66 research outputs found
Lagrangian Volume Deformations around Simulated Galaxies
We present a detailed analysis of the local evolution of 206 Lagrangian
Volumes (LVs) selected at high redshift around galaxy seeds, identified in a
large-volume cold dark matter (CDM) hydrodynamical
simulation. The LVs have a mass range of . We
follow the dynamical evolution of the density field inside these initially
spherical LVs from up to , witnessing highly
non-linear, anisotropic mass rearrangements within them, leading to the
emergence of the local cosmic web (CW). These mass arrangements have been
analysed in terms of the reduced inertia tensor , focusing on the
evolution of the principal axes of inertia and their corresponding
eigendirections, and paying particular attention to the times when the
evolution of these two structural elements declines. In addition, mass and
component effects along this process have also been investigated. We have found
that deformations are led by dark matter dynamics and they transform most of
the initially spherical LVs into prolate shapes, i.e. filamentary structures.
An analysis of the individual freezing-out time distributions for shapes and
eigendirections shows that first most of the LVs fix their three axes of
symmetry (like a skeleton) early on, while accretion flows towards them still
continue. Very remarkably, we have found that more massive LVs fix their
skeleton earlier on than less massive ones. We briefly discuss the
astrophysical implications our findings could have, including the galaxy
mass-morphology relation and the effects on the galaxy-galaxy merger parameter
space, among others.Comment: 23 pages, 20 figures. Minor editorial improvement
Large-scale gas dynamics in the adhesion model: Implications for the two-phase massive galaxy formation scenario
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2011 RAS © 2011 The AuthorsPublished by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reservedWe have studied the mass assembly and star formation histories of massive galaxies identified at low redshift in different cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. To this end, we have carried out a detailed follow-up backwards in time of their constituent mass elements (sampled by particles) of different types. After that, the configurations they depict at progressively higher zs were carefully analysed. The analyses show that these histories share common generic patterns, irrespective of particular circumstances. In any case, however, the results we have found are different depending on the particle type. The most outstanding differences follow. We have found that by z∼ 3.5-6, mass elements identified as stellar particles at z= 0 exhibit a gaseous cosmic-web-like morphology with scales of ∼1 physical Mpc, where the densest mass elements have already turned into stars by z∼ 6. These settings are in fact the densest pieces of the cosmic web, where no hot particles show up, and dynamically organized as a hierarchy of flow convergence regions (FCRs), that is, attraction basins for mass flows. At high z FCRs undergo fast contractive deformations with very low angular momentum, shrinking them violently. Indeed, by z∼ 1 most of the gaseous or stellar mass they contain shows up as bound to a massive elliptical-like object at their centres, with typical half-mass radii of rmass star∼ 2-3kpc. After this, a second phase comes about where the mass assembly rate is much slower and characterized by mergers involving angular momentum. On the other hand, mass elements identified at the diffuse hot coronae surrounding massive galaxies at z= 0 do not display a clear web-like morphology at any z. Diffuse gas is heated when FCRs go through contractive deformations. Most of this gas remains hot and with low density throughout the evolution. To shed light on the physical foundations of the behaviour revealed by our analyses (i.e. a two-phase formation process with different implications for diffuse or shocked mass elements), as well as on their possible observational implications, these patterns have been confronted with some generic properties of singular flows as described by the adhesion model (i.e. potential character of the velocity field, singular versus regular points, dressing, locality when a spectrum of perturbations is implemented). We have found that the common patterns the simulations show can be interpreted as a natural consequence of flow properties that, moreover, could explain different generic observational results from massive galaxies or their samples. We briefly discuss some of themThis work was partially supported by the DGES (Spain) through the grants AYA2009-12792-C03-02 and AYA2009-12792- C03-03 from the PNAyA, as well as by the regional Madrid V PRICIT programme through the ASTROMADRID network (CAM S2009/ESP-1496
The Lack of Structural and Dynamical Evolution of Elliptical Galaxies since z ~ 1.5: Clues from Self-Consistent Hydrodynamical Simulations
We present results of a study on the evolution of the parameters
characterizing the structure and dynamics of the relaxed elliptical-like
objects (ELOs) identified at z=0, z=1 and z=1.5 in a set of hydrodynamical,
self-consistent simulations operating in the context of a concordance
cosmological model. The values of the stellar mass, the stellar half-mass
radius and the stellar mean-square velocity have been measured in each ELO and
found to populate, at any z, a flattened ellipsoid close to a plane (the
dynamical plane, DP). Our simulations indicate that, at the intermediate zs
considered, individual ELOs evolve, increasing the values of these parameters
as a consequence of on-going mass assembly, but, nevertheless, their DP is
roughly preserved within its scatter, in agreement with observations of the
Fundamental Plane of ellipticals at different zs. We briefly discuss how this
lack of significant dynamical and structural evolution in ELO samples arises,
in terms of the two different phases operating in the mass aggregation history
of their dark matter halos. According with our simulations, most dissipation
involved in ELO formation takes place at the early violent phase, causing the
stellar mass, the stellar half-mass radius and the stellar mean-square velocity
parameters to settle down to the DP, and, moreover, the transformation of most
of the available gas into stars. In the subsequent slow phase, ELO stellar mass
growth preferentially occurs through non-dissipative processes, so that the DP
is preserved and the ELO star formation rate considerably decreases. These
results hint, for the first time, to a possible way of explaining, in the
context of cosmological simulations, different apparently paradoxical
observational results on ellipticals.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure. Minor changes to match the published versio
Clues on Regularity in the Structure and Kinematics of Elliptical Galaxies from Self-consistent Hydrodynamical Simulations: the Dynamical Fundamental Plane
[Abridged] We have analysed the parameters characterising the mass, size and
velocity dispersion both at the baryonic scale and at the halo scales of two
samples of relaxed elliptical-like-objects (ELOs) identified, at z=0, in a set
of self-consistent hydrodynamical simulations operating in the context of a
concordance cosmological model. At the halo scale they have been found to
satisfy virial relations; at the scale of the baryonic object the (logarithms
of the) ELO stellar masses, projected stellar half-mass radii, and stellar
central l.o.s. velocity dispersions define a flattened ellipsoid close to a
plane (the intrinsic dynamical plane, IDP), tilted relative to the virial one,
whose observational manifestation is the observed FP. The ELO samples have been
found to show systematic trends with the mass scale in both, the relative
content and the relative distributions of the baryonic and the dark mass ELO
components, so that homology is broken in the spatial mass distribution
(resulting in the IDP tilt), but ELOs are still a two-parameter family where
the two parameters are correlated. The physical origin of these trends
presumably lies in the systematic decrease, with increasing ELO mass, of the
relative amount of dissipation experienced by the baryonic mass component along
ELO stellar mass assembly. ELOs also show kinematical segregation, but it does
not appreciably change with the mass scale.
The non-homogeneous population of IDPs explains the role played by the virial
mass to determine the correlations among intrinsic parameters. In this paper we
also show that the central stellar line-of-sight velocity dispersion of ELOs,
is a fair empirical estimator of the virial mass, and this explains the central
role played by this quantity at determining the observational correlations.Comment: 20 pages, 17 Figures. Only changed to a more readable styl
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