376 research outputs found

    Simulations of the formation and evolution of isolated dwarf galaxies

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    We present new fully self-consistent models of the formation and evolution of isolated dwarf galaxies. We have used the publicly available N-body/SPH code HYDRA, to which we have added a set of star formation criteria, and prescriptions for chemical enrichment (taking into account contributions from both SNIa and SNII), supernova feedback, and gas cooling. The models follow the evolution of an initially homogeneous gas cloud collapsing in a pre-existing dark-matter halo. These simplified initial conditions are supported by the merger trees of isolated dwarf galaxies extracted from the milli-Millennium Simulation. The star-formation histories of the model galaxies exhibit burst-like behaviour. These bursts are a consequence of the blow-out and subsequent in-fall of gas. The amount of gas that leaves the galaxy for good is found to be small, in absolute numbers, ranging between 3x10^7 Msol and 6x10^7 Msol . For the least massive models, however, this is over 80 per cent of their initial gas mass. The local fluctuations in gas density are strong enough to trigger star-bursts in the massive models, or to inhibit anything more than small residual star formation for the less massive models. Between these star-bursts there can be time intervals of several Gyrs. We have compared model predictions with available data for the relations between luminosity and surface brightness profile, half-light radius, central velocity dispersion, broad band colour (B-V) and metallicity, as well as the location relative to the fundamental plane. The properties of the model dwarf galaxies agree quite well with those of observed dwarf galaxies.Comment: 16 pages, 20 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

    OASIS: a coupling software for next generation earth system modelling

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    In this article we present a new version of the Ocean Atmosphere Sea Ice Soil coupling software (OASIS4). With this new fully parallel OASIS4 coupler we target the needs of Earth system modelling in its full complexity. The primary focus of this article is to describe the design of the OASIS4 software and how the coupling software drives the whole coupled model system ensuring the synchronization of the different component models. The application programmer interface (API) manages the coupling exchanges between arbitrary climate component models, as well as the input and output from and to files of each individual component. The OASIS4 Transformer instance performs the parallel interpolation and transfer of the coupling data between source and target model components. As a new core technology for the software, the fully parallel search algorithm of OASIS4 is described in detail. First benchmark results are discussed with simple test configurations to demonstrate the efficiency and scalability of the software when applied to Earth system model components. Typically the compute time needed to perform the search is in the order of a few seconds and is only weakly dependant on the grid size

    Children's sharing with collaborators versus competitors: The impact of theory of mind and executive functioning

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    The final publication is available at Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2018.08.001. © 2018. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/While children show an appreciation for fairness, their sharing does not always reflect such principles. This work examined how contextual factors (competition/cooperation; self/other perspective) and socio-cognitive skills impact children's sharing. Children (4- to 6-year-olds and 7- to 9-year-olds) set up games played either with (cooperative) or against (competitive) peers. The set up involved allocating resources necessary to completing the task (e.g., blocks used to build towers). Children also completed measures of executive functioning and mentalizing skills. Children who focused on the perspective of their social partner prior to allocating resources shared fewer items than those who reflected on their own perspective. Fewer items were shared in the competitive (versus cooperative) context and younger (versus older) children shared fewer items. Age moderated the relationship between executive functioning and sharing: younger children with more proficient executive skills tended to share more items, whereas this pattern did not emerge in the older group.Funder 1, This research was supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant awarded to E

    Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics

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    In this paper we investigate whether Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), equipped with artificial conductivity, is able to capture the physics of density/energy discontinuities in the case of the so-called shearing layers test, a test for examining Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instabilities. We can trace back each failure of SPH to show KH rolls to two causes: i) shock waves travelling in the simulation box and ii) particle clumping, or more generally, particle noise. The probable cause of shock waves is the Local Mixing Instability (LMI), previously identified in the literature. Particle noise on the other hand is a problem because it introduces a large error in the SPH momentum equation. We also investigate the role of artificial conductivity (AC). Including AC is necessary for the long-term behavior of the simulation (e.g. to get λ=1/2,1\lambda=1/2, 1 KH rolls). In sensitive hydrodynamical simulations great care is however needed in selecting the AC signal velocity, with the default formulation leading to too much energy diffusion. We present new signal velocities that lead to less diffusion. The effects of the shock waves and of particle disorder become less important as the time-scale of the physical problem (for the shearing layers problem: lower density contrast and higher Mach numbers) decreases. At the resolution of current galaxy formation simulations mixing is probably not important. However, mixing could become crucial for next-generation simulations.Comment: 16 pages, 23 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

    Hubble Space Telescope Survey of the Perseus Cluster: II. Photometric scaling relations in different environments

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    We investigate the global photometric scaling relations traced by early-type galaxies in different environments, ranging from dwarf spheroidals, over dwarf elliptical galaxies, up to giant ellipticals (-8 mag > M_V > -24 mag). These results are based in part on our new HST/ACS F555W and F814W imagery of dwarf spheroidal galaxies in the Perseus Cluster. These scaling relations are almost independent of environment, with Local Group and cluster galaxies coinciding in the various diagrams. We show that at M_V ~ -14 mag, the slopes of the photometric scaling relations involving the Sersic parameters change significantly. We argue that these changes in slope reflect the different physical processes that dominate the evolution of early-type galaxies in different mass regimes. As such, these scaling relations contain a wealth of information that can be used to test models for the formation of early-type galaxies.Comment: accepted for publication by MNRA

    Quantifying the Effect of the Drake Passage Opening on the Eocene Ocean

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    The opening of the Drake Passage (DP) during the Cenozoic is a tectonic event of paramount importance for the development of modern ocean characteristics. Notably, it has been suggested that it exerts a primary role in the onset of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) formation, in the cooling of high- latitude South Atlantic waters and in the initiation of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation. Several model studies have aimed to assess the impacts of DP opening on climate, but most of them focused on surface climate, and only few used realistic Eocene boundary conditions. Here, we revisit the impact of the DP opening on ocean circulation with the IPSL- CM5A2 Earth System Model. Using appropriate middle Eocene (40 Ma) boundary conditions, we perform and analyze simulations with different depths of the DP (0, 100, 1,000, and 2,500 m) and compare results to existing geochemical data. Our experiments show that DP opening has a strong effect on Eocene ocean structure and dynamics even for shallow depths. The DP opening notably allows the formation of a proto- ACC and induces deep ocean cooling of 1.5°C to 2.5°C in most of the Southern Hemisphere. There is no NADW formation in our simulations regardless of the depth of the DP, suggesting that the DP on its own is not a primary control of deepwater formation in the North Atlantic. This study elucidates how and to what extent the opening of the DP contributed to the establishment of the modern global thermohaline circulation.Key PointsA shallow opening of the Drake Passage induces strong changes in ocean properties and dynamicsA proto- ACC is able to form during the Eocene under high levels of pCO2, but a strong ACC requires supplementary geographical changesNorth Atlantic Deep Water is probably not able to form before the separation of the Arctic and Atlantic OceansPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156423/3/palo20904-sup-0001-2020PA003889-SI.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156423/2/palo20904.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156423/1/palo20904_am.pd

