Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Disc formation and the origin of clumpy galaxies at high redshift

Agertz, Oscar LU ; Teyssier, Romain and Moore, Ben (2009) In Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 397(1).
Abstract

Observations of high-redshift galaxies have revealed a multitude of large clumpy rapidly star-forming galaxies. Their formation scenario and their link to present-day spirals are still unknown. In this Letter, we perform adaptive mesh refinement simulations of disc formation in a cosmological context that are unrivalled in terms of mass and spatial resolution. We find that the so-called 'chain-galaxies' and 'clump-clusters' are a natural outcome of early epochs of enhanced gas accretion from cold dense streams as well as tidally and ram-pressured stripped material from minor mergers and satellites. Through interaction with the hot halo gas, this freshly accreted cold gas settles into a large disc-like system, not necessarily aligned to... (More)

Observations of high-redshift galaxies have revealed a multitude of large clumpy rapidly star-forming galaxies. Their formation scenario and their link to present-day spirals are still unknown. In this Letter, we perform adaptive mesh refinement simulations of disc formation in a cosmological context that are unrivalled in terms of mass and spatial resolution. We find that the so-called 'chain-galaxies' and 'clump-clusters' are a natural outcome of early epochs of enhanced gas accretion from cold dense streams as well as tidally and ram-pressured stripped material from minor mergers and satellites. Through interaction with the hot halo gas, this freshly accreted cold gas settles into a large disc-like system, not necessarily aligned to an older stellar component, that undergoes fragmentation and subsequent star formation, forming large clumps in the mass range 10
7-10
9 M
. Galaxy formation is a complex process at this important epoch when most of the central baryons are being acquired through a range of different mechanisms - we highlight that a rapid mass loading epoch is required to fuel the fragmentation taking place in the massive arms in the outskirts of extended discs, an accretion mode that occurs naturally in the hierarchical assembly process at early epochs.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Galaxies: evolution, Galaxies: formation, Galaxies: haloes
in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
volume
397
issue
1
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:70449743227
ISSN
1745-3933
DOI
10.1111/j.1745-3933.2009.00685.x
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
ea6309d6-49a0-4e74-9960-39e9bfea094b
date added to LUP
2016-08-16 22:58:54
date last changed
2022-01-30 05:30:46
@article{ea6309d6-49a0-4e74-9960-39e9bfea094b,
  abstract     = {{<p>Observations of high-redshift galaxies have revealed a multitude of large clumpy rapidly star-forming galaxies. Their formation scenario and their link to present-day spirals are still unknown. In this Letter, we perform adaptive mesh refinement simulations of disc formation in a cosmological context that are unrivalled in terms of mass and spatial resolution. We find that the so-called 'chain-galaxies' and 'clump-clusters' are a natural outcome of early epochs of enhanced gas accretion from cold dense streams as well as tidally and ram-pressured stripped material from minor mergers and satellites. Through interaction with the hot halo gas, this freshly accreted cold gas settles into a large disc-like system, not necessarily aligned to an older stellar component, that undergoes fragmentation and subsequent star formation, forming large clumps in the mass range 10<br>
                        <sup>7</sup>-10<br>
                        <sup>9</sup> M<br>
                        <sub>⊙</sub>. Galaxy formation is a complex process at this important epoch when most of the central baryons are being acquired through a range of different mechanisms - we highlight that a rapid mass loading epoch is required to fuel the fragmentation taking place in the massive arms in the outskirts of extended discs, an accretion mode that occurs naturally in the hierarchical assembly process at early epochs.</p>}},
  author       = {{Agertz, Oscar and Teyssier, Romain and Moore, Ben}},
  issn         = {{1745-3933}},
  keywords     = {{Galaxies: evolution; Galaxies: formation; Galaxies: haloes}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters}},
  title        = {{Disc formation and the origin of clumpy galaxies at high redshift}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-3933.2009.00685.x}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/j.1745-3933.2009.00685.x}},
  volume       = {{397}},
  year         = {{2009}},
}