Simulated Galaxies Research Articles

Young Star Clusters Dominate the Production of Detached Black Hole–Star Binaries

The recent discovery of two detached black hole–star (BH–star) binaries from Gaia’s third data release has sparked interest in understanding the formation mechanisms of these systems. We investigate the formation of these systems by dynamical processes in young star clusters (SCs) and via isolated binary (IB) evolution, using a combination of direct N-body and population synthesis simulations. We find that dynamical formation in SCs is nearly 50 times more efficient per unit of star formation at producing BH–star binaries than IB evolution. We expand this analysis to the full Milky Way (MW) using a FIRE-2 hydrodynamical simulation of an MW-mass galaxy. Even assuming that only 10% of star formation goes into SCs, we find that approximately four out of every five BH–star systems are formed dynamically, and that the MW contains a total of ∼2 × 105 BH–star systems. Many of these dynamically formed systems have longer orbital periods, greater eccentricities, and greater black hole masses than their isolated counterparts. For binaries older than 100 Myr, we show that any detectable system with e ≳ 0.5 or M BH ≳ 10 M ⊙ can only be formed through dynamical processes. Our MW model predicts between 64 and 215 such detections from the complete DR4 Gaia catalog, with the majority of systems being dynamically formed in massive and metal-rich SCs. Finally, we compare our populations to the recently discovered Gaia BH1 and Gaia BH2, and conclude that the dynamical scenario is the most favorable formation pathway for both systems.

Closing the Gap between Observed Low-mass Galaxy H i Kinematics and Cold Dark Matter Predictions

Testing the standard cosmological model (ΛCDM) at small scales is challenging. Galaxies that inhabit low-mass dark matter halos provide an ideal test bed for dark matter models by linking observational properties of galaxies at small scales (low mass, low velocity) to low-mass dark matter halos. However, the observed kinematics of these galaxies do not align with the kinematics of the dark matter halos predicted to host them, obscuring our understanding of the low-mass end of the galaxy–halo connection. We use deep H i observations of low-mass galaxies at high spectral resolution in combination with cosmological simulations of dwarf galaxies to better understand the connection between dwarf galaxy kinematics and low-mass halos. Specifically, we use H i line widths to directly compare to the maximum velocities in a dark matter halo and find that each deeper measurement approaches the expected one-to-one relationship between the observed kinematics and the predicted kinematics in ΛCDM. We also measure baryonic masses and place these on the baryonic Tully–Fisher relation (BTFR). Again, our deepest measurements approach the theoretical predictions for the low-mass end of this relation, a significant improvement on similar measurements based on line widths measured at 50% and 20% of the peak. Our data also hint at the rollover in the BTFR predicted by hydrodynamical simulations of ΛCDM for low-mass galaxies.

Stellar metallicity of galaxies: new insight on the formation and evolution of low surface brightness galaxies in the IllustrisTNG simulation

ABSTRACT In this work, we investigate the stellar metallicities of low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) and normal high surface brightness galaxies (HSBGs) in the IllustrisTNG100-1 simulation. LSBGs and HSBGs are classified as galaxies with mean central surface brightness $\mu _{\rm r} \gt 22.0 $ and $\mu _{\rm r} \lt 22.0\rm \ mag\ arcsec^{-2}$, respectively. Our findings indicate that both LSBGs and HSBGs exhibit similar number distributions of stellar metallicities at high redshifts (z > 1.5). However, at low redshifts (z < 1.5), a clear bimodal distribution of stellar metallicities in galaxies emerges, with LSBGs tending to be more metal-poor than HSBGs. The lower metallicity of LSBGs compared to HSBGs is mostly attributed to the pronounced gradient in the radial distribution of stellar metallicities. The bimodality of stellar metallicity is not attributed to colour distinctions but rather to the slower metal enrichment in LSBGs compared to HSBGs. This suggests that the mechanisms driving metal enrichment in LSBGs differ from those in HSBGs.

