Related papers: The Origin of Extended Disk Galaxies at z=2
We propose that massive central objects form in the centers of the bars which must develop in young high-surface density galactic disks. Large-scale dynamics shuts off the growth of the central mass before it reaches $\sim 2%$ of the disk…
Star formation in most galaxies requires cosmic gas accretion because the gas consumption time is short compared to the Hubble time. This accretion presumably comes from a combination of infalling satellite debris, cold flows, and…
We use dark matter haloes identified in the MareNostrum Universe and galaxy groups identified in the Sloan Data Release 7 galaxy catalogue, to study the relation between halo shape and halo dynamics, parametrizing out the mass of the…
We present a systematic study of stellar feedback processes in simulations of disk galaxy formation. Using a dark matter halo with properties similar to the ones for the Milky Way's stellar halo, we perform a comparison of different methods…
This paper provides a summary of our recent work on the scaling relations between the specific angular momentum j_* and mass M_* of the stellar parts of normal galaxies of different bulge fraction beta_*. We find that the observations are…
The similarity between the distributions of spins for galaxies ($\lambda_{\rm g}$) and for dark-matter haloes ($\lambda_{\rm h}$), indicated both by simulations and observations, is naively interpreted as a one-to-one correlation between…
We use high resolution simulations to study the formation and distribution of galaxies within a cluster which forms hierarchically. We follow both dark matter and baryonic gas which is subject to thermal pressure, shocks and radiative…
The spin of dark halos has been shown to significantly affect bar formation and evolution in disk galaxies. To understand the physical role of the halo spin on bar formation, we run $N$-body simulations of isolated, Milky Way-sized galaxies…
We study the z=0 gas kinematics, morphology, and angular momentum content of isolated galaxies in a suite of cosmological zoom-in simulations from the FIRE project spanning $M_{\star}=10^{6-11}M_{\odot}$. Gas becomes increasingly…
The physical origin of the radial sizes of galaxies and how galaxy sizes are correlated with the properties of their host dark matter halos is an open question in galaxy formation. In observations, the large-scale clustering of galaxies…
We study the connection between galaxy morphology and host dark matter (DM) halo structure using cosmological simulations. Introducing a new kinematic decomposition scheme, we robustly separate thin and thick discs and measure halo…
We use a disk galaxy evolution model to investigate whether galaxies with exponential surface brightness profiles can be produced in a cosmologically motivated framework for disk galaxy formation. Our model follows the accretion, cooling,…
We track the angular momentum transfer in n-body simulations of barred galaxies by measuring torques to understand the dynamical mechanisms responsible for the evolution of the bar-disc-dark matter halo system. We find evidence for three…
There is still much debate surrounding how the most massive, central galaxies in the local universe have assembled their stellar mass, especially the relative roles of in-situ growth versus later accretion via mergers. In this paper, we set…
The central part of a dark matter halo reacts to the presence and evolution of a bar. Not only does the halo absorb angular momentum from the disk, it can also be compressed and have its shape modified. We study these issues in a series of…
Using the SDSS spectroscopic sample, we estimate the dark matter halo spin parameter lambda for ~53,000 disk galaxies for which MOPED star formation histories are available. We investigate the relationship between spin and total stellar…
The formation and evolution of galactic disks are complex phenomena, where gas and star dynamics are coupled through star formation and the related feedback. The physical processes are so numerous and intricate that numerical models focus,…
We investigate how a property of a galaxy correlates most tightly with a property of its host dark matter halo, using state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation EAGLE, Illustris, and IllustrisTNG. Unlike most of the…
High-redshift star-forming galaxies often have irregular morphologies with {\it giant clumps} containing up to $10^{8-9}$ solar masses of gas and stars. The origin and evolution of giant clumps are debated both theoretically and…
We use a series of N-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations and analytic arguments to show that the presence of an effective temperature floor in the interstellar medium at T_F ~ 10^4 K naturally explains the tendency for low-mass…