The effect of galaxy mass ratio on merger-driven starbursts

We employ numerical simulations of galaxy mergers to explore the effect of galaxy mass ratio on merger-driven starbursts. Our numerical simulations include radiative cooling of gas, star formation, and stellar feedback to follow the interaction and merger of four disc galaxies. The galaxy models span a factor of 23 in total mass and are designed to be representative of typical galaxies in the local universe. We find that the merger-driven star formation is a strong function of merger mass ratio, with very little, if any, induced star formation for large mass ratio mergers. We define a burst efficiency that is useful to characterize the merger-driven star formation and test that it is insensitive to uncertainties in the feedback parametrization. In accord with previous work we find that the burst efficiency depends on the structure of the primary galaxy. In particular, the presence of a massive stellar bulge stabilizes the disc and suppresses merger-driven star formation for large mass ratio mergers. Direct, coplanar merging orbits produce the largest tidal disturbance and yield the most intense burst of star formation. Contrary to naive expectations, a more compact distribution of gas or an increased gas fraction both decrease the burst efficiency. Owing to the efficient feedback model and the newer version of smoothed particle hydrodynamics employed here, the burst efficiencies of the mergers presented here are smaller than in previous studies.     

The growth and assembly of a massive galaxy at z∼ 2

We study the stellar mass assembly of the Spiderweb galaxy  (MRC 1138−262)  , a massive   z = 2.2  radio galaxy in a protocluster and the probable progenitor of a brightest cluster galaxy. Nearby protocluster galaxies are identified and their properties are determined by fitting stellar population models to their rest-frame ultraviolet to optical spectral energy distributions. We find that within 150 kpc of the radio galaxy the stellar mass is centrally concentrated in the radio galaxy, yet most of the dust-uncorrected, instantaneous star formation occurs in the surrounding low-mass satellite galaxies. We predict that most of the galaxies within 150 kpc of the radio galaxy will merge with the central radio galaxy by   z = 0  , increasing its stellar mass by up to a factor of ≃2. However, it will take several hundred Myr for the first mergers to occur, by which time the large star formation rates are likely to have exhausted the gas reservoirs in the satellite galaxies. The tidal radii of the satellite galaxies are small, suggesting that stars and gas are being stripped and deposited at distances of tens of kpc from the central radio galaxy. These stripped stars may become intracluster stars or form an extended stellar halo around the radio galaxy, such as those observed around cD galaxies in cluster cores.     

Modelling star formation and feedback in simulations of interacting galaxies

We discuss a heuristic model to implement star formation and feedback in hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation and evolution. In this model, gas is allowed to cool radiatively and to form stars at a rate given by a simple Schmidt-type law. We assume that supernova feedback results in turbulent motions of gas below resolved scales, a process that can pressurize the diffuse gaseous medium effectively, even if it lacks substantial thermal support. Ignoring the complicated detailed physics of the feedback processes, we try to describe their net effect on the interstellar medium with a fiducial second reservoir of internal energy, which accounts for the kinetic energy content of the gas on unresolved scales. Applying the model to three-dimensional, fully self-consistent models of isolated disc galaxies, we show that the resulting feedback loop can be modelled with smoothed particle hydrodynamics such that converged results can be reached with moderate numerical resolution. With an appropriate choice of the free parameters, Kennicutt's phenomenological star formation law can be reproduced over many orders of magnitude in gas surface density. We also apply the model to mergers of equal-mass disc galaxies, typically resulting in strong nuclear starbursts. Confirming previous findings, the presence of a bulge can delay the onset of the starburst from the first encounter of the galaxies until their final coalescence. The final density profiles of the merger remnants are consistent with de Vaucouleurs profiles, except for the innermost region, where the newly created stars give rise to a luminous core with stellar densities that may be in excess of those observed in the cores of most elliptical galaxies. By comparing the isophotal shapes of collisionless and dissipative merger simulations we show that dissipation leads to isophotes that are more discy than those of corresponding collisionless simulations.     

The fate of substructures in cold dark matter haloes

We use the Millennium Simulation, a large, high-resolution N -body simulation of the evolution of structure in a Λ cold dark matter cosmology, to study the properties and fate of substructures within a large sample of dark matter haloes. We find that the subhalo mass function departs significantly from a power law at the high-mass end. We also find that the radial and angular distributions of substructures depend on subhalo mass. In particular, high-mass subhaloes tend to be less radially concentrated and to have angular distributions closer to the direction perpendicular to the spin of the host halo than their less massive counterparts. We find that mergers between subhaloes occur. These tend to be between substructures that were already dynamically associated before accretion into the main halo. For subhaloes larger than 0.001 times the mass of the host halo, it is more likely that the subhalo will merge with the central or main subhalo than with another subhalo larger than itself. For lower masses, subhalo–subhalo mergers become equally likely to mergers with the main subhalo. Our results have implications for the variation of galaxy properties with environment and for the treatment of mergers in galaxy formation models.     

