Structural diversity of disc galaxies originating in the cold gas inflow from cosmic webs

Abstract

ABSTRACT Disc galaxies show a large morphological diversity with varying contribution of three major structural components: thin discs, thick discs, and central bulges. Dominance of bulges increases with the galaxy mass (Hubble sequence), whereas thick discs are more prominent in lower mass galaxies. Because galaxies grow with the accretion of matter, this observed variety should reflect diversity in accretion history. On the basis of the prediction by the cold-flow theory for galactic gas accretion and inspired by the results of previous studies, we put a hypothesis that associates different accretion modes with different components. Namely, thin discs form as the shock-heated hot gas in high-mass haloes gradually accretes to the central part, thick discs grow by the direct accretion of cold gas from cosmic webs when the halo mass is low, and finally bulges form by the inflow of cold gas through the shock-heated gas in high-redshift massive haloes. We show that this simple hypothesis reproduces the mean observed variation of galaxy morphology with the galaxy mass. This scenario also predicts that thick discs are older and poorer in metals than thin discs, in agreement with the currently available observations.