scholarly journals ETHOS – an effective theory of structure formation: formation of the first haloes and their stars

2019 ◽  
Vol 485 (4) ◽  
pp. 5474-5489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark R Lovell ◽  
Jesús Zavala ◽  
Mark Vogelsberger
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Power Spectrum ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Dwarf Galaxy ◽  
Mass Scale ◽  
Effective Theory ◽  
Matter Power Spectrum ◽  
Hydrodynamical Simulations ◽  
Stellar Masses

Abstract A cut-off in the linear matter power spectrum at dwarf galaxy scales has been shown to affect the abundance, formation mechanism and age of dwarf haloes, and their galaxies at high and low redshifts. We use hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation within the ETHOS framework in a benchmark model that has such a cut-off and that has been shown to be an alternative to the cold dark matter (CDM) model that alleviates its dwarf-scale challenges. We show how galaxies in this model form differently to CDM, on a halo-by-halo basis, at redshifts z ≥ 6. We show that when CDM haloes with masses around the ETHOS half-mode mass scale are resimulated with the ETHOS matter power spectrum, they form with 50 per cent less mass than their CDM counterparts due to their later formation times, yet they retain more of their gas reservoir due to the different behaviour of gas and dark matter during the monolithic collapse of the first haloes in models with a galactic-scale cut-off. As a result, galaxies in ETHOS haloes near the cut-off scale grow rapidly between z = 10 and 6 and by z = 6 end up having very similar stellar masses, higher gas fractions and higher star formation rates relative to their CDM counterparts. We highlight these differences by making predictions for how the number of galaxies with old stellar populations is suppressed in ETHOS for both z = 6 galaxies and for gas-poor Local Group fossil galaxies. Interestingly, we find an age gradient in ETHOS between galaxies that form in high- and low-density environments.

scholarly journals The lensing properties of subhaloes in massive elliptical galaxies in sterile neutrino cosmologies

2019 ◽  
Vol 491 (1) ◽  
pp. 1295-1310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Despali ◽  
Mark Lovell ◽  
Simona Vegetti ◽  
Robert A Crain ◽  
Benjamin D Oppenheimer
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Power Spectrum ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Distribution Density ◽  
Sterile Neutrino ◽  
Power Spectra ◽  
Mass Function ◽  
Elliptical Galaxies ◽  
Hydrodynamical Simulations

ABSTRACT We use high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations run with the EAGLE model of galaxy formation to study the differences between the properties of – and subsequently the lensing signal from – subhaloes of massive elliptical galaxies at redshift 0.2, in Cold and Sterile Neutrino (SN) Dark Matter models. We focus on the two 7 keV SN models that bracket the range of matter power spectra compatible with resonantly produced SN as the source of the observed 3.5 keV line. We derive an accurate parametrization for the subhalo mass function in these two SN models relative to cold dark matter (CDM), as well as the subhalo spatial distribution, density profile, and projected number density and the dark matter fraction in subhaloes. We create mock lensing maps from the simulated haloes to study the differences in the lensing signal in the framework of subhalo detection. We find that subhalo convergence is well described by a lognormal distribution and that signal of subhaloes in the power spectrum is lower in SN models with respect to CDM, at a level of 10–80 per cent, depending on the scale. However, the scatter between different projections is large and might make the use of power spectrum studies on the typical scales of current lensing images very difficult. Moreover, in the framework of individual detections through gravitational imaging a sample of ≃30 lenses with an average sensitivity of $M_{\rm {sub}} = 5 \times 10^{7}\, {\rm M}_{\odot}$ would be required to discriminate between CDM and the considered sterile neutrino models.

scholarly journals NIHAO – XXV. Convergence in the cusp-core transformation of cold dark matter haloes at high star formation thresholds

2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (2) ◽  
pp. 2648-2661
Author(s):  
Aaron A Dutton ◽  
Tobias Buck ◽  
Andrea V Macciò ◽  
Keri L Dixon ◽  
Marvin Blank ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Star Formation ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Dwarf Galaxies ◽  
Dwarf Galaxy ◽  
Good Description ◽  
Good Match ◽  
Virial Mass ◽  
Density Threshold

ABSTRACT We use cosmological hydrodynamical galaxy formation simulations from the NIHAO project to investigate the response of cold dark matter (CDM) haloes to baryonic processes. Previous work has shown that the halo response is primarily a function of the ratio between galaxy stellar mass and total virial mass, and the density threshold above which gas is eligible to form stars, n[cm−3]. At low n all simulations in the literature agree that dwarf galaxy haloes are cuspy, but at high n ≳ 100 there is no consensus. We trace halo contraction in dwarf galaxies with n ≳ 100 reported in some previous simulations to insufficient spatial resolution. Provided the adopted star formation threshold is appropriate for the resolution of the simulation, we show that the halo response is remarkably stable for n ≳ 5, up to the highest star formation threshold that we test, n = 500. This free parameter can be calibrated using the observed clustering of young stars. Simulations with low thresholds n ≤ 1 predict clustering that is too weak, while simulations with high star formation thresholds n ≳ 5, are consistent with the observed clustering. Finally, we test the CDM predictions against the circular velocities of nearby dwarf galaxies. Low thresholds predict velocities that are too high, while simulations with n ∼ 10 provide a good match to the observations. We thus conclude that the CDM model provides a good description of the structure of galaxies on kpc scales provided the effects of baryons are properly captured.