Dissipationless mergers of elliptical galaxies and the evolution of the fundamental plane

We carry out numerical simulations of dissipationless major mergers of elliptical galaxies using initial galaxy models that consist of a dark matter haloes and a stellar bulge with properties consistent with the observed fundamental plane. By varying the density profile of the dark matter haloes [standard Navarro, Frenk & White (NFW) profile versus adiabatically contracted NFW profile], the global stellar to dark matter mass ratio and the orbit of the merging galaxies, we are able to assess the impact of each of these factors on the structure of the merger remnant. Our results indicate that the properties of the remnant bulge depend primarily on the angular momentum and energy of the orbit; for a cosmologically motivated orbit, the effective radius and velocity dispersion of the remnant bulge remain approximately on the fundamental plane. This indicates that the observed properties of elliptical galaxies are consistent with significant growth via late dissipationless mergers. We also find that the dark matter fraction within the effective radius of our remnants increases after the merger, consistent with the hypothesis that the tilt of the fundamental plane from the virial theorem is due to a varying dark matter fraction as a function of galaxy mass.     

Testing model predictions of the cold dark matter cosmology for the sizes, colours, morphologies and luminosities of galaxies with the SDSS

The huge size and uniformity of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) make possible an exacting test of current models of galaxy formation. We compare the predictions of the galform semi-analytical galaxy formation model for the luminosities, morphologies, colours and scalelengths of local galaxies. galform models the luminosity and size of the disc and bulge components of a galaxy, and so we can compute quantities which can be compared directly with SDSS observations, such as the Petrosian magnitude and the Sérsic index. We test the predictions of two published models set in the cold dark matter cosmology: the Baugh et al. model, which assumes a top-heavy initial mass function (IMF) in starbursts and superwind feedback, and the Bower et al. model, which uses active galactic nucleus feedback and a standard IMF. The Bower et al. model better reproduces the overall shape of the luminosity function, the morphology–luminosity relation and the colour bimodality observed in the SDSS data, but gives a poor match to the size–luminosity relation. The Baugh et al. model successfully predicts the size–luminosity relation for late-type galaxies. Both models fail to reproduce the sizes of bright early-type galaxies. These problems highlight the need to understand better both the role of feedback processes in determining galaxy sizes, in particular the treatment of the angular momentum of gas reheated by supernovae, and the sizes of the stellar spheroids formed by galaxy mergers and disc instabilities.     

Chemo-spectrophotometric evolution of spiral galaxies – V. Properties of galactic discs at high redshift

We explore the implications for the high-redshift universe of 'state-of-the-art' models for the chemical and spectrophotometric evolution of spiral galaxies. The models are based on simple 'scaling relations' for discs, obtained in the framework of cold dark matter models for galaxy formation, and were 'calibrated' so as to reproduce the properties of the Milky Way and of nearby discs (at redshift z ∼0) . In this paper, we compare the predictions of our 'hybrid' approach to galaxy evolution to observations at moderate and high redshift. We find that the models are in fairly good agreement with observations up to z ∼1 , while some problems appear at higher redshift (provided there is no selection bias in the data); these discrepancies may suggest that galaxy mergers (not considered in this work) played a non-negligible role at z >1 . We also predict the existence of a 'universal' correlation between abundance gradients and disc scalelengths, independent of redshift.     

The X-ray emission in post-merger ellipticals

The evolution in X-ray properties of early-type galaxies is largely unconstrained. In particular, little is known about how, and if, remnants of mergers generate hot gas haloes. Here we examine the relationship between X-ray luminosity and galaxy age for a sample of early-type galaxies. Comparing normalized X-ray luminosity to three different age indicators, we find that L _X L _B increases with age, suggesting an increase in X-ray halo mass with time after the last major star formation episode of a galaxy. The long-term nature of this trend, which appears to continue across the full age range of our sample, poses a challenge for many models of hot halo formation. We conclude that models involving a declining rate of type Ia supernovae, and a transition from outflow to inflow of the gas originally lost by galactic stars, offer the most promising explanation for the observed evolution in X-ray luminosity.     

