Evolution of Mass and Velocity Field in the Cosmic Web: Comparison Between Baryonic and Dark Matter

Abstract

Abstract We investigate the evolution of the cosmic web since z = 5 in grid-based cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, focusing on the mass and velocity fields of both baryonic and cold dark matter. The tidal tensor of density is used as the main method for web identification, with λ th = 0.2–1.2. The evolution trends in baryonic and dark matter are similar, although moderate differences are observed. Sheets appear early, and their large-scale pattern may have been set up by z = 3. In terms of mass, filaments supersede sheets as the primary collapsing structures from z ∼ 2–3. Tenuous filaments assembled with each other to form prominent ones at z < 2. In accordance with the construction of the frame of the sheets, the cosmic divergence velocity, v div, was already well-developed above 2–3 Mpc by z = 3. Afterwards, the curl velocity, v curl, grew dramatically along with the rising of filaments, becoming comparable to v div, for <2–3 Mpc at z = 0. The scaling of v curl can be described by the hierarchical turbulence model. The alignment between the vorticity and the eigenvectors of the shear tensor in the baryonic matter field resembles that in the dark matter field, and is even moderately stronger between and , and ω and . Compared with dark matter, there is slightly less baryonic matter found residing in filaments and clusters, and its vorticity developed more significantly below 2–3 Mpc. These differences may be underestimated because of the limited resolution and lack of star formation in our simulation. The impact of the change of dominant structures in overdense regions at z ∼ 2–3 on galaxy formation and evolution is shortly discussed.