Galaxy formation and evolution

Abstract:

We present an analytical calculation of the extreme value statistics for dark matter halos - that is, the probability distribution of the most massive halo within some region of the universe of specified shape and size. Our calculation makes use of the counts-in-cells formalism for the correlation functions, and the halo bias derived from the Sheth-Tormen mass function. We demonstrate the power of the method on spherical regions, comparing the results to measurements in a large cosmological dark matter simulation and achieving good agreement. Particularly good fits are obtained for the most likely value of the maximum mass and for the high-mass tail of the distribution, relevant in constraining cosmologies by observations of most massive clusters.

Abstract:

The GalICS (Galaxies in Cosmological Simulations) semi-analytical model of hierar- chical 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 metallic- ity relation and to predict the relation for galaxies at redshift z=2.27 and z=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 of 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 SFR and mass and that outflows are only important in shaping the relation at late times. When the relation is stratified by 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 Erb et al. (2006) at z=2.27 and Maiolino et al. (2008) at z=3.54 in order to find the best-fitting parameters. (Abridged)