Origin of the correlation between stellar kinematics and globular cluster system richness in ultradiffuse galaxies

ABSTRACT Observational surveys have found that the dynamical masses of ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) correlate with the richness of their globular cluster (GC) system. This could be explained if GC-rich galaxies formed in more massive dark matter haloes. We use simulations of galaxies and their GC systems from the E-MOSAICS project to test whether the simulations reproduce such a trend. We find that GC-rich simulated galaxies in galaxy groups have enclosed masses that are consistent with the dynamical masses of observed GC-rich UDGs. However, simulated GC-poor galaxies in galaxy groups have higher enclosed masses than those observed. We argue that GC-poor UDGs with low stellar velocity dispersions are discs observed nearly face on, such that their true mass is underestimated by observations. Using the simulations, we show that galactic star formation conditions resulting in dispersion-supported stellar systems also leads to efficient GC formation. Conversely, conditions leading to rotationally supported discs lead to inefficient GC formation. This result may explain why early-type galaxies typically have richer GC systems than late-type galaxies. This is also supported by comparisons of stellar axis ratios and GC-specific frequencies in observed dwarf galaxy samples, which show GC-rich systems are consistent with being spheroidal, while GC-poor systems are consistent with being discs. Therefore, particularly for GC-poor galaxies, rotation should be included in dynamical mass measurements from stellar dynamics.

The ALMaQUEST Survey. XIII. Understanding Radial Trends in Star Formation Quenching via the Relative Roles of Gas Availability and Star Formation Efficiency

Star formation quenching is one of the key processes that shape the evolution of galaxies. In this study, we investigate the changes in molecular gas and star formation properties as galaxies transit from the star-forming main sequence to the passive regime. Our analysis reveals that as galaxies move away from the main sequence toward the green valley the radial profile of specific star formation rate surface density (ΣsSFR) is suppressed compared with main-sequence galaxies out to a galactocentric radius of 1.5 R e(∼7 kpc for our sample). By combining radial profiles of gas fraction (f gas) and star formation efficiency (SFE), we can discern the underlying mechanism that determines ΣsSFR at different galactocentric radii. Analysis of relative contributions of f gas and SFE to ΣsSFR uncovers a diverse range of quenching modes. Star formation in approximately half of our quenching galaxies is primarily driven by a single mode (i.e., either f gas or SFE), or a combination of both. A collective analysis of all galaxies reveals that the reduction in star formation within the central regions (R < 0.5 R e) is primarily attributable to a decrease in SFE. Conversely, in the disk regions (R > 0.5 R e), both f gas and SFE contribute to the suppression of star formation. Our findings suggest that multiple quenching mechanisms may be at play in our sample galaxies, and even within a single galaxy. We also compare our observational outcomes with those from galaxy simulations and discuss the implications of our data.

The AGORA High-resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project. V. Satellite Galaxy Populations in a Cosmological Zoom-in Simulation of a Milky Way–Mass Halo

We analyze and compare the satellite halo populations at z ∼ 2 in the high-resolution cosmological zoom-in simulations of a 1012 M ⊙ target halo (z = 0 mass) carried out on eight widely used astrophysical simulation codes (Art-I, Enzo, Ramses, Changa, Gadget-3, Gear, Arepo-t, and Gizmo) for the AGORA High-resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project. We use slightly different redshift epochs near z = 2 for each code (hereafter “z ∼ 2”) at which the eight simulations are in the same stage in the target halo’s merger history. After identifying the matched pairs of halos between the CosmoRun simulations and the DMO simulations, we discover that each CosmoRun halo tends to be less massive than its DMO counterpart. When we consider only the halos containing stellar particles at z ∼ 2, the number of satellite galaxies is significantly fewer than that of dark matter halos in all participating AGORA simulations and is comparable to the number of present-day satellites near the Milky Way or M31. The so-called “missing satellite problem” is fully resolved across all participating codes simply by implementing the common baryonic physics adopted in AGORA and the stellar feedback prescription commonly used in each code, with sufficient numerical resolution (≲100 proper pc at z = 2). We also compare other properties such as the stellar mass–halo mass relation and the mass–metallicity relation. Our work highlights the value of comparison studies such as AGORA, where outstanding problems in galaxy formation theory are studied simultaneously on multiple numerical platforms.