scholarly journals The anisotropy of the power spectrum in periodic cosmological simulations

2021 ◽  
Vol 503 (4) ◽  
pp. 5638-5645
Author(s):  
Gábor Rácz ◽  
István Szapudi ◽  
István Csabai ◽  
László Dobos
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Power Spectrum ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Power Spectra ◽  
Cosmological Simulations ◽  
Spherical Collapse ◽  
Lower Amplitude ◽  
Hydrodynamical Simulations

ABSTRACT The classical gravitational force on a torus is anisotropic and always lower than Newton’s 1/r2 law. We demonstrate the effects of periodicity in dark matter only N-body simulations of spherical collapse and standard Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) initial conditions. Periodic boundary conditions cause an overall negative and anisotropic bias in cosmological simulations of cosmic structure formation. The lower amplitude of power spectra of small periodic simulations is a consequence of the missing large-scale modes and the equally important smaller periodic forces. The effect is most significant when the largest mildly non-linear scales are comparable to the linear size of the simulation box, as often is the case for high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations. Spherical collapse morphs into a shape similar to an octahedron. The anisotropic growth distorts the large-scale ΛCDM dark matter structures. We introduce the direction-dependent power spectrum invariant under the octahedral group of the simulation volume and show that the results break spherical symmetry.

scholarly journals Local group star formation in warm and self-interacting dark matter cosmologies

2020 ◽  
Vol 498 (1) ◽  
pp. 702-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark R Lovell ◽  
Wojciech Hellwing ◽  
Aaron Ludlow ◽  
Jesús Zavala ◽  
Andrew Robertson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Star Formation ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Local Group ◽  
Initial Density ◽  
Dark Matter Mass ◽  
Stellar Ages ◽  
Hydrodynamical Simulations ◽  
Star Formation Histories

ABSTRACT The nature of the dark matter can affect the collapse time of dark matter haloes, and can therefore be imprinted in observables such as the stellar population ages and star formation histories of dwarf galaxies. In this paper, we use high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of Local Group-analogue (LG) volumes in cold dark matter (CDM), sterile neutrino warm dark matter (WDM) and self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) models with the eagle galaxy formation code to study how galaxy formation times change with dark matter model. We are able to identify the same haloes in different simulations, since they share the same initial density field phases. We find that the stellar mass of galaxies depends systematically on resolution, and can differ by as much as a factor of 2 in haloes of a given dark matter mass. The evolution of the stellar populations in SIDM is largely identical to that of CDM, but in WDM early star formation is instead suppressed. The time at which LG haloes can begin to form stars through atomic cooling is delayed by ∼200 Myr in WDM models compared to CDM. It will be necessary to measure stellar ages of old populations to a precision of better than 100 Myr, and to address degeneracies with the redshift of reionization – and potentially other baryonic processes – in order to use these observables to distinguish between dark matter models.

scholarly journals A Model for the Sequence of Elliptical Galaxies

1987 ◽  
Vol 117 ◽  
pp. 367-367
Author(s):  
Rosemary F. G. Wyse ◽  
Bernard J. T. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Power Spectrum ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Elliptical Galaxy ◽  
Elliptical Galaxies ◽  
Density Fluctuations ◽  
Analytic Approximation ◽  
Non Linear

We present a simple model for the formation of elliptical galaxies, based on a binary clustering hierarchy of dark matter, the chemical enrichment of the gas at each level being controlled by supernovae. The initial conditions for the non-linear phases of galaxy formation are set by the post-recombination power spectrum of density fluctuations. We investigate two models for this power spectrum - the first is a straightforward power law, |δk|2 ∝ kn, and the second is Peeble's analytic approximation to the emergent spectrum in a universe dominated by cold dark matter. The normalisation is chosen such that on some scale, say M ∼ 1012M⊙, the objects that condense out have properties - radius and velocity dispersion - resembling ‘typical’ galaxies. There is some ambiguity in this due to the poorly determined mass-to-light ratio of a typical elliptical galaxy — we look at two normalisations, σ1D ∼ 350kms−1 and σ1D ∼ 140kms−1. The choice determines which of Compton cooling or hydrogen cooling is more important during the galaxy formation period. The non-linear behaviour of the perturbations is treated by the homogeneous sphere approximation.

scholarly journals Small-scale Substructure in Dark Matter Haloes: Where Does Galaxy Formation Come to an End?

