We present the evolution of the structure of relaxed cold dark matter (CDM) haloes in the cosmology from the Planck satellite. Our simulations cover five decades in halo mass, from dwarf galaxies to ...galaxy clusters. Because of the increased matter density and power spectrum normalization the concentration–mass relation in the Planck
cosmology has a ∼20 per cent higher normalization at redshift z = 0 compared to Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe cosmology. We confirm that CDM haloes are better described by the Einasto profile; for example, at scales near galaxy half-light radii CDM haloes have significantly steeper density profiles than implied by Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) fits. There is a scatter of ∼0.2 dex in the Einasto shape parameter at fixed halo mass, adding further to the diversity of CDM halo profiles. The evolution of the concentration–mass relation in our simulations is not reproduced by any of the analytic models in the literature. We thus provide a simple fitting formula that accurately describes the evolution between redshifts z = 5 and 0 for both NFW and Einasto fits. Finally, the observed concentrations and halo masses of spiral galaxies, groups and clusters of galaxies at low redshifts are in good agreement with our simulations, suggesting only mild halo response to galaxy formation on these scales.
We show that the M BH-M bulge scaling relations observed from the local to the high-z universe can be largely or even entirely explained by a non-causal origin, i.e., they do not imply the need for ...any physically coupled growth of black hole (BH) and bulge mass, for example, through feedback by active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Provided some physics for the absolute normalization, the creation of the scaling relations can be fully explained by the hierarchical assembly of BH and stellar mass through galaxy merging, from an initially uncorrelated distribution of BH and stellar masses in the early universe. We show this with a suite of dark matter halo merger trees for which we make assumptions about (uncorrelated) BH and stellar mass values at early cosmic times. We then follow the halos in the presence of global star formation and BH accretion recipes that (1) work without any coupling of the two properties per individual galaxy and (2) correctly reproduce the observed star formation and BH accretion rate density in the universe. With disk-to-bulge conversion in mergers included, our simulations even create the observed slope of ~1.1 for the M BH-M bulge relation at z = 0. This also implies that AGN feedback is not a required (though still a possible) ingredient in galaxy evolution. In light of this, other mechanisms that can be invoked to truncate star formation in massive galaxies are equally justified.
The dark energy dominated warm dark matter (WDM) model is a promising alternative cosmological scenario. We explore large-scale structure formation in this paradigm. We do this in two different ways: ...with the halo model approach and with the help of an ensemble of high-resolution N-body simulations. Combining these quasi-independent approaches leads to a physical understanding of the important processes which shape the formation of structures. We take a detailed look at the halo mass function, the concentrations and the linear halo bias of WDM. In all cases we find interesting deviations with respect to cold dark matter (CDM). In particular, the concentration-mass relation displays a turnover for group scale dark matter haloes, for the case of WDM particles with masses of the order of m
WDM∼ 0.25 keV. This may be interpreted as a hint for top-down structure formation on small scales. We implement our results into the halo model and find much better agreement with simulations. On small scales, the WDM halo model now performs as well as its CDM counterpart.
We introduce project Nihao (Numerical Investigation of a Hundred Astrophysical Objects), a set of 100 cosmological zoom-in hydrodynamical simulations performed using the gasoline code, with an ...improved implementation of the SPH algorithm. The haloes in our study range from dwarf (M
200 ∼ 5 × 109 M⊙) to Milky Way (M
200 ∼ 2 × 1012 M⊙) masses, and represent an unbiased sampling of merger histories, concentrations and spin parameters. The particle masses and force softenings are chosen to resolve the mass profile to below 1 per cent of the virial radius at all masses, ensuring that galaxy half-light radii are well resolved. Using the same treatment of star formation and stellar feedback for every object, the simulated galaxies reproduce the observed inefficiency of galaxy formation across cosmic time as expressed through the stellar mass versus halo mass relation, and the star formation rate versus stellar mass relation. We thus conclude that stellar feedback is the chief piece of physics required to limit the efficiency of star formation in galaxies less massive than the Milky Way.
We use a statistical approach to determine the relationship between the stellar masses of galaxies and the masses of the dark matter halos in which they reside. We obtain a parameterized ...stellar-to-halo mass (SHM) relation by populating halos and subhalos in an N-body simulation with galaxies and requiring that the observed stellar mass function be reproduced. We find good agreement with constraints from galaxy-galaxy lensing and predictions of semi-analytic models. Using this mapping, and the positions of the halos and subhalos obtained from the simulation, we find that our model predictions for the galaxy two-point correlation function (CF) as a function of stellar mass are in excellent agreement with the observed clustering properties in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at z = 0. We show that the clustering data do not provide additional strong constraints on the SHM function and conclude that our model can therefore predict clustering as a function of stellar mass. We compute the conditional mass function, which yields the average number of galaxies with stellar masses in the range m +- dm/2 that reside in a halo of mass M. We study the redshift dependence of the SHM relation and show that, for low-mass halos, the SHM ratio is lower at higher redshift. The derived SHM relation is used to predict the stellar mass dependent galaxy CF and bias at high redshift. Our model predicts that not only are massive galaxies more biased than low-mass galaxies at all redshifts, but also the bias increases more rapidly with increasing redshift for massive galaxies than for low-mass ones. We present convenient fitting functions for the SHM relation as a function of redshift, the conditional mass function, and the bias as a function of stellar mass and redshift.