Galaxy assembly revealed by globular clusters

Many observable properties of globular clusters (GCs) provide valuable insights for unveiling the hierarchical assembly of their host galaxy. For the Milky Way (MW) in particular, GCs from different accreted satellite galaxies show distinct chemical, spatial, kinematic, and age distributions. Here we examine such clustering features for model GC populations in simulated galaxies, which are carefully selected to match various observational constraints of the MW assembly. We evaluate several widely used clustering, dimensionality reduction, and supervised classification methods on these model GCs, using 10 properties that are observable in the MW. We can categorize in-situ and ex-situ formed GCs with about 90% accuracy, based solely on their clustering features in these 10 variables. The methods are also effective in distinguishing the last major merger in MW analogs with similar accuracy. Although challenging, we still find it possible to identify one, and only one, additional smaller satellite. We develop a new technique to classify the progenitors of MW GCs by combining several methods and weighting them by the validated accuracy. According to this technique, about 60% of GCs belong to the in-situ group, 20% are associated with the Gaia-Sausage/Enceladus event, and 10% are associated with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. The remaining 10% of GCs cannot be reliably associated with any single accretion event.

Beware the recent past: a bias in spectral energy distribution modelling due to bursty star formation

ABSTRACT We investigate how the recovery of galaxy star formation rates (SFRs) using energy-balance spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting codes depends on their recent star formation histories (SFHs). We use the magphys and prospector codes to fit 6706 synthetic SEDs of simulated massive galaxies at 1 &amp;lt; z &amp;lt; 8 from the Feedback in Realistic Environments project. We identify a previously unknown systematic error in the magphys results due to bursty star formation: the derived SFRs can differ from the truth by as much as 1 dex, at large statistical significance (&amp;gt;5σ), depending on the details of their recent SFH. SFRs inferred using prospector with non-parametric SFHs do not exhibit this trend. We show that using parametric SFHs (pSFHs) causes SFR uncertainties to be underestimated by a factor of up to 5×. Although this undoubtedly contributes to the significance of the systematic, it cannot explain the largest biases in the SFRs of the starbursting galaxies, which could be caused by details of the stochastic prior sampling or the burst implementation in the magphys libraries. We advise against using pSFHs and urge careful consideration of starbursts when SED modelling galaxies where the SFR may have changed significantly over the last ∼100 Myr, such as recently quenched galaxies, or those experiencing a burst. This concern is especially relevant, e.g. when fitting JWST observations of very high redshift galaxies.

Evolution and distribution of superbubbles in simulated Milky Way-like galaxies

ABSTRACT Stellar feedback plays a crucial role in regulating baryon cycles of a galactic ecosystem, and may manifest itself in the formation of superbubbles in the interstellar medium. In this work, we used a set of high-resolution simulations to systematically study the properties and evolution of superbubbles in galactic environments. The simulations were based on the SMUGGLE galaxy formation framework using the hydrodynamical moving-mesh code arepo, reaching a spatial resolution of $\sim 4 \, \rm pc$ and mass resolution of $\sim 10^3 \, \rm M_{\odot }$. We identified superbubbles and tracked their time evolution using the parent stellar associations within the bubbles. The X-ray luminosity-size distribution of superbubbles in the fiducial run is largely consistent with the observations of nearby galaxies. The size of superbubbles shows a double-peaked distribution, with the peaks attributed to early feedback (radiative and stellar wind feedback) and supernova feedback. The early feedback tends to suppress the subsequent supernova feedback, and it is strongly influenced by star formation efficiency, which regulates the environmental density. Our results show that the volume filling factor of hot gas (T &amp;gt; 105.5 K) is about $12~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ averaged over a region of 4 kpc in height and 20 kpc in radius centred on the disc of the galaxy. Overall, the properties of superbubbles are sensitive to the choice of subgrid galaxy formation models and can, therefore, be used to constrain these models.

