English

Kinematic analysis of EAGLE simulations: Evolution of ${\lambda}_{Re}$ and its connection with mergers and gas accretion

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2020-05-20 v1 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Abstract

We have developed a new tool to analyse galaxies in the EAGLE simulations as close as possible to observations.We investigated the evolution of their kinematic properties by means of the angular momentum proxy parameter,λRe \lambda_{Re} for galaxies with M5×109MM_{*} \ge 5 \times 10^{9} M_{\odot} in the RefL0100N1504 simulation up to redshift two (z = 2). Galaxies in the simulation show a wide variety of kinematic features, similiar to those found in integral-field spectroscopic studies. At z=0 the distribution of galaxies in the λReϵ{\lambda}_{Re}-{\epsilon} plane is also in good agreement with results from observations. Scaling relations at z = 0 indicate that there is critical mass, Mcrit=1010.3MM_{crit} = 10^{10.3} M_{\odot}, that divides two different regimes when we include the λRe{\lambda}_{Re} parameter. The simulation shows that the distribution of galaxies in the λReϵ{\lambda}_{Re}-{\epsilon} plane evolves with time until z = 2 when galaxies are equally distributed both in λRe{\lambda}_{Re} and ϵ{\epsilon}. We studied the evolution of λRe{\lambda}_{Re} with time and found that there is no connection between the angular momentum at z = 2 and z = 0. All systems reach their maximum λRe{\lambda}_{Re} at z = 1 and then steadily lose angular momentum regardless of their merger history, except for the high star-forming systems that sustain that maximum value over time. The evolution of the Re in galaxies that have not experienced any merger in the last 10 Gyr can be explained by their level of gas accretion.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2004.08598,
  title  = {Kinematic analysis of EAGLE simulations: Evolution of ${\lambda}_{Re}$ and its connection with mergers and gas accretion},
  author = {Daniel Walo-Martín and Jesús Falcón-Barroso and Claudio Dalla Vecchia and Isabel Pérez and Andrea Negri},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.08598},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

16 aojes, 9 Figures, accepted MNRAS