ kpc for its dark matter profile. These values, combined with observed estimations of the local dark matter density, yield an enclosed dark matter mass at $\sim 8$ kpc in the range $3.9 - 6.7 \times 10^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$, in agreement with recent observational results. These findings suggest that low-metallicity stellar haloes could store relevant information on the DM haloes. Forthcoming observations would help us to further constrain our models and predictions.Comment: 5 pages,3 figures, MNRAS Letters accepte

Progenitors of Supernovae Type Ia and Chemical Enrichment in Hydrodynamical Simulations -I. The Single Degenerate Scenario

The nature of the Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) progenitors remains still uncertain. This is a major issue for galaxy evolution models since both chemical and energetic feedback play a major role in the gas dynamics, star formation and therefore in the overall stellar evolution. The progenitor models for the SNIa available in the literature propose different distributions for regulating the explosion times of these events. These functions are known as the Delay Time Distributions (DTDs). This work is the first one in a series of papers aiming at studying five different DTDs for SNIa. Here, we implement and analyse the Single Degenerate scenario (SD) in galaxies dominated by a rapid quenching of the star formation, displaying the majority of the stars concentrated in the bulge component. We find a good fit to both the present observed SNIa rates in spheroidal dominated galaxies, and to the [O/Fe] ratios shown by the bulge of the Milky Way. Additionally, the SD scenario is found to reproduce a correlation between the specific SNIa rate and the specific star formation rate, which closely resembles the observational trend, at variance with previous works. Our results suggest that SNIa observations in galaxies with very low and very high specific star formation rates can help to impose more stringent constraints on the DTDs and therefore on SNIa progenitors.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Ap

Fingerprints of the Hierarchical Building up of the Structure on the Mass-Metallicity Relation

We study the mass-metallicity relation of galactic systems with stellar masses larger than 10^9 Mo in Lambda-CDM scenarios by using chemical hydrodynamical simulations. We find that this relation arises naturally as a consequence of the formation of the structure in a hierarchical scenario. The hierarchical building up of the structure determines a characteristic stellar mass at M_c ~10^10.2 Moh^-1 which exhibits approximately solar metallicities from z ~ 3 to z=0. This characteristic mass separates galactic systems in two groups with massive ones forming most of their stars and metals at high redshift. We find evolution in the zero point and slope of the mass-metallicity relation driven mainly by the low mass systems which exhibit the larger variations in the chemical properties. Although stellar mass and circular velocity are directly related, the correlation between circular velocity and metallicity shows a larger evolution with redshift making this relation more appropriate to confront models and observations. The dispersion found in both relations is a function of the stellar mass and reflects the different dynamical history of evolution of the systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Accepted MNRAS Letter

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 $\Lambda$-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, $M_c \approx 3 \times 10^{10} M_{\odot}$, which segregates the simulated galaxy population into two distinctive groups and which remains unchanged since $z\sim 3$, with a very weak evolution of its metallicity content. The value and role played by $M_c$ 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 $M_c$ are responsible for the evolution of this relation at least from $z\approx 3$. Larger systems are stellar dominated and have formed more than 50 per cent of their stars at $z \ge 2$, showing very weak evolution since this epoch. We also found bimodal metallicity and age distributions from $z\sim3$, 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 $M_c$ since, from $z=3$ 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

Effects of galaxy interactions in different environments

We analyse star formation rates derived from photometric and spectroscopic data of galaxies in pairs in different environments using the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The two samples comprise several thousand pairs, suitable to explore into detail the dependence of star formation activity in pairs on orbital parameters and global environment. We use the projected galaxy density derived from the fifth nearest neighbour of each galaxy, with convenient luminosity thresholds to characterise environment in both surveys in a consistent way. Star formation activity is derived through the $\eta$ parameter in 2dFGRS and through the star formation rate normalised to the total mass in stars, $SFR/M^*$, given by Brinchmann et al. (2004) in the second data release SDSS-DR2. For both galaxy pair catalogs, the star formation birth rate parameter is a strong function of the global environment and orbital parameters. Our analysis on SDSS pairs confirms previous results found with the 2dFGRS where suitable thresholds for the star formation activity induced by interactions are estimated at a projected distance r_{\rm p} = 100 \kpc and a relative velocity $\Delta V = 350$ km $s^{-1}$. We observe that galaxy interactions are more effective at triggering important star formation activity in low and moderate density environments with respect to the control sample of galaxies without a close companion. Although close pairs have a larger fraction of actively star-forming galaxies, they also exhibit a greater fraction of red galaxies with respect to those systems without a close companion, an effect that may indicate that dust stirred up during encounters could be affecting colours and, partially, obscuring tidally-induced star formation.Comment: accepted MNRA