Total and dark mass from observations of galaxy centers with machine learning

The galaxy total mass inside the effective radius is a proxy of the galaxy dark matter content and the star formation efficiency. As such, it encodes important information on the dark matter and baryonic physics. Total central masses can be inferred via galaxy dynamics or gravitational lensing, but these methods have limitations. We propose a novel approach based on machine learning to make predictions on total and dark matter content using simple observables from imaging and spectroscopic surveys. We used catalogs of multiband photometry, sizes, stellar mass, kinematic measurements (features), and dark matter (targets) of simulated galaxies from the Illustris-TNG100 hydrodynamical simulation to train a Mass Estimate machine Learning Algorithm ( Mela ) based on random forests. We separated the simulated sample into passive early-type galaxies (ETGs), both normal and dwarf, and active late-type galaxies (LTGs) and showed that the mass estimator can accurately predict the galaxy dark masses inside the effective radius in all samples. We finally tested the mass estimator against the central mass estimates of a series of low-redshift (zlsim 0.1) datasets, including SPIDER, MaNGA/DynPop, and SAMI dwarf galaxies, derived with standard dynamical methods based on the Jeans equations. We find that Mela predictions are fully consistent with the total dynamical mass of the real samples of ETGs, LTGs, and dwarf galaxies. learns from hydro-simulations how to predict the dark and total mass content of galaxies, provided that the real galaxy samples overlap with the training sample or show similar scaling relations in the feature and target parameter space. In this case, dynamical masses are reproduced within 0.30 dex ($ with a limited fraction of outliers and almost no bias. This is independent of the sophistication of the kinematical data collected (fiber vs. 3D spectroscopy) and the dynamical analysis adopted (radial vs. axisymmetric Jeans equations, virial theorem). This makes a powerful alternative to predict the mass of galaxies of massive stage IV survey datasets using basic data, such as aperture photometry, stellar masses, fiber spectroscopy, and sizes. We finally discuss how to generalize these results to account for the variance of cosmological parameters and baryon physics using a more extensive variety of simulations and the further option of reverse engineering this approach and using model-free dark matter measurements (e.g., via strong lensing), plus visual observables, to predict the cosmology and the galaxy formation model.

The dark balance: quantifying the inner halo response to active galactic nuclei feedback in galaxies

ABSTRACT This paper presents a study of the impact of supermassive black hole (SMBH) feedback on dark matter (DM) haloes in numerical NIHAO (Numerical Investigation of a Hundred Astrophysical Object) simulations of galaxies. In particular, the amount of DM displaced via active galactic nuclei (AGNs) feedback and the physical scale over which AGN feedback affects the DM halo are quantified by comparing NIHAO simulations with and without AGN feedback. NIHAO galaxies with log (M*/M⊙) ≥ 10.0 show a growing central DM suppression of 0.2 dex (∼40 per cent) from z = 1.5 to the present relative to no AGN feedback simulations. The growth of the DM suppression is related to the mass evolution of the SMBH and the gas mass in the central regions. For the most massive NIHAO galaxies with log (M*/M⊙) &amp;gt; 10.5, partially affected by numerical resolution, the central DM suppression peaks at z = 0.5 after which halo contraction overpowers AGN feedback due a shortage of gas and thus, SMBH growth. The spatial scale, or ‘sphere of influence’, over which AGN feedback affects the DM distribution decreases as a function of time for Milky Way-mass galaxies (from ∼16 kpc at z = 1.5 to ∼7.8 kpc at z = 0) as a result of halo contraction due to stellar growth. For the most massive NIHAO galaxies, the size of the sphere of influence remains constant (∼16 kpc) for z &amp;gt; 0.5 owing to the balance between AGN feedback and halo contraction.