We use the NIHAO (Numerical Investigation of Hundred Astrophysical Objects) cosmological simulations to investigate the effects of baryonic physics on the time evolution of dark matter central ...density profiles. The sample is made of ≈70 independent high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation and covers a wide mass range: 1010 ≲ M
halo/M⊙ ≲ 1012, i.e. from dwarfs to L
⋆. We confirm previous results on the dependence of the inner dark matter density slope, α, on the ratio between stellar-to-halo mass, M
star/M
halo. We show that this relation holds approximately at all redshifts (with an intrinsic scatter of ∼0.18 in α measured between 1 and 2 per cent of the virial radius). This implies that in practically all haloes the shape of their inner density profile changes quite substantially over cosmic time, as they grow in stellar and total mass. Thus, depending on their final M
star/M
halo ratio, haloes can either form and keep a substantial density core (R
core ∼ 1 kpc), or form and then destroy the core and recontract the halo, going back to a cuspy profile, which is even steeper than cold-dark-matter predictions for massive galaxies (1012 M⊙). We show that results from the NIHAO suite are in good agreement with recent observational measurements of α in dwarf galaxies. Overall our results suggest that the notion of a universal density profile for dark matter haloes is no longer valid in the presence of galaxy formation.
Abstract
We address the origin of ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs), which have stellar masses typical of dwarf galaxies but effective radii of Milky Way-sized objects. Their formation mechanism, and ...whether they are failed L
⋆ galaxies or diffuse dwarfs, are challenging issues. Using zoom-in cosmological simulations from the Numerical Investigation of a Hundred Astrophysical Objects (NIHAO) project, we show that UDG analogues form naturally in dwarf-sized haloes due to episodes of gas outflows associated with star formation. The simulated UDGs live in isolated haloes of masses 1010–11 M⊙, have stellar masses of 107–8.5 M⊙, effective radii larger than 1 kpc and dark matter cores. They show a broad range of colours, an average Sérsic index of 0.83, a typical distribution of halo spin and concentration, and a non-negligible H i gas mass of 107 − 9 M⊙, which correlates with the extent of the galaxy. Gas availability is crucial to the internal processes which form UDGs: feedback-driven gas outflows, and subsequent dark matter and stellar expansion, are the key to reproduce faint, yet unusually extended, galaxies. This scenario implies that UDGs represent a dwarf population of low surface brightness galaxies and should exist in the field. The largest isolated UDGs should contain more H i gas than less extended dwarfs of similar M
⋆.
We use ∼100 cosmological galaxy formation ‘zoom-in’ simulations using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics code gasoline to study the effect of baryonic processes on the mass profiles of cold dark ...matter haloes. The haloes in our study range from dwarf (M
200 ∼ 1010 M⊙) to Milky Way (M
200 ∼ 1012 M⊙) masses. Our simulations exhibit a wide range of halo responses, primarily varying with mass, from expansion to contraction, with up to factor ∼10 changes in the enclosed dark matter mass at 1 per cent of the virial radius. Confirming previous studies, the halo response is correlated with the integrated efficiency of star formation: ϵSF ≡ (M
star/M
200)/(Ωb/Ωm). In addition, we report a new correlation with the compactness of the stellar system: ϵR ≡ r
1/2/R
200. We provide an analytic formula depending on ϵSF and ϵR for the response of cold dark matter haloes to baryonic processes. An observationally testable prediction is that, at fixed mass, larger galaxies experience more halo expansion, while the smaller galaxies more halo contraction. This diversity of dark halo response is captured by a toy model consisting of cycles of adiabatic inflow (causing contraction) and impulsive gas outflow (causing expansion). For net outflow, or equal inflow and outflow fractions, f, the overall effect is expansion, with more expansion with larger f. For net inflow, contraction occurs for small f (large radii), while expansion occurs for large f (small radii), recovering the phenomenology seen in our simulations. These regularities in the galaxy formation process provide a step towards a fully predictive model for the structure of cold dark matter haloes.
ABSTRACT
We study ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) in zoom in cosmological simulations, seeking the origin of UDGs in the field versus galaxy groups. We find that while field UDGs arise from dwarfs in a ...characteristic mass range by multiple episodes of supernova feedback (Di Cintio et al.), group UDGs may also form by tidal puffing up and they become quiescent by ram-pressure stripping. The field and group UDGs share similar properties, independent of distance from the group centre. Their dark-matter haloes have ordinary spin parameters and centrally dominant dark-matter cores. Their stellar components tend to have a prolate shape with a Sérsic index n ∼ 1 but no significant rotation. Ram pressure removes the gas from the group UDGs when they are at pericentre, quenching star formation in them and making them redder. This generates a colour/star-formation-rate gradient with distance from the centre of the dense environment, as observed in clusters. We find that ∼20 per cent of the field UDGs that fall into a massive halo survive as satellite UDGs. In addition, normal field dwarfs on highly eccentric orbits can become UDGs near pericentre due to tidal puffing up, contributing about half of the group-UDG population. We interpret our findings using simple toy models, showing that gas stripping is mostly due to ram pressure rather than tides. We estimate that the energy deposited by tides in the bound component of a satellite over one orbit can cause significant puffing up provided that the orbit is sufficiently eccentric. We caution that while the simulations produce UDGs that match the observations, they under-produce the more compact dwarfs in the same mass range, possibly because of the high threshold for star formation or the strong feedback.
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