Abstract
We present a multi-epoch analysis of the galaxy populations formed within the cosmological hydrodynamical simulations presented in Vogelsberger et al. (2013). These simulations explore the performance of a recently implemented feedback model which includes primordial and metal line radiative cooling with self-shielding corrections; stellar evolution with associated mass loss and chemical enrichment; feedback by stellar winds; black hole seeding, growth and merging; and AGN quasar- and radio-mode heating with a phenomenological prescription for AGN electro-magnetic feedback. We illustrate the impact of the model parameter choices on the resulting simulated galaxy population properties at high and intermediate redshifts. We demonstrate that our scheme is capable of producing galaxy populations that broadly reproduce the observed galaxy stellar mass function extending from redshift z=0 to z=3. We also characterise the evolving galactic B-band luminosity function, stellar mass to halo mass ratio, star formation main sequence, Tully-Fisher relation, and gas-phase mass-metallicity relation and confront them against recent observational estimates. This detailed comparison allows us to validate elements of our feedback model, while also identifying areas of tension that will be addressed in future work.
Highlights
Cosmological simulations are among the most powerful tools available for studying the non-linear regime of cosmic structure formation
We demonstrate that our scheme is capable of producing galaxy populations that broadly reproduce the observed galaxy stellar mass function extending from redshift z = 0 to z = 3
In the previous section we examined the simulated galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) and stellar mass to halo mass (SMHM) relationships, finding that our feedback models are capable of producing galaxy populations that build up stellar mass consistent with observations
Summary
Cosmological simulations are among the most powerful tools available for studying the non-linear regime of cosmic structure formation. Galaxy formation simulations lacking strong feedback substantially overproduce stars, leading to galaxies with too high baryon fractions (e.g., White & Frenk 1991; Balogh et al 2001; Scannapieco et al 2012). This problem is most pronounced for the highest and lowest mass systems, where star formation is known to be relatively inefficient (e.g., Behroozi et al 2012, and references therein). Two commonly employed strong feedback mechanisms are star formation (Dekel & Silk 1986; Thacker & Couchman 2000; Springel & Hernquist 2003a; Kawata & Gibson 2003; Stinson et al 2006; Scannapieco et al 2008; Dalla Vecchia & Schaye 2008; Okamoto et al 2010; Stinson et al 2013) and black hole growth (Springel et al 2005b; Kawata & Gibson 2005; Di Matteo et al 2005; Thacker et al 2006; Sijacki et al 2007; Okamoto et al 2008; Kurosawa & Proga 2009; Booth & Schaye 2009; Debuhr et al 2011; Dubois et al 2012)
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