Within a fully cosmological hydrodynamical simulation, we form a galaxy which rotates at 140 km s−1, and it is characterized by two loose spiral arms and a bar, indicative of a Hubble-type SBc/d ...galaxy. We show that our simulated galaxy has no classical bulge, with a pure disc profile at z = 1, well after the major merging activity has ended. A long-lived bar subsequently forms, resulting in the formation of a secularly formed 'pseudo-'bulge, with the final bulge-to-total light ratio of 0.21. We show that the majority of gas which loses angular momentum and falls to the central region of the galaxy during the merging epoch is blown back into the hot halo, with much of it returning later to form stars in the disc. We propose that this mechanism of redistribution of angular momentum via a galactic fountain, when coupled with the results from our previous study which showed why gas outflows are biased to have low angular momentum, can solve the angular momentum/bulgeless disc problem of the cold dark matter paradigm.
Using high resolution, fully cosmological smoothed particle hydrodynamical simulations of dwarf galaxies in a Lambda cold dark matter Universe, we show how high redshift gas outflows can modify the ...baryon angular momentum distribution and allow pure disc galaxies to form. We outline how galactic outflows preferentially remove low angular momentum material due a combination of (a) star formation peaking at high redshift in shallow dark matter potentials, an epoch when accreted gas has relatively low angular momentum, (b) the existence of an extended reservoir of high angular momentum gas in the outer disc to provide material for prolonged SF at later times and (c) the tendency for outflows to follow the path of least resistance which is perpendicular to the disc. We also show that outflows are enhanced during mergers, thus expelling much of the gas which has lost its angular momentum during these events, and preventing the formation of 'classical', merger driven bulges in low-mass systems. Stars formed prior to such mergers form a diffuse, extended stellar halo component similar to those detected in nearby dwarfs.
Abstract
Within a cosmological hydrodynamical simulation, we form a disc galaxy with sub-components which can be assigned to a thin stellar disc, thick disc and a low-mass stellar halo via a chemical ...decomposition. The thin- and thick-disc populations so selected are distinct in their ages, kinematics and metallicities. Thin-disc stars are young (<6.6 Gyr), possess low velocity dispersion (σU, V, W = 41, 31, 25 km s−1), high Fe/H and low O/Fe. Conversely, the thick-disc stars are old (6.6 < age < 9.8 Gyr), lag the thin disc by ∼21 km s−1, possess higher velocity dispersion (σU, V, W = 49, 44, 35 km s−1) and have relatively low Fe/H and high O/Fe. The halo component comprises less than 4 per cent of stars in the 'solar annulus' of the simulation, has low metallicity, a velocity ellipsoid defined by σU, V, W = 62, 46, 45 km s−1 and is formed primarily in situ during an early merger epoch. Gas-rich mergers during this epoch play a major role in fuelling the formation of the old-disc stars (the thick disc). We demonstrate that this is consistent with studies which show that cold accretion is the main source of a disc galaxy's baryons. Our simulation initially forms a relatively short (scalelength ∼1.7 kpc at z = 1) and kinematically hot disc, primarily from gas accreted during the galaxy's merger epoch. Far from being a competing formation scenario, we show that migration is crucial for reconciling the short, hot, discs which form at high redshift in Λ cold dark matter, with the properties of the thick disc at z = 0. The thick disc, as defined by its abundances, maintains its relatively short scalelength at z = 0 (2.31 kpc) compared with the total disc scalelength of 2.73 kpc. The inside-out nature of disc growth is imprinted in the evolution of abundances such that the metal-poor α-young population has a larger scalelength (4.07 kpc) than the more chemically evolved metal-rich α-young population (2.74 kpc).
We analyse the structure and chemical enrichment of a Milky Way-like galaxy with a stellar mass of 2 × 1010 M, formed in a cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. It is disc dominated with a flat ...rotation curve, and has a disc scalelength similar to the Milky Way's, but a velocity dispersion that is ∼50 per cent higher. Examining stars in narrow Fe/H and α/Fe abundance ranges, we find remarkable qualitative agreement between this simulation and observations. (a) The old stars lie in a thickened distribution with a short scalelength, while the young stars form a thinner disc, with scalelengths decreasing, as Fe/H increases. (b) Consequently, there is a distinct outward metallicity gradient. (c) Mono-abundance populations exist with a continuous distribution of scaleheights (from thin to thick). However, the simulated galaxy has a distinct and substantive very thick disc (h
z
∼ 1.5 kpc), not seen in the Milky Way. The broad agreement between simulations and observations allows us to test the validity of observational proxies used in the literature: we find in the simulation that mono-abundance populations are good proxies for single age populations (<1 Gyr) for most abundances.
We present 3D smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of the collapse of clumps formed through gravitational instability in the outer part of a protoplanetary disc. The initial conditions are ...taken directly from a global disc simulation, and a realistic equation of state is used to follow the clumps as they contract over several orders of magnitude in density, approaching the molecular hydrogen dissociation stage. The effects of clump rotation, asymmetries and radiative cooling are studied. Rotation provides support against fast collapse, but non-axisymmetric modes develop and efficiently transport angular momentum outwards, forming a circumplanetary disc. This transport helps the clump reach the dynamical collapse phase, resulting from molecular hydrogen dissociation, on a thousand-year time-scale, which is smaller than time-scales predicted by some previous spherical 1D collapse models. Extrapolation to the threshold of the runaway hydrogen dissociation indicates that the collapse time-scales can be shorter than inward migration time-scales, suggesting that clumps could survive tidal disruption and deliver a protogas giant to distances of even a few au from the central star.
We present an analysis of a suite of simulations run with different particle- and grid-based cosmological hydrodynamical codes and compare them with observational data of the Milky Way. This is the ...first study to make comparisons of properties of galaxies simulated with particle- and grid-based codes. Our analysis indicates that there is broad agreement between these different modelling techniques. We study the velocity dispersion-age relation for disc stars at z= 0 and find that four of the simulations are more consistent with observations by Holmberg, Nordstroem & Andersen in which the stellar disc appears to undergo continual/secular heating. Two other simulations are in better agreement with the Quillen & Garnett observations that suggest 'saturation' in the heating profile for young stars in the disc. None of the simulations has thin discs as old as that of the Milky Way. We also analyse the kinematics of disc stars at the time of their birth for different epochs in the galaxies' evolution and find that in some simulations old stars are born cold within the disc and are subsequently heated, while other simulations possess old stellar populations which are born relatively hot. The models which are in better agreement with observations of the Milky Way's stellar disc undergo significantly lower minor-merger/assembly activity after the last major merger, that is, once the disc has formed. All of the simulations are significantly 'hotter' than the Milky Way disc; on top of the effects of mergers, we find a 'floor' in the dispersion that is related to the underlying treatment of the heating and cooling of the interstellar medium, and the low density threshold which such codes use for star formation. This finding has important implications for all studies of disc heating that use hydrodynamical codes.
Abstract
There is a high demand and expectation for subseasonal to seasonal (S2S) prediction, which provides forecasts beyond 2 weeks, but less than 3 months ahead. To assess the potential benefit of ...artificial intelligence (AI) methods for S2S prediction through better postprocessing of ensemble prediction system outputs, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) coordinated a prize challenge in 2021 to improve subseasonal prediction. The goal of this competition was to produce the most skillful forecasts of precipitation and 2-m temperature globally averaged over forecast weeks 3 and 4 and over weeks 5 and 6 for the year 2020 using artificial intelligence techniques. The top three submissions, described in this article, succeeded in producing S2S forecasts significantly more skillful than the bias-corrected ECMWF operational reference forecasts, particularly for precipitation, through improved calibration of the ECMWF raw forecast outputs or multimodel combination. These forecast improvements should benefit the use of S2S forecasts in applications.
The center of our disk galaxy, the Milky Way, is dominated by a boxy/peanut-shaped bulge. Numerous studies of the bulge based on stellar photometry have concluded that the bulge stars are exclusively ...old. The perceived lack of young stars in the bulge strongly constrains its likely formation scenarios, providing evidence that the bulge is a unique population that formed early and separately from the disk. However, recent studies of individual bulge stars using the microlensing technique have reported that they span a range of ages, emphasizing that the bulge may not be a monolithic structure. In this Letter we demonstrate that the presence of young stars that are located predominantly nearer to the plane is expected for a bulge that has formed from the disk via dynamical instabilities. Using an N-body + smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulation of a disk galaxy forming out of gas cooling inside a dark matter halo and forming stars, we find a qualitative agreement between our model and the observations of younger metal-rich stars in the bulge. We are also able to partially resolve the apparent contradiction in the literature between results that argue for a purely old bulge population and those that show a population comprised of a range in ages; the key is where to look.
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