2004 ◽  
Vol 220 ◽  
pp. 91-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Taylor ◽  
J. Silk ◽  
A. Babul
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Power Spectrum ◽  
Structure Formation ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
High Redshift ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Analytic Model ◽  
Model Predictions ◽  
Low Mass

Models of structure formation based on cold dark matter predict that most of the small dark matter haloes that first formed at high redshift would have merged into larger systems by the present epoch. Substructure in present-day haloes preserves the remains of these ancient systems, providing the only direct information we may ever have about the low-mass end of the power spectrum. We describe some recent attempts to model halo substructure down to very small masses, using a semi-analytic model of halo formation. We make a preliminary comparison between the model predictions, observations of substructure in lensed systems, and the properties of local satellite galaxies.

scholarly journals Simulations at the Dwarf Scale: From Violent Dwarfs at Cosmic Dawn and Cosmic Noon to Quiet Discs today

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (S344) ◽  
pp. 468-472
Author(s):  
Daniel Ceverino
Keyword(s):  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Mass Scale ◽  
Local Scaling ◽  
James Webb Space Telescope ◽  
Accretion Rates ◽  
Hydrodynamical Simulations ◽  
First Galaxies ◽  
Fisher Relation ◽  
Gas Accretion ◽  
Stellar Masses

AbstractDwarf galaxies with stellar masses around 109M⊙ can be explored at high and low redshifts and they give a glimpse of the different conditions of galaxy formation at different epochs. Using a large sample of about 300 zoom-in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation I will briefly describe the formation of dwarfs at this mass scale at 3 different epochs: cosmic dawn (Ceverino, Klessen, Glover 2018), cosmic noon (Ceverino, Primack, Dekel 2015), and today (Ceverino et al. 2017). I will describe the FirstLight simulations of first galaxies at redshifts 5-15. These first dwarfs have extremely high star formation efficiencies due to high gas fractions and high gas accretion rates. These simulations will make predictions that will be tested for the first time with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). At cosmic noon, z = 2, galaxy formation is still a very violent and dynamic process. The VELA simulations have generated a set of dispersion-dominated dwarfs that show an elongated morphology due to their prolate dark-matter halos. Between z = 1 and 0, the AGORA simulation shows the formation of a low-mass disc due to slow gas accretion. The disc agrees with many local scaling relations, such as the stellar-mass-halo-mass and the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation.

scholarly journals ETHOS – an Effective Theory of Structure Formation: detecting dark matter interactions through the Lyman-α forest

2019 ◽  
Vol 487 (1) ◽  
pp. 522-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sownak Bose ◽  
Mark Vogelsberger ◽  
Jesús Zavala ◽  
Christoph Pfrommer ◽  
Francis-Yan Cyr-Racine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Power Spectrum ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Relative Difference ◽  
Specific Model ◽  
Effective Theory ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Acoustic Oscillations ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Galaxies

ABSTRACT We perform a series of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations to investigate the effects of non-gravitational dark matter (DM) interactions on the intergalactic medium (IGM). In particular, we use the Ethos framework to compare statistics of the Lyman-α forest in cold dark matter (CDM) with an alternative model in which the DM couples strongly with a relativistic species in the early universe. These models are characterized by a cut-off in the linear power spectrum, followed by a series of ‘dark acoustic oscillations’ (DAOs) on sub-dwarf scales. While the primordial cut-off delays the formation of the first galaxies, structure builds up more rapidly in the interacting DM model compared to CDM. We show that although DAOs are quickly washed away in the non-linear clustering of DM at z ≲ 10, their signature can be imprinted prominently in the Lyman-α flux power spectrum at z > 5. On scales larger than the cut-off (k ∼ 0.08 s km−1 for the specific model considered here), the relative difference to CDM is reminiscent of a warm dark matter (WDM) model with a similar initial cut-off; however, the redshift evolution on smaller scales is distinctly different. The appearance and disappearance of DAOs in the Lyman-α flux spectrum provides a powerful way to distinguish interacting DM models from WDM and, indeed, variations in the thermal history of the IGM that may also induce a small-scale cut-off.

scholarly journals Galaxies on Sub-Galactic Scales

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmut Jerjen
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Galaxy Formation ◽  
Cold Dark Matter ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Dwarf Galaxy ◽  
Near Field ◽  
Sloan Digital Sky Survey ◽  
Matter Theory ◽  
Satellite Galaxies ◽  
Star Formation Histories

AbstractThe Sloan Digital Sky Survey has been immensely successful in detecting new Milky Way satellite galaxies over the past seven years. It was instrumental in finding examples of the least luminous galaxies we know in the Universe, uncovering apparent inconsistencies between cold dark matter theory and dwarf galaxy properties, providing first evidence for a possible lower mass limit for dark matter halos in visible galaxies, and reopening the discussion about the building block scenario for the Milky Way halo. Nonetheless, these results are still drawn only from a relatively small number of galaxies distributed over an area covering about 29% of the sky, which leaves us currently with more questions than answers. The study of these extreme stellar systems is a multi-parameter problem: ages, metallicities, star formation histories, dark matter contents, population fractions and spatial distributions must be determined. Progress in the field is discussed and attention drawn to some of the limitations that currently hamper our ability to fully understand the phenomenon of the ‘ultra-faint dwarf galaxy’. In this context, the Stromlo Milky Way Satellite Survey represents a new initiative to systematically search and scrutinize optically elusive Milky Way satellite galaxies in the Southern hemisphere. In doing so, the program aims at investigating some of the challenging questions in stellar evolution, galaxy formation and near-field cosmology.

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