The presence of a dark matter core in the central kiloparsec of many dwarf galaxies has been a long-standing problem in galaxy formation theories based on the standard cold dark matter paradigm. ...Recent simulations, based on smooth particle hydrodynamics and rather strong feedback recipes, have shown that it was indeed possible to form extended dark matter cores using baryonic processes related to a more realistic treatment of the interstellar medium. Using adaptive mesh refinement, together with a new, stronger supernova feedback scheme that we have recently implemented in the ramses code, we show that it is also possible to form a prominent dark matter core within the well-controlled framework of an isolated, initially cuspy, 1010 M dark matter halo. Although our numerical experiment is idealized, it allows a clean and unambiguous identification of the dark matter core formation process. Our dark matter inner profile is well fitted by a pseudo-isothermal profile with a core radius of 800 pc. The core formation mechanism is consistent with the one proposed by Pontzen & Governato. We highlight two key observational predictions of all simulations that find cusp-core transformations: (i) a bursty star formation history with a peak-to-trough ratio of 5 to 10 and a duty cycle comparable to the local dynamical time and (ii) a stellar distribution that is hot with v/σ ∼ 1. We compare the observational properties of our model galaxy with recent measurements of the isolated dwarf Wolf-Lundmark-Mellote (WLM). We show that the spatial and kinematical distribution of stars and H i gas are in striking agreement with observations, supporting the fundamental role played by stellar feedback in shaping both the stellar and dark matter distribution.
IN-N-OUT: THE GAS CYCLE FROM DWARFS TO SPIRAL GALAXIES Christensen, Charlotte R.; Davé, Romeel; Governato, Fabio ...
Astrophysical journal/The Astrophysical journal,
06/2016, Letnik:
824, Številka:
1
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ABSTRACT We examine the scalings of galactic outflows with halo mass across a suite of 20 high-resolution cosmological zoom galaxy simulations covering halo masses in the range . These simulations ...self-consistently generate outflows from the available supernova energy in a manner that successfully reproduces key galaxy observables, including the stellar mass-halo mass, Tully-Fisher, and mass-metallicity relations. We quantify the importance of ejective feedback to setting the stellar mass relative to the efficiency of gas accretion and star formation. Ejective feedback is increasingly important as galaxy mass decreases; we find an effective mass loading factor that scales as , with an amplitude and shape that are invariant with redshift. These scalings are consistent with analytic models for energy-driven wind, based solely on the halo potential. Recycling is common: about half of the outflow mass across all galaxy masses is later reaccreted. The recycling timescale is typically ∼1 Gyr, virtually independent of halo mass. Recycled material is reaccreted farther out in the disk and with typically ∼2-3 times more angular momentum. These results elucidate and quantify how the baryon cycle plausibly regulates star formation and alters the angular momentum distribution of disk material across the halo mass range where most cosmic star formation occurs.
We use maximum entropy arguments to derive the phase-space distribution of a virialized dark matter halo. Our distribution function gives an improved representation of the end product of violent ...relaxation. This is achieved by incorporating physically motivated dynamical constraints (specifically on orbital actions) which prevent arbitrary redistribution of energy.
We compare the predictions with three high-resolution dark matter simulations of widely varying mass. The numerical distribution function is accurately predicted by our argument, producing an excellent match for the vast majority of particles.
The remaining particles constitute the central cusp of the halo ( 4 per cent of the dark matter). They can be accounted for within the presented framework once the short dynamical time-scales of the centre are taken into account.
ABSTRACT
We introduce the ‘Engineering Dwarfs at Galaxy Formation’s Edge’ (EDGE) project to study the cosmological formation and evolution of the smallest galaxies in the Universe. In this first ...paper, we explore the effects of resolution and sub-grid physics on a single low-mass halo ($M_{\rm halo}=10^{9}{\, \rm M}_\odot$), simulated to redshift z = 0 at a mass and spatial resolution of $\sim 20{\, \rm M}_\odot$ and ∼3 pc. We consider different star formation prescriptions, supernova feedback strengths, and on-the-fly radiative transfer (RT). We show that RT changes the mode of galactic self-regulation at this halo mass, suppressing star formation by causing the interstellar and circumgalactic gas to remain predominantly warm (∼104 K) even before cosmic reionization. By contrast, without RT, star formation regulation occurs only through starbursts and their associated vigorous galactic outflows. In spite of this difference, the entire simulation suite (with the exception of models without any feedback) matches observed dwarf galaxy sizes, velocity dispersions, V-band magnitudes, and dynamical mass-to-light-ratios. This is because such structural scaling relations are predominantly set by the host dark matter halo, with the remaining model-to-model variation being smaller than the observational scatter. We find that only the stellar mass–metallicity relation differentiates the galaxy formation models. Explosive feedback ejects more metals from the dwarf, leading to a lower metallicity at a fixed stellar mass. We conclude that the stellar mass–metallicity relation of the very smallest galaxies provides a unique constraint on galaxy formation physics.
We present a self-consistent prediction from a large-scale cosmological simulation for the population of "wandering" supermassive black holes (SMBHs) of mass greater than 106 M on long-lived, ...kpc-scale orbits within Milky Way (MW)-mass galaxies. We extract a sample of MW-mass halos from the Romulus25 cosmological simulation, which is uniquely able to capture the orbital evolution of SMBHs during and following galaxy mergers. We predict that such halos, regardless of recent merger history or morphology, host an average of 5.1 3.3 SMBHs, including their central black hole, within 10 kpc from the galactic center and an average of 12.2 8.4 SMBHs total within their virial radius, not counting those in satellite halos. Wandering SMBHs exist within their host galaxies for several Gyr, often accreted by their host halo in the early Universe. We find, with >4 significance, that wandering SMBHs are preferentially found outside of galactic disks.