Black hole growth in hierarchical galaxy formation

We incorporate a model for black hole growth during galaxy mergers into the semi-analytical galaxy formation model based on ΛCDM proposed by Baugh et al. Our black hole model has one free parameter, which we set by matching the observed zero-point of the local correlation between black hole mass and bulge luminosity. We present predictions for the evolution with redshift of the relationships between black hole mass and bulge properties. Our simulations reproduce the evolution of the optical luminosity function of quasars. We study the demographics of the black hole population and address the issue of how black holes acquire their mass. We find that the direct accretion of cold gas during starbursts is an important growth mechanism for lower mass black holes and at high redshift. On the other hand, the re-assembly of pre-existing black hole mass into larger units via merging dominates the growth of more massive black holes at low redshift. This prediction could be tested by future gravitational wave experiments. As redshift decreases, progressively less massive black holes have the highest fractional growth rates, in line with recent claims of 'downsizing' in quasar activity.     

HST/WFPC2 imaging of the QDOT ultraluminous infrared galaxy sample

We present HST WFPC2 V -band imaging for 23 ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) taken from the QDOT redshift survey. The fraction of sources observed to be interacting is 87 per cent. Most of the merging systems show a number of compact 'knots', whose colour and brightness differ substantially from their immediate surroundings. Colour maps for nine of the objects show a non-uniform colour structure. Features include blue regions located towards the centres of merging systems which are likely to be areas of enhanced star formation, and compact red regions which are likely to be dust shrouded starbursts or active galactic nuclei. The host galaxies of the quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) in the sample were found to be either interacting systems or ellipticals. Our data show no evidence that ULIRGs are a simple transition stage between galaxy mergers and QSOs. We propose an alternative model for ULIRGs based on the morphologies in our sample and previous N -body simulations. Under this model ULIRGs as a class are much more diverse than a simple transition between galaxy merger and QSO. The evolution of IR power source and merger morphology in ULIRGs is driven solely by the local environment and the morphologies of the merger progenitors.     

Dry mergers: a crucial test for galaxy formation

We investigate the role that dry mergers play in the build-up of massive galaxies within the cold dark matter paradigm. Implementing an empirical shut-off mass scale for star formation, we find a nearly constant dry merger rate of  ∼6 × 10⁻⁵ Mpc⁻³ Gyr⁻¹  at   z ≤ 1  and a steep decline at larger z . Less than half of these mergers are between two galaxies that are morphologically classified as early-types, and the other half is mostly between an early- and late-type galaxy. Latter are prime candidates for the origin of tidal features around red elliptical galaxies. The introduction of a transition mass scale for star formation has a strong impact on the evolution of galaxies, allowing them to grow above a characteristic mass scale of   M _{*, c} ∼ 6.3 × 10¹⁰ M_⊙  by mergers only. As a consequence of this transition, we find that around   M _{*, c}   , the fraction of 1:1 mergers is enhanced with respect to unequal mass major mergers. This suggests that it is possible to detect the existence of a transition mass scale by measuring the relative contribution of equal mass mergers to unequal mass mergers as a function of galaxy mass. The evolution of the high-mass end of the luminosity function is mainly driven by dry mergers at low z . We however find that only 10–20 per cent of galaxies more massive than   M _{*, c}   experience dry major mergers within their last Gyr at any given redshift   z ≤ 1  .     

Dichotomy in host environments and signs of recycled active galactic nuclei

We analyse the relation between active galactic nuclei (AGN) host properties and large-scale environment for a representative red and blue AGN host galaxy sample selected from the Data Release 4 Sloan Digital Sky Survey. A comparison is made with two carefully constructed control samples of non-active galaxies, covering the same redshift range and colour baseline. The cross-correlation functions show that the density distribution of neighbours is almost identical for blue galaxies, either active or non-active. Although active red galaxies inhabit environments less dense compared to non-active red galaxies, both reside in environments considerably denser than those of blue hosts. Moreover, the radial density profile of AGN relative to galaxy group centres is less concentrated than galaxies. This is particularly evident when comparing red AGN and non-active galaxies.
The properties of the neighbouring galaxies of blue and red AGN and non active galaxies reflect this effect. While the neighbourhood of the blue samples is indistinguishable, the red AGN environs show an excess of blue-star-forming galaxies with respect to their non-active counterpart. On the other hand, the active and non-active blue systems have similar environments but markedly different morphological distributions, showing an excess of blue early-type AGN, which are argued to be late-stage mergers. This comparison reveals that the observable differences between active red and blue host galaxy properties including star formation history and AGN activity depends on the environment within which the galaxies form and evolve.     

