A Sagittarius-Induced Origin for the Monoceros Ring

The Monoceros ring is a collection of stars in nearly-circular orbits at roughly 18 kpc from the Galactic center. It may have originated (i) as the response of the disc to perturbations excited by satellite companions or (ii) from the tidal debris of a disrupted dwarf galaxy. The metallicity of Monoceros stars differs from that of disc stars at comparable Galactocentric distances, an observation that disfavours the first scenario. On the other hand, circular orbits are difficult to accommodate in the tidal-disruption scenario, since it requires a satellite which at the time of disruption was itself in a nearly circular orbit. Such satellite could not have formed at the location of the ring and, given its low mass, dynamical friction is unlikely to have played a major role in its orbital evolution. We search cosmological simulations for low-mass satellites in nearly-circular orbits and find that they result, almost invariably, from orbital changes induced by collisions with more massive satellites: the radius of the circular orbit thus traces the galactocentric distance of the collision. Interestingly, the Sagittarius dwarf, one of the most luminous satellites of the Milky Way, is in a polar orbit that crosses the Galactic plane at roughly the same Galactocentric distance as Monoceros. We use idealized simulations to demonstrate that an encounter with Sagittarius might well have led to the circularization and subsequent tidal demise of the progenitor of the Monoceros ring.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, to match version published in MNRAS Letters (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-3933.2011.01035.x/abstract

Chemical evolution during gas-rich galaxy interactions

We perform and analyse a set of galaxy interactions performed by using a self-consistent chemo-hydrodynamical model which includes star formation, supernova (SN) feedback and chemical evolution. In agreement with previous works, we find that tidally induced low-metallicity gas inflows dilute the central oxygen abundance and contribute to the flattening of the metallicity gradients. The tidally induced inflows trigger starbursts which increase the impact of Type II supernova (SN II) feedback injecting new chemical elements and driving galactic winds which modulate the metallicity distribution. Although α-enhancement in the central regions is detected as a result of the induced starbursts in agreement with previous works, our simulations suggest that this parameter can only provide a timing of the first pericentre mainly for non-retrograde encounters. In order to reproduce wet major mergers at low and high redshifts, we have run simulations with respectively 20 and 50 per cent of the disc in the form of gas. We find that the more gas-rich encounters behave similarly to the less rich ones, between the first and second pericentre, where low-metallicity gas inflows are triggered. However, the higher strength of the inflows triggered in the more gas-rich interactions produces larger metal dilution factors, which are modulated afterwards by the new chemical production by SN. We find that the more gas-rich interaction develops violent and clumpy star formation triggered by local instabilities all over the disc before the first pericentre, so that if these galaxies were observed at these early stages where no important tidally induced inflows have been able to be developed yet, they would tend to show an excess of oxygen. We find a global mean correlation of both the central abundances and the gradients with the strength of the star formation activity. However, the correlations are affected by orbital parameters, gas inflows and outflows, suggesting that it might be difficult to determine it from observations. Overall, our findings show that a consistent description of the gas dynamics and stellar evolution along the interactions is necessary to assess their effects on the chemical properties of the interstellar medium.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Testing SALT Approximations with Numerical Radiation Transfer Code Part 1: Validity and Applicability

Absorption line spectroscopy offers one of the best opportunities to constrain the properties of galactic outflows and the environment of the circumgalactic medium. Extracting physical information from line profiles is difficult, however, for the physics governing the underlying radiation transfer is complicated and depends on many different parameters. Idealized analytical models are necessary to constrain the large parameter spaces efficiently, but are typically plagued by model degeneracy and systematic errors. Comparison tests with idealized numerical radiation transfer codes offer an excellent opportunity to confront both of these issues. In this paper, we present a detailed comparison between SALT, an analytical radiation transfer model for predicting UV spectra of galactic outflows, with the numerical radiation transfer software, RASCAS. Our analysis has lead to upgrades to both models including an improved derivation of SALT and a customizable adaptive mesh refinement routine for RASCAS. We explore how well SALT, when paired with a Monte Carlo fitting procedure, can recover flow parameters from non-turbulent and turbulent flows. When the velocity and density gradients are excluded, we find that flow parameters are well recovered from high resolution (20 $\rm{km}$ $\rm{s}^{-1}$) data and moderately well from medium resolution (100 $\rm{km}$ $\rm{s}^{-1}$) data without turbulence at a S/N = 10, while derived quantities (e.g., mass outflow rates, column density, etc.) are well recovered at all resolutions. In the turbulent case, biased errors emerge in the recovery of individual parameters, but derived quantities are still well recovered