    Hydrodynamic simulations with the Godunov SPH

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    We present results based on an implementation of the Godunov Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (GSPH), originally developed by Inutsuka (2002), in the GADGET-3 hydrodynamic code. We first review the derivation of the GSPH discretization of the equations of moment and energy conservation, starting from the convolution of these equations with the interpolating kernel. The two most important aspects of the numerical implementation of these equations are (a) the appearance of fluid velocity and pressure obtained from the solution of the Riemann problem between each pair of particles, and (b the absence of an artificial viscosity term. We carry out three different controlled hydrodynamical three-dimensional tests, namely the Sod shock tube, the development of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in a shear flow test, and the "blob" test describing the evolution of a cold cloud moving against a hot wind. The results of our tests confirm and extend in a number of aspects those recently obtained by Cha (2010): (i) GSPH provides a much improved description of contact discontinuities, with respect to SPH, thus avoiding the appearance of spurious pressure forces; (ii) GSPH is able to follow the development of gas-dynamical instabilities, such as the Kevin--Helmholtz and the Rayleigh-Taylor ones; (iii) as a result, GSPH describes the development of curl structures in the shear-flow test and the dissolution of the cold cloud in the "blob" test. We also discuss in detail the effect on the performances of GSPH of changing different aspects of its implementation. The results of our tests demonstrate that GSPH is in fact a highly promising hydrodynamic scheme, also to be coupled to an N-body solver, for astrophysical and cosmological applications. [abridged]Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, MNRAS accepted, high resolution version can be obtained at http://adlibitum.oats.inaf.it/borgani/html/papers/gsph_hydrosim.pd

    The degeneracy between star-formation parameters in dwarf galaxy simulations and the Mstar-Mhalo relation

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    We present results based on a set of N-Body/SPH simulations of isolated dwarf galaxies. The simulations take into account star formation, stellar feedback, radiative cooling and metal enrichment. The dark matter halo initially has a cusped profile, but, at least in these simulations, starting from idealised, spherically symmetric initial conditions, a natural conversion to a core is observed due to gas dynamics and stellar feedback. A degeneracy between the efficiency with which the interstellar medium absorbs energy feedback from supernovae and stellar winds on the one hand, and the density threshold for star formation on the other, is found. We performed a parameter survey to determine, with the aid of the observed kinematic and photometric scaling relations, which combinations of these two parameters produce simulated galaxies that are in agreement with the observations. With the implemented physics we are unable to reproduce the relation between the stellar mass and the halo mass as determined by Guo et al. (2010), however we do reproduce the slope of this relation.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS | 12 pages, 8 figure

    Simulations of the formation and evolution of isolated dwarf galaxies - II. Angular momentum as a second parameter

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    We show results based on a large suite of N-Body/SPH simulations of isolated, flat dwarf galaxies, both rotating and non-rotating. The main goal is to investigate possible mechanisms to explain the observed dichotomy in radial stellar metallicity profiles of dwarf galaxies: dwarf irregulars (dIrr) and flat, rotating dwarf ellipticals (dE) generally possess flat metallicity profiles, while rounder and non-rotating dEs show strong negative metallicity gradients. These simulations show that flattening by rotation is key to reproducing the observed characteristics of flat dwarf galaxies, proving particularly efficient in erasing metallicity gradients. We propose a "centrifugal barrier mechanism" as an alternative to the previously suggested "fountain mechanism" for explaining the flat metallicity profiles of dIrrs and flat, rotating dEs. While only flattening the dark-matter halo has little influence, the addition of angular momentum slows down the infall of gas, so that star formation (SF) and the ensuing feedback are less centrally concentrated, occurring galaxy-wide. Additionally, this leads to more continuous SFHs by preventing large-scale oscillations in the SFR ("breathing"), and creates low density holes in the ISM, in agreement with observations of dIrrs. Our general conclusion is that rotation has a significant influence on the evolution and appearance of dwarf galaxies, and we suggest angular momentum as a second parameter (after galaxy mass as the dominant parameter) in dwarf galaxy evolution. Angular momentum differentiates between SF modes, making our fast rotating models qualitatively resemble dIrrs, which does not seem possible without rotation.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS | 19 pages, 20 figures | extra online content available (animations) : on the publisher's website / on the YouTube channel for the astronomy department of the University of Ghent : http://www.youtube.com/user/AstroUGent / YouTube playlist specifically for this article : http://www.youtube.com/user/AstroUGent#grid/user/EFAA5AAE5C5E474
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