Forming a large disc galaxy from a z < 1 major merger

Using high-resolution SPH simulations in a fully cosmological Λ cold dark matter context, we study the formation of a bright disc-dominated galaxy that originates from a 'wet' major merger at   z = 0.8  . The progenitors of the disc galaxy are themselves disc galaxies that formed from early major mergers between galaxies with blue colours. A substantial thin stellar disc grows rapidly following the last major merger and the present-day properties of the final remnant are typical of early-type spiral galaxies, with an i -band bulge-to-disc ratio ∼0.65, a disc scalelength of 7.2 kpc,   g − r = 0.5 mag  , an H  i linewidth ( W ₂₀/2) of 238 km s⁻¹ and total magnitude   i =−22.4  . The key ingredients for the formation of a dominant stellar disc component after a major merger are (i) substantial and rapid accretion of gas through cold flows followed at late times by cooling of gas from the hot phase, (ii) supernova feedback that is able to partially suppress star formation during mergers and (iii) relative fading of the spheroidal component. The gas fraction of the progenitors' discs does not exceed 25 per cent at   z < 3  , emphasizing that the continuous supply of gas from the local environment plays a major role in the regrowth of discs and in keeping the galaxies blue. The results of this simulation alleviate the problem posed for the existence of disc galaxies by the high likelihood of interactions and mergers for galaxy-sized haloes at relatively low z .     

Black hole spin and radio loudness in a Λ cold dark matter universe

We use a combination of a cosmological N -body simulation of the concordance Λ cold dark matter paradigm and a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation to investigate the spin development of central supermassive black holes (BHs) and its relation to the BH host galaxy properties. In order to compute BH spins, we use the α model of Shakura & Sunyaev and consider the King et al. warped disc alignment criterion. The orientation of the accretion disc is inferred from the angular momentum of the source of accreted material, which bears a close relationship to the large-scale structure in the simulation. We find that the final BH spin depends almost exclusively on the accretion history and only weakly on the warped disc alignment. The main mechanisms of BH spin-up are found to be gas cooling processes and disc instabilities, a result that is only partially compatible with Monte Carlo models where the main spin-up mechanisms are major mergers and disc instabilities; the latter results are reproduced when implementing randomly oriented accretion discs in our model. Regarding the BH population, we find that more massive BHs, which are hosted by massive ellipticals, have higher spin values than less massive BHs, hosted by spiral galaxies. We analyse whether gas accretion rates and BH spins can be used as tracers of the radio loudness of active galactic nuclei (AGN). We find that the current observational indications of an increasing trend of radio-loud AGN fractions with stellar and BH mass can be easily obtained when placing lower limits on the BH spin, with a minimum influence from limits on the accretion rates; a model with random accretion disc orientations is unable to reproduce this trend. Our results favour a scenario where the BH spin is a key parameter to separate the radio-loud and radio-quiet galaxy populations.     

Near-infrared bulge–disc correlations of lenticular galaxies

We consider the luminosity and environmental dependence of structural parameters of lenticular galaxies in the near-infrared K band. Using a 2D galaxy image decomposition technique, we extract bulge and disc structural parameters for a sample of 36 lenticular galaxies observed by us in the K band. By combining data from the literature for field and cluster lenticulars with our data, we study correlations between parameters that characterize the bulge and the disc as a function of luminosity and environment. We find that scaling relations such as the Kormendy relation, photometric plane and other correlations involving bulge and disc parameters show a luminosity dependence. This dependence can be explained in terms of galaxy formation models in which faint lenticulars  ( M _T > −24.5)  formed via secular formation processes that likely formed the pseudo-bulges of late-type disc galaxies, while brighter lenticulars  ( M _T < −24.5)  formed through a different formation mechanism most likely involving major mergers. On probing variations in lenticular properties as a function of environment, we find that faint cluster lenticulars show systematic differences with respect to faint field lenticulars. These differences support the idea that the bulge and disc components fade after the galaxy falls into a cluster, while simultaneously undergoing a transformation from spiral to lenticular morphologies.     

Modeling the total and polarized emission in evolving galaxies: “Spotty” magnetic structures