Euclid: Improving the efficiency of weak lensing shear bias calibration

To obtain an accurate cosmological inference from upcoming weak lensing surveys such as the one conducted by Euclid, the shear measurement requires calibration using galaxy image simulations. As it typically requires millions of simulated galaxy images and consequently a substantial computational effort, seeking methods to speed the calibration up is valuable. We study the efficiency of different noise cancellation methods that aim at reducing the simulation volume required to reach a given precision in the shear measurement. The more efficient a method is, the faster we can estimate the relevant biases up to a required precision level. Explicitly, we compared fit methods with different noise cancellations and a method based on responses. We used GalSim to simulate galaxies both on a grid and at random positions in larger scenes. Placing the galaxies at random positions requires their detection, which we performed with SExtractor. On the grid, we neglected the detection step and, therefore, the potential detection bias arising from it. The shear of the simulated images was measured with the fast moment-based method KSB, for which we note deviations from purely linear shear measurement biases. For the estimation of uncertainties, we used bootstrapping as an empirical method. We extended the response-based approach to work on a wider range of shears and provide accurate estimates of selection biases. We find that each method we studied on top of shape noise cancellation can further increase the efficiency of calibration simulations. The improvement depends on the considered shear amplitude range and the type of simulations (grid-based or random positions). The response method on a grid for small shears provides the biggest improvement. Here the runtime for the estimation of multiplicative biases can be lowered by a factor of 145 compared to the benchmark simulations without any cancellation. In the more realistic case of randomly positioned galaxies, we still find an improvement factor of 70 for small shears using the response method. Alternatively, the runtime can be lowered by a factor of 7 already using pixel noise cancellation on top of shape noise cancellation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the efficiency of shape noise cancellation can be enhanced in the presence of blending if entire scenes are rotated instead of individual galaxies.

The splashback radius and the radial velocity profile of galaxy clusters in IllustrisTNG

We used 1697 clusters of galaxies from the TNG300-1 simulation (mass M200c &gt; 1014 M⊙ and redshift range 0.01 ≤ z ≤ 1.04) to explore the physics of the cluster infall region. We used the average radial velocity profile derived from simulated galaxies, vrad(r), and the average velocity dispersion of galaxies at each redshift, σv(r), to explore cluster-centric dynamical radii that characterize the cluster infall region. We revisited the turnaround radius, the limiting outer radius of the infall region, and the radius where the infall velocity has a well-defined minimum. We also explored two new characteristic radii: (i) the point of inflection of vrad(r) that lies within the velocity minimum, and (ii) the smallest radius where σv(r) = |vrad(r)|. These two, nearly coincident, radii mark the inner boundary of the infall region where radial infall ceases to dominate the cluster dynamics. Both of these galaxy velocity based radii lie within 1σ of the observable splashback radius. The minimum in the logarithmic slope of the galaxy number density is an observable proxy for the apocentric radius of the most recently accreted galaxies, the physical splashback radius. The two new dynamically derived radii relate the splashback radius to the inner boundary of the cluster infall region.

The Origins of Gas Accreted by Supermassive Black Holes: The Importance of Recycled Gas

We investigate the fueling mechanisms of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) by analyzing 10 zoom-in cosmological simulations of massive galaxies, with stellar masses 1011–12 M ⊙ and SMBH masses 108.9–9.7 M ⊙ at z = 0, featuring various major and minor merger events. By tracing the gas history in these simulations, we categorize the gas accreted by the central SMBHs based on its origin. Gas that belonged to a different galaxy before accretion onto the BH is labeled as (i) “external,” while smoothly accreted cosmic gas is classified as (ii) “smooth.” Gas produced within the primary halo through stellar evolution and subsequently accreted by the SMBH is classified as (iii) “recycled.” Our analysis, which includes stellar feedback, reveals that the primary fuel source for SMBHs is the recycled gas from dying stars. This recycled gas from stars in the inner region of the galaxy readily collapses toward the center, triggering starbursts and simultaneously fueling the SMBH. Galaxy mergers also play a crucial role in fueling SMBHs in massive galaxies, as SMBHs in massive halos tend to accrete a higher fraction of external gas from mergers compared to smoothly accreted gas. However, on average, it takes approximately 1.85 Gyr for external gas to enter the main galaxy and accrete onto the SMBH. Considering the presence of various other gas triggers for active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity alongside this time delay, the association between AGNs and mergers may not always be obvious.