ABSTRACT
We determine the cosmic abundance of molecular hydrogen (H2) in the local Universe from the xCOLD GASS survey. To constrain the H2 mass function at low masses and correct for the effect of ...the lower stellar mass limit of $10^9 \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$ in the xCOLD GASS survey, we use an empirical approach based on an observed scaling relation between star formation rate and gas mass. We also constrain the H i and H i+H2 mass functions using the xGASS survey and compare them to the H i mass function from the ALFALFA survey. We find the cosmic abundance of molecular gas in the local Universe to be $\Omega _{\mathrm{H_2}} = (5.34 \pm 0.47) \times 10^{-5} h^{-1}$. Molecular gas accounts for $19.6\pm 3.9{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the total abundance of cold gas, $\mathrm{\Omega _{H\,{\small I}+H_{2}}} = (4.66 \pm 0.70) \times 10^{-4}\, h_{70}^{-1}$. Galaxies with stellar masses in excess of 109$\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$ account for 89 per cent of the molecular gas in the local Universe, while in comparison such galaxies only contain 73 per cent of the cold atomic gas as traced by the H i 21cm line. The xCOLD GASS CO, molecular gas and cold gas mass functions, and $\Omega _{\mathrm{H_2}}$ measurements provide constraints for models of galaxy evolution and help to anchor blind molecular gas surveys attempting to determine the abundance of molecular gas at high redshifts.
We introduce and explore "paired" cosmological simulations. A pair consists of an A and B simulation with initial conditions related by the inversion delta sub()Ax,t sub(initial))=-delta sub() Bx,t ...sub(initial)) (underdensities substituted for overdensities and vice versa). We argue that the technique is valuable for improving our understanding of cosmic structure formation. The A and B fields are by definition equally likely draws from LambdaCDM initial conditions, and in the linear regime evolve identically up to the overall sign. As nonlinear evolution takes hold, a region that collapses to form a halo in simulation A will tend to expand to create a void in simulation B. Applications include (i) contrasting the growth of A-halos and B-voids to test excursion-set theories of structure formation, (ii) cross-correlating the density field of the A and B universes as a novel test for perturbation theory, and (iii) canceling error terms by averaging power spectra between the two boxes. Generalizations of the method to more elaborate field transformations are suggested.
We present the first public version (v0.2) of the open-source and community-developed Python package, Astropy. This package provides core astronomy-related functionality to the community, including ...support for domain-specific file formats such as flexible image transport system (FITS) files, Virtual Observatory (VO) tables, and common ASCII table formats, unit and physical quantity conversions, physical constants specific to astronomy, celestial coordinate and time transformations, world coordinate system (WCS) support, generalized containers for representing gridded as well as tabular data, and a framework for cosmological transformations and conversions. Significant functionality is under activedevelopment, such as a model fitting framework, VO client and server tools, and aperture and point spread function (PSF) photometry tools. The core development team is actively making additions and enhancements to the current code base, and we encourage anyone interested to participate in the development of future Astropy versions.
ABSTRACT
In the standard Lambda cold dark matter paradigm, pure dark matter simulations predict dwarf galaxies should inhabit dark matter haloes with a centrally diverging density ‘cusp’. This is in ...conflict with observations that typically favour a constant density ‘core’. We investigate this ‘cusp-core problem’ in ‘ultra-faint’ dwarf galaxies simulated as part of the ‘Engineering Dwarfs at Galaxy formation’s Edge’ project. We find, similarly to previous work, that gravitational potential fluctuations within the central region of the simulated dwarfs kinematically heat the dark matter particles, lowering the dwarfs’ central dark matter density. However, these fluctuations are not exclusively caused by gas inflow/outflow, but also by impulsive heating from minor mergers. We use the genetic modification approach on one of our dwarf’s initial conditions to show how a delayed assembly history leads to more late minor mergers and, correspondingly, more dark matter heating. This provides a mechanism by which even ultra-faint dwarfs ($M_* \lt 10^5\, \text{M}_{\odot }$), in which star formation was fully quenched at high redshift, can have their central dark matter density lowered over time. In contrast, we find that late major mergers can regenerate a central dark matter cusp, if the merging galaxy had sufficiently little star formation. The combination of these effects leads us to predict significant stochasticity in the central dark matter density slopes of the smallest dwarfs, driven by their unique star formation and mass assembly histories.
We demonstrate how the least luminous galaxies in the universe, ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, are sensitive to their dynamical mass at the time of cosmic reionization. We select a low-mass ( ) dark ...matter halo from a cosmological volume, and perform zoom hydrodynamical simulations with multiple alternative histories using "genetically modified" initial conditions. Earlier-forming ultra-faints have higher stellar mass today, due to a longer period of star formation before their quenching by reionization. Our histories all converge to the same final dynamical mass, demonstrating the existence of extended scatter (≥1 dex) in stellar masses at fixed halo mass due to the diversity of possible histories. One of our variants builds less than 2% of its final dynamical mass before reionization, rapidly quenching in situ star formation. The bulk of its final stellar mass is later grown by dry mergers, depositing stars in the galaxy's outskirts and hence expanding its effective radius. This mechanism constitutes a new formation scenario for highly diffuse ( , ), metal-poor ( ), ultra-faint ( ) dwarf galaxies within the reach of next-generation low surface brightness surveys.
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