Future radio observations with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and its precursors will be sensitive to trace spiral galaxies and their magnetic field configurations up to redshift z ≈ 3. We suggest an evolutionary model for the magnetic configuration in star‐forming disk galaxies and simulate the magnetic field distribution, the total and polarized synchrotron emission, and the Faraday rotation measures for disk galaxies at z ≲ 3. Since details of dynamo action in young galaxies are quite uncertain, we model the dynamo action heuristically relying only on well‐established ideas of the form and evolution of magnetic fields produced by the mean‐field dynamo in a thin disk. We assume a small‐scale seed field which is then amplified by the small‐scale turbulent dynamo up to energy equipartition with kinetic energy of turbulence. The large‐scale galactic dynamo starts from seed fields of 100 pc and an averaged regular field strength of 0.02 μG, which then evolves to a “spotty” magnetic field configuration in about 0.8 Gyr with scales of about one kpc and an averaged regular field strength of 0.6 μG. The evolution of these magnetic spots is simulated under the influence of star formation, dynamo action, stretching by differential rotation of the disk, and turbulent diffusion. The evolution of the regular magnetic field in a disk of a spiral galaxy, as well as the expected total intensity, linear polarization and Faraday rotation are simulated in the rest frame of a galaxy at 5GHz and 150 MHz and in the rest frame of the observer at 150 MHz. We present the corresponding maps for several epochs after disk formation. Dynamo theory predicts the generation of large‐scale coherent field patterns (“modes”). The timescale of this process is comparable to that of the galaxy age. Many galaxies are expected not to host fully coherent fields at the present epoch, especially those which suffered from major mergers or interactions with other galaxies. A comparison of our predictions with existing observations of spiral galaxies is given and discussed (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Dynamical friction and galaxy merging time-scales

The time-scale for galaxies within merging dark matter haloes to merge with each other is an important ingredient in galaxy formation models. Accurate estimates of merging time-scales are required for predictions of astrophysical quantities such as black hole binary merger rates, the build-up of stellar mass in central galaxies and the statistical properties of satellite galaxies within dark matter haloes. In this paper, we study the merging time-scales of extended dark matter haloes using N -body simulations. We compare these results to standard estimates based on the Chandrasekhar theory of dynamical friction. We find that these standard predictions for merging time-scales, which are often used in semi-analytic galaxy formation models, are systematically shorter than those found in simulations. The discrepancy is approximately a factor of 1.7 for M _sat/ M _host≈ 0.1 and becomes larger for more disparate satellite-to-host mass ratios, reaching a factor of ∼3.3 for M _sat/ M _host≈ 0.01. Based on our simulations, we propose a new, easily implementable fitting formula that accurately predicts the time-scale for an extended satellite to sink from the virial radius of a host halo down to the halo's centre for a wide range of M _sat/ M _host and orbits. Including a central bulge in each galaxy changes the merging time-scale by ≲10 per cent. To highlight one concrete application of our results, we show that merging time-scales often used in the literature overestimate the growth of stellar mass by satellite accretion by ≈40 per cent, with the extra mass gained in low mass ratio mergers.     

Do galaxy mergers form elliptical galaxies? A comparison of kinematic and photometric properties

We present near-infrared K -band imaging and spectroscopy of a sample of galaxy mergers, which we use to derive light profile indices, absolute magnitudes and central velocity dispersions. We find that the light distributions of mergers more nearly resemble those of ellipticals than those of bulges, but that the mergers lie well away from the Fundamental Plane defined by the ellipticals. We interpret this as being due to enhancement of the K -band surface brightness of the mergers by a significant population of supergiant stars, and independent evidence for such a population is inferred from measurements of the depth of the 2.3-μm CO absorption feature.     

Numerical simulations of hot halo gas in galaxy mergers

Galaxy merger simulations have explored the behaviour of gas within the galactic disc, yet the dynamics of hot gas within the galaxy halo have been neglected. We report on the results of high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of colliding galaxies with metal-free hot halo gas. To isolate the effect of the halo gas, we simulate only the dark matter halo and the hot halo gas over a range of mass ratios, gas fractions and orbital configurations to constrain the shocks and gas dynamics within the progenitor haloes. We find that (i) a strong shock is produced in the galaxy haloes before the first passage, increasing the temperature of the gas by almost an order of magnitude to   T ∼ 10^6.3 K  . (ii) The X-ray luminosity of the shock is strongly dependent on the gas fraction; it is  ≳10³⁹ erg s⁻¹  for halo gas fractions larger than 10 per cent. (iii) The hot diffuse gas in the simulation produces X-ray luminosities as large as  10⁴² erg s⁻¹  . This contributes to the total X-ray background in the Universe. (iv) We find an analytic fit to the maximum X-ray luminosity of the shock as a function of merger parameters. This fit can be used in semi-analytic recipes of galaxy formation to estimate the total X-ray emission from shocks in merging galaxies. (v) ∼10–20 per cent of the initial gas mass is unbound from the galaxies for equal-mass mergers, while 3–5 per cent of the gas mass is released for the 3:1 and 10:1 mergers. This unbound gas ends up far from the galaxy and can be a feasible mechanism to enrich the intergalactic medium with metals.