The TNG50-SKIRT Atlas: Post-processing methodology and first data release

Galaxy morphology is a powerful diagnostic to assess the realism of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. Determining the morphology of simulated galaxies requires the generation of synthetic images through 3D radiative transfer post-processing that properly accounts for different stellar populations and interstellar dust attenuation. We use the SKIRT code to generate the TNG50-SKIRT Atlas, a synthetic UV to near-infrared broadband image atlas for a complete stellar-mass selected sample of 1154 galaxies extracted from the TNG50 cosmological simulation at z = 0. The images have a high spatial resolution (100 pc) and a wide field of view (160 kpc). In addition to the dust-obscured images, we also release dust-free images and physical parameter property maps with matching characteristics. As a sanity check and preview application we discuss the UVJ diagram of the galaxy sample. We investigate the effect of dust attenuation on the UVJ diagram and find that it affects both the star-forming and the quiescent galaxy populations. The quiescent galaxy region is polluted by younger and star-forming highly inclined galaxies, while dust attenuation induces a separation in inclination of the star-forming galaxy population, with low-inclination galaxies remaining at the blue side of the diagram and high-inclination galaxies systematically moving towards the red side. This image atlas can be used for a variety of other applications, including galaxy morphology studies and the investigation of local scaling relations. We publicly release the images and parameter maps, and we invite the community to use them.

The TNG50-SKIRT Atlas: Wavelength dependence of the effective radius

Galaxy sizes correlate with many other important properties of galaxies, and the cosmic evolution of galaxy sizes is an important observational diagnostic for constraining galaxy evolution models. The effective radius is probably the most widely used indicator of galaxy size. We used the TNG50-SKIRT Atlas to investigate the wavelength dependence of the effective radius of galaxies at optical and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths. We find that, on average, the effective radius in every band exceeds the stellar mass effective radius, and that this excess systematically decreases with increasing wavelength. The optical g-band (NIR Ks-band) effective radius is on average 58% (13%) larger than the stellar mass effective radius. Effective radii measured from dust-obscured images are systematically larger than those measured from dust-free images, although the effect is limited (8.7% in the g-band, 2.1% in the Ks-band). We find that stellar population gradients are the dominant factor (about 80%) in driving the wavelength dependence of the effective radius, and that differential dust attenuation is a secondary factor (20%). Comparing our results to recent observational data, we find offsets in the absolute values of the median effective radii, up to 50% for the population of blue galaxies. We find better agreement in the slope of the wavelength dependence of the effective radius, with red galaxies having a slightly steeper slope than green–blue galaxies. Comparing our effective radii with those of galaxies from the Siena Galaxy Atlas in separate bins in z-band absolute magnitude and g − z colour, we find excellent agreement for the reddest galaxies, but again significant offsets for the blue populations: up to 70% for galaxies around Mz = −21.5. This difference in median effective radius for the bluer galaxies is most probably due to intrinsic differences in the morphological structure of observed and TNG50 simulated galaxies. Finally, we find that the median effective radius in any broadband filter increases systematically with decreasing u − r colour and with increasing galaxy stellar mass, total SFR, sSFR, and dust-to-stellar-mass ratio. For the slope of the wavelength dependence of Re, however, there does not seem to be a systematic, monotonic correlation with any of these global properties.

Interacting galaxies in the IllustrisTNG simulations – VI: Reconstructed orbits, close encounters, and mergers

ABSTRACT Cosmological simulations have been used to study interacting galaxies as a function of galaxy pair separation, enabling comparisons with observational studies of galaxy pairs. The study of interacting galaxies as a function of time (i.e. merger stage) has mostly been limited to high-resolution merger simulations, due to the poor time sampling available in cosmological simulations. Building on an earlier study of galaxy pairs in the IllustrisTNG cosmological simulations, we reconstruct the orbits of galaxy pairs involving massive galaxies (M* &amp;gt; 1010 M⊙) at redshifts of 0 ≤ z &amp;lt; 1, using a novel kinematic interpolation scheme to model the orbits in between the IllustrisTNG snapshots (which are separated by 162 Myr, on average). We assess the accuracy of these interpolations using a pre-existing suite of merger simulations, and find that kinematic interpolations provide a remarkable improvement in accuracy compared with interpolations that use only radial separations or 3D positions. We find that nearly 90 per cent of the closest pairs (r &amp;lt; 25 kpc) have had a pericentre encounter within the past Gyr. Many of these close pairs are found on rapidly shrinking orbits, and roughly 85 per cent of these pairs will merge within 1 Gyr. However, approximately 3 per cent of these close pairs appear to be flyby systems that will never merge. These reconstructed orbits will be used in future studies to investigate how and when galaxy properties change during close encounters and mergers between galaxies in IllustrisTNG.