Chemical evolution during gas-rich galaxy interactions

We perform and analyse a set of galaxy interactions performed by using a self-consistent chemo-hydrodynamical model which includes star formation, supernova (SN) feedback and chemical evolution. In agreement with previous works, we find that tidally induced low-metallicity gas inflows dilute the central oxygen abundance and contribute to the flattening of the metallicity gradients. The tidally induced inflows trigger starbursts which increase the impact of Type II supernova (SN II) feedback injecting new chemical elements and driving galactic winds which modulate the metallicity distribution. Although α-enhancement in the central regions is detected as a result of the induced starbursts in agreement with previous works, our simulations suggest that this parameter can only provide a timing of the first pericentre mainly for non-retrograde encounters. In order to reproduce wet major mergers at low and high redshifts, we have run simulations with respectively 20 and 50 per cent of the disc in the form of gas. We find that the more gas-rich encounters behave similarly to the less rich ones, between the first and second pericentre, where low-metallicity gas inflows are triggered. However, the higher strength of the inflows triggered in the more gas-rich interactions produces larger metal dilution factors, which are modulated afterwards by the new chemical production by SN. We find that the more gas-rich interaction develops violent and clumpy star formation triggered by local instabilities all over the disc before the first pericentre, so that if these galaxies were observed at these early stages where no important tidally induced inflows have been able to be developed yet, they would tend to show an excess of oxygen. We find a global mean correlation of both the central abundances and the gradients with the strength of the star formation activity. However, the correlations are affected by orbital parameters, gas inflows and outflows, suggesting that it might be difficult to determine it from observations. Overall, our findings show that a consistent description of the gas dynamics and stellar evolution along the interactions is necessary to assess their effects on the chemical properties of the interstellar medium.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Clumpy disc and bulge formation

We present a set of hydrodynamical/N-body controlled simulations of isolated gas-rich galaxies that self-consistently include supernova (SN) feedback and a detailed chemical evolution model, both tested in cosmological simulations. The initial conditions are motivated by the observed star-forming galaxies at z̃2-3.We find that the presence of a multiphase interstellar media in our models promotes the growth of disc instability favouring the formation of clumps which, in general, are not easily disrupted on time-scales compared to the migration time. We show that stellar clumps migrate towards the central region and contribute to form a classicallike bulge with a Séersic index, n>2. Our physically motivated SNfeedback has a mild influence on clump survival and evolution, partially limiting the mass growth of clumps as the energy released per SN event is increased, with the consequent flattening of the bulge profile. This regulation does not prevent the building of a classical-like bulge even for the most energetic feedback tested. Our SN feedback model is able to establish self-regulated star formation, producing mass-loaded outflows and stellar age spreads comparable to observations. We find that the bulge formation by clumps may coexist with other channels of bulge assembly such as bars and mergers. Our results suggest that galactic bulges could be interpreted as composite systems with structural components and stellar populations storing archaeological information of the dynamical history of their galaxy.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

The Physics of Indirect Estimators of Lyman Continuum Escape and their Application to High-Redshift JWST Galaxies

Reliable indirect diagnostics of LyC photon escape from galaxies are required to understand which sources were the dominant contributors to reionization. While multiple escape fraction ($f_{\rm esc}$) indicators have been proposed to trace favourable conditions for LyC leakage from the interstellar medium of low-redshift ``analog'' galaxies, it remains unclear whether these are applicable at high redshifts where LyC emission cannot be directly observed. Using a library of 14,120 mock spectra of star-forming galaxies with redshifts $4.64 \leq z \leq 10$ from the SPHINX$^{20}$ cosmological radiation hydrodynamics simulation, we develop a framework for the physics that leads to high $f_{\rm esc}$. We investigate LyC leakage from our galaxies based on the criteria that successful LyC escape diagnostics must \textit{i)} track a high specific star formation rate, \textit{ii)} be sensitive to stellar population age in the range $3.5-10$~Myr representing the times when supernova first explode to when LyC production significantly drops, and \textit{iii)} include a proxy for neutral gas content and gas density in the interstellar medium. ${\rm O}_{32}$, $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$, M$_{\rm UV}$, and H$\beta$ equivalent width select for one or fewer of our criteria, rendering them either necessary but insufficient or generally poor diagnostics. In contrast, UV slope ($\beta$), and ${\rm E(B-V)}$ match two or more of our criteria, rendering them good $f_{\rm esc}$ diagnostics (albeit with significant scatter). Using our library, we build a quantitative model for predicting $f_{\rm esc}$ based on $\beta$, ${\rm E(B-V)}$, H$\beta$, M$_{\rm UV}$, ${\rm R_{23}}$, and ${\rm O_{32}}$. When applied to bright $z > 6$ Ly$\alpha$ emitters observed with JWST, we find that the majority of them have $f_{\rm esc} \lesssim 10\%$.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, 1 table, submitted to MNRA

