Adrianne Slyz

Abstract:

We examine how the mass assembly of central galaxies depends on their location in the cosmic web. The HORIZON-AGN simulation is analysed at z ∼ 2 using the DISPERSE code to extract multi-scale cosmic filaments. We find that the dependency of galaxy properties on large-scale environment is mostly inherited from the (large-scale) environmental dependency of their host halo mass. When adopting a residual analysis that removes the host halo mass effect, we detect a direct and non-negligible influence of cosmic filaments. Proximity to filaments enhances the build-up of stellar mass, a result in agreement with previous studies. However, our multi-scale analysis also reveals that, at the edge of filaments, star formation is suppressed. In addition, we find clues for compaction of the stellar distribution at close proximity to filaments. We suggest that gas transfer from the outside to the inside of the haloes (where galaxies reside) becomes less efficient closer to filaments, due to high angular momentum supply at the vorticity-rich edge of filaments. This quenching mechanism may partly explain the larger fraction of passive galaxies in filaments, as inferred from observations at lower redshifts.

Abstract:

We investigate the impact of ram pressure stripping due to the intracluster medium (ICM) on star-forming disk galaxies with a multiphase interstellar medium maintained by strong stellar feedback. We carry out radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of an isolated disk galaxy embedded in a 1011 M ⊙ dark matter halo with various ICM winds mimicking the cluster outskirts (moderate) and the central environment (strong). We find that both star formation quenching and triggering occur in ram pressure–stripped galaxies, depending on the strength of the winds. H i and H2 in the outer galactic disk are significantly stripped in the presence of moderate winds, whereas turbulent pressure provides support against ram pressure in the central region, where star formation is active. Moderate ICM winds facilitate gas collapse, increasing the total star formation rates by ~40% when the wind is oriented face-on or by ~80% when it is edge-on. In contrast, strong winds rapidly blow away neutral and molecular hydrogen gas from the galaxy, suppressing star formation by a factor of 2 within ~200 Myr. Dense gas clumps with n H gsim 10 M ⊙ pc−2 are easily identified in extraplanar regions, but no significant young stellar populations are found in such clumps. In our attempts to enhance radiative cooling by adopting a colder ICM of T = 106 K, only a few additional stars are formed in the tail region, even if the amount of newly cooled gas increases by an order of magnitude.