An Excess of Active Galactic Nuclei Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in MaNGA Galaxies of Stellar Mass ∼1011 M ⊙

To facilitate new studies of galaxy-merger-driven fueling of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), we present a catalog of 387 AGNs that we have identified in the final population of over 10,000 z < 0.15 galaxies observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-IV (SDSS-IV) integral field spectroscopy survey Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA). We selected the AGNs via mid-infrared Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer colors, Swift/Burst Alert Telescope ultra-hard X-ray detections, NRAO Very Large Array Sky Survey and Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty centimeters radio observations, and broad emission lines in SDSS spectra. By combining the MaNGA AGN catalog with a new SDSS catalog of galaxy mergers that were identified based on a suite of hydrodynamical simulations of merging galaxies, we study the link between galaxy mergers and nuclear activity for AGNs above a limiting bolometric luminosity of 1044.4 erg s−1. We find an excess of AGNs in mergers, relative to nonmergers, for galaxies with stellar mass ∼1011 M ⊙, where the AGN excess is somewhat stronger in major mergers than in minor mergers. Further, when we combine minor and major mergers and sort by merger stage, we find that the highest AGN excess occurs in post-coalescence mergers in the highest-mass galaxies. However, we find no evidence of a correlation between galaxy mergers and AGN luminosity or accretion rate. In summary, while galaxy mergers overall do appear to trigger or enhance AGN activity more than nonmergers, they do not seem to induce higher levels of accretion or higher luminosities. We provide the MaNGA AGN Catalog and the MaNGA Galaxy Merger Catalog for the community here.

Quantitatively rating galaxy simulations against real observations with anomaly detection

ABSTRACT Cosmological galaxy formation simulations are powerful tools to understand the complex processes that govern the formation and evolution of galaxies. However, evaluating the realism of these simulations remains a challenge. The two common approaches for evaluating galaxy simulations is either through scaling relations based on a few key physical galaxy properties, or through a set of pre-defined morphological parameters based on galaxy images. This paper proposes a novel image-based method for evaluating the quality of galaxy simulations using unsupervised deep learning anomaly detection techniques. By comparing full galaxy images, our approach can identify and quantify discrepancies between simulated and observed galaxies. As a demonstration, we apply this method to SDSS imaging and NIHAO simulations with different physics models, parameters, and resolution. We further compare the metric of our method to scaling relations as well as morphological parameters. We show that anomaly detection is able to capture similarities and differences between real and simulated objects that scaling relations and morphological parameters are unable to cover, thus indeed providing a new point of view to validate and calibrate cosmological simulations against observed data.

Comparing the Structural Parameters of the Milky Way to Other Spiral Galaxies

The structural parameters of a galaxy can be used to gain insight into its formation and evolution history. In this paper, we strive to compare the Milky Way’s structural parameters to other, primarily edge-on, spiral galaxies in order to determine how our Galaxy measures up to the Local Universe. For our comparison, we use the galaxy structural parameters gathered from a variety of literature sources in the optical and near-infrared wave bands. We compare the scale length, scale height, and disk flatness for both the thin and thick disks, the thick-to-thin disk mass ratio, the bulge-to-total luminosity ratio, and the mean pitch angle of the Milky Way’s spiral arms to those in other galaxies. We conclude that many of the Milky Way’s structural parameters are largely ordinary and typical of spiral galaxies in the Local Universe, though the Galaxy’s thick disk appears to be appreciably thinner and less extended than expected from zoom-in cosmological simulations of Milky Way-mass galaxies with a significant contribution of galaxy mergers involving satellite galaxies.