How to Quench a Dwarf Galaxy: The Impact of Inhomogeneous Reionization on Dwarf Galaxies and Cosmic Filaments

We use the SPHINX suite of high-resolution cosmological radiation hydrodynamics simulations to study how spatially and temporally inhomogeneous reionization impacts the baryonic content of dwarf galaxies and cosmic filaments. The SPHINX simulations simultaneously capture the large-scale process of reionization, model the escape of ionising radiation from thousands of galaxies, and resolve haloes well below the atomic cooling threshold. This makes them an ideal tool for examining how reionization impacts star formation and the gas content of dwarf galaxies. We compare simulations with and without stellar radiation to isolate the effects of radiation feedback from that of supernova, cosmic expansion, and numerical resolution. We find that the gas content of cosmic filaments can be reduced by more than 80% following reionization. The gas inflow rates into haloes with $M_{vir}\lesssim10^8M_{\odot}$ are strongly affected and are reduced by more than an order of magnitude compared to the simulation without reionization. A significant increase in gas outflow rates is found for halo masses $M_{vir}\lesssim7\times10^7M_{\odot}$. Our simulations show that inflow suppression (i.e. starvation), rather than photoevaporation, is the dominant mechanism by which the baryonic content of high-redshift dwarf galaxies is regulated. At fixed redshift and halo mass, there is a large scatter in the halo baryon fractions that is entirely dictated by the timing of reionization in the local region surrounding a halo. Finally, although the gas content of high-redshift dwarf galaxies is significantly impacted by reionization, we find that most haloes with $M_{vir}\lesssim10^8M_{\odot}$ can remain self-shielded and form stars long after reionization, until their local gas reservoir is depleted, suggesting that local group dwarf galaxies do not necessarily exhibit star formation histories that peak prior to $z=6$

Chemical evolution during gas-rich galaxy interactions

We analyse a set of galaxy interactions performed by using a self-consistent chemo-hydrodynamical model which includes star formation, Supernova feedback and chemical evolution. In agreement with previous works, we find that tidally-induced low-metallicity gas inflows dilute the central oxygen abundance and contribute to the flattening of the metallicity gradients. The tidally-induced inflows trigger starbursts which increase the impact of SN II feedback injecting new chemical elements and driving galactic winds which modulate the metallicity distribution. Although $\alpha$-enhancement in the central regions is detected as a result of the induced starbursts in agreement with previous works, our simulations suggest that this parameter can only provide a timing of the first pericentre mainly for non-retrograde encounters. In order to reproduce wet major mergers at low and high redshifts, we have run simulations with respectively 20 and 50 percent of the disc in form of gas. We find that the more gas-rich encounters behave similarly to the less rich ones, between the first and second pericentre where low-metallicity gas inflows are triggered. However, the higher strength of the inflows triggered in the more gas-rich interactions produces larger metal dilutions factors which are afterward modulated by the new chemical production by Supernova. We find that the more gas-rich interaction develops violent and clumpy star formation triggered by local instabilities all over the disc before the first pericentre, so that if these galaxies were observed at these early stages where no important tidally-induced inflows have been able to develop yet, they would tend to show an excess of oxygen. We find a global mean correlation of both the central abundances and the gradients with the strength of the star formation activity. [abridged]Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

The ATLAS3D project - XXIX : The new look of early-type galaxies and surrounding fields disclosed by extremely deep optical images

Date of Acceptance: 25/09/2014Galactic archaeology based on star counts is instrumental to reconstruct the past mass assembly of Local Group galaxies. The development of new observing techniques and data reduction, coupled with the use of sensitive large field of view cameras, now allows us to pursue this technique in more distant galaxies exploiting their diffuse low surface brightness (LSB) light. As part of the ATLAS3D project, we have obtained with the MegaCam camera at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope extremely deep, multiband images of nearby early-type galaxies (ETGs). We present here a catalogue of 92 galaxies from the ATLAS3D sample, which are located in low- to medium-density environments. The observing strategy and data reduction pipeline, which achieve a gain of several magnitudes in the limiting surface brightness with respect to classical imaging surveys, are presented. The size and depth of the survey are compared to other recent deep imaging projects. The paper highlights the capability of LSB-optimized surveys at detecting new prominent structures that change the apparent morphology of galaxies. The intrinsic limitations of deep imaging observations are also discussed, among those, the contamination of the stellar haloes of galaxies by extended ghost reflections, and the cirrus emission from Galactic dust. The detection and systematic census of fine structures that trace the present and past mass assembly of ETGs are one of the prime goals of the project. We provide specific examples of each type of observed structures - tidal tails, stellar streams and shells - and explain how they were identified and classified. We give an overview of the initial results. The detailed statistical analysis will be presented in future papers.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio