Julien Devriendt

Abstract:

The Galaxies in Cosmological Simulations (galics) semi-analytical model of hierarchical galaxy formation is used to investigate the effects of different galactic properties, including star formation rate (SFR) and outflows, on the shape of the mass-metallicity relation and to predict the relation for galaxies at redshift z= 2.27 and 3.54. Our version of galics has the chemical evolution implemented in great detail and is less heavily reliant on approximations, such as instantaneous recycling. We vary the model parameters controlling both the efficiency and redshift dependence of the SFR as well as the efficiency of supernova feedback. We find that the factors controlling the SFR influence the relation significantly at all redshifts and require a strong redshift dependence, proportional to 1 +z, in order to reproduce the observed relation at the low-mass end. Indeed, at any redshift, the predicted relation flattens out at the high-mass end resulting in a poorer agreement with observations in this regime. We also find that variation in the parameters associated with outflows has a minimal effect on the relation at high redshift but does serve to alter its shape in the more recent past. We thus conclude that the relation is one between the SFR and mass and that outflows are only important in shaping the relation at late times. When the relation is stratified by the SFR, it is apparent that the predicted galaxies with increasing stellar masses have higher SFRs, supporting the view that galaxy downsizing is the origin of the relation. Attempting to reproduce the observed relation, we vary the parameters controlling the efficiency of star formation and its redshift dependence and compare the predicted relations with those of Erb et al. at z= 2.27 and Maiolino et al. at z= 3.54 in order to find the best-fitting parameters. We succeed in fitting the relation at z= 3.54 reasonably well; however, we fail at z= 2.27, our relation lying on average below the observed one at the one standard deviation level. We do, however, predict the observed evolution between z= 3.54 and 0. Finally, we discuss the reasons for the above failure and the flattening at high masses, with regards to both the comparability of our predictions with observations and the possible lack of underlying physics. Several of these problems are common to many semi-analytic/hybrid models and so we discuss possible improvements and set the stage for future work by considering how the predictions and physics in these models can be made more robust in light of our results. © 2010 The Authors Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2010 RAS.

Abstract:

SNe driven winds are widely thought to be very influential in the high-redshift Universe, shaping the properties of the circum-galactic medium, enriching the IGM with metals and driving the evolution of low-mass galaxies. However, it is not yet fully understood how SNe driven winds interact with their surroundings in a cosmological context, nor is it clear whether they are able to significantly impact the evolution of low-mass galaxies from which they originate by altering the amount of cold material these accrete from the cosmic web. We implement a standard Taylor-Sedov type solution, widely used in the community to depict the combined action of many SN explosions, in a cosmological resimulation of a low mass galaxy at z =9 from the 'Nut' suite. However, in contrast with previous work, we achieve a resolution high enough to capture individual SN remnants in the Taylor-Sedov phase, for which the solution provides an accurate description of the expansion. We report the development of a high-velocity, far-reaching galactic wind produced by the combined action of SNe in the main galaxy and its satellites, which are located in the same or a neighbouring dark matter halo. Despite this, we find that (i) this wind carries out very little mass (the measured outflow is of the order of a tenth of the inflow/star formation rate) and (ii) the cold gas inflow rate remains essentially unchanged from the run without SNe feedback. Moreover, there are epochs during which star formation is enhanced in the feedback run relative to its radiative cooling only counterpart. We attribute this 'positive' feedback to the metal enrichment that is present only in the former. We conclude that at very high redshift, efficient SNe feedback can drive large-scale galactic winds but does not prevent massive cold gas inflow from fuelling galaxies, resulting in long-lived episodes of intense star formation.(abridged)

Abstract:

Two of the dominant channels for galaxy mass assembly are cold flows (cold gas supplied via the filaments of the cosmic web) and mergers. How these processes combine in a cosmological setting, at both low and high redshift, to produce the whole zoo of galaxies we observe is largely unknown. Indeed there is still much to understand about the detailed physics of each process in isolation. While these formation channels have been studied using hydrodynamical simulations, here we study their impact on gas properties and star formation (SF) with some of the first from simulations that capture the multiphase, cloudy nature of the interstellar medium (ISM), by virtue of their high spatial resolution (and corresponding low temperature threshold). In this regime, we examine the competition between cold flows and a supernovae(SNe)-driven outflow in a very high-redshift galaxy (z ≈ 9) and study the evolution of equal-mass galaxy mergers at low and high redshift, focusing on the induced SF. We find that SNe-driven outflows cannot reduce the cold accretion at z ≈ 9 and that SF is actually enhanced due to the ensuing metal enrichment. We demonstrate how several recent observational results on galaxy populations (e.g. enhanced HCN/CO ratios in ULIRGs, a separate Kennicutt Schmidt (KS) sequence for starbursts and the population of compact early type galaxies (ETGs) at high redshift) can be explained with mechanisms captured in galaxy merger simulations, provided that the multiphase nature of the ISM is resolved. © Copyright International Astronomical Union 2011.