English

Zooming on the internal structure of $z\simeq6$ galaxies

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2017-01-25 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Abstract

We present zoom-in, AMR, high-resolution (30\simeq 30 pc) simulations of high-redshift (z6z \simeq 6) galaxies with the aim of characterizing their internal properties and interstellar medium. Among other features, we adopt a star formation model based on a physically-sound molecular hydrogen prescription, and introduce a novel scheme for supernova feedback, stellar winds and dust-mediated radiation pressure. In the zoom-in simulation the target halo hosts "Dahlia", a galaxy with a stellar mass M=1.6×1010M_*=1.6\times 10^{10}M_\odot, representative of a typical z6z\sim 6 Lyman Break Galaxy. Dahlia has a total H2 mass of 108.510^{8.5}M_\odot, that is mainly concentrated in a disk-like structure of effective radius 0.6\simeq 0.6 kpc and scale height 200\simeq 200 pc. Frequent mergers drive fresh gas towards the center of the disk, sustaining a star formation rate per unit area of 15\simeq 15 M_\odot yr1^{-1} kpc2^{-2}. The disk is composed by dense (n25n \gtrsim 25 cm3^{-3}), metal-rich (Z0.5Z \simeq 0.5 Z_\odot) gas, that is pressure-supported by radiation. We compute the 158μ158\mum [CII] emission arising from {Dahlia}, and find that 95%\simeq 95\% of the total [CII] luminosity (L[CII]107.5L_{[CII]}\simeq10^{7.5} L_\odot) arises from the H2 disk. Although 30%30\% of the CII mass is transported out of the disk by outflows, such gas negligibly contributes to [CII] emission, due to its low density (n10n \lesssim 10 cm3^{-3}) and metallicity (Z101Z\lesssim 10^{-1}Z_\odot). Dahlia is under-luminous with respect to the local [CII]-SFR relation; however, its luminosity is consistent with upper limits derived for most z6z\sim6 galaxies.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1609.01719,
  title  = {Zooming on the internal structure of $z\simeq6$ galaxies},
  author = {A. Pallottini and A. Ferrara and S. Gallerani and L. Vallini and R. Maiolino and S. Salvadori},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.01719},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

21 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables