High Baryon Fraction Research Articles

A two-phase model of galaxy formation: I. The growth of galaxies and supermassive black holes

ABSTRACT We develop a model for galaxy formation and the growth of supermassive black holes (SMBHs), based on the fact that cold dark matter haloes form their gravitational potential wells through a fast phase with rapid change in the potential, and that the high universal baryon fraction makes cooled gas in haloes self-gravitating and turbulent before it can form rotation-supported discs. Gas fragmentation produces subclouds so dense that cloud–cloud collision and drag on clouds are not significant, producing a dynamically hot system of subclouds that form stars and move ballistically to feed the central SMBH. Active galactic nucleus (AGN) and supernova feedback is effective only in the fast phase, and the cumulative effects are to regulate star formation and SMBH growth, as well as to reduce the amount of cold gas in haloes to allow the formation of globally stable discs. Using a set of halo assembly histories, we demonstrate that the model can reproduce a number of observations, including correlations among SMBH mass, stellar mass of galaxies and halo mass, the number densities of galaxies and SMBH, as well as their evolution over the cosmic time.

The First Billion Years project: Finding infant globular clusters at z = 6

Aims. We aim to conduct an assessment of the demographics of substructures in cosmological simulations to identify low-mass stellar systems at high redshift, with a particular focus on globular cluster (GC) candidates. Methods. We explored a suite of high-resolution cosmological simulations from the First Billion Years Project (FiBY) at z ≥ 6. All substructures within the simulations have been identified with the SUBFIND algorithm. From our analysis, two distinct groups of objects emerge. We hypothesise that the substructures in the first group, which appear to have a high baryon fraction (fb ≥ 0.95), are possible infant GC candidates. Objects belonging to the second group have a high stellar fraction (f* ≥ 0.95) and show a potential resemblance to infant ultra-faint dwarf galaxies. Results. The high baryon fraction objects identified in this study are characterised by a stellar content similar to the one observed in present-day GCs, but they still contain a high gas fraction (fgas ∼ 0.95) and a relatively low amount of dark matter. They are compact systems, with densities higher than the average population of FiBY systems at the same stellar mass. Their sizes are consistent with recent estimates based on the first observations of possible proto-GCs at high redshifts. These types of infant GC candidates appear to be more massive and more abundant in massive host galaxies, indicating that the assembly of galaxies via mergers may play an important role in building several GC-host scaling relations. Specifically, we express the relation between the mass of the most massive infant GC and its host stellar mass as log(Mcl) = (0.31 ± 0.15) log (M*, gal + (4.17 ± 1.06). We also report a new relation between the most massive infant GC and the parent specific star formation rate of the form log(Mcl) = (0.85 ± 0.30) log (sSFR)+α that describes the data at both low and high redshift. Finally, we assess the present-day GC mass (GC number) – halo mass relation offers a satisfactory description of the behaviour of our infant GC candidates at high redshift, suggesting that such a relation may be set at formation.

Hunting for Globular Clusters in the early universe

AbstractSetting the formation of globular clusters (GCs) within a cosmological context and characterising the properties of proto-GCs at high redshift is currently a major challenge. In this work, we address that challenge by exploring a suit of high-resolution cosmological simulations from the First Billion Years (FiBY) project z at ⩾6 to investigate theoretical scenarios concerning the formation of old, low-mass stellar systems with a particular focus on GCs. Two distinct groups of objects are identified in the simulations. The first group of objects, with a high baryon fraction, we associate with proto-GCs. The second group, that exhibit a high stellar fraction, could be forming ultra-faint dwarf galaxies (UFDs). The objects with high baryon fraction are promising proto-GC candidates because they have little to no dark matter (DM), have number densities consistent with predictions from the literature, are very compact and have a high stellar density. We fit and also assess the redshift-zero globular system mass - halo mass relation and find it provides a reasonable fit to our proto-GC objects, indicating that this relation is likely set at formation.

A high baryon fraction in massive haloes at z ∼ 3

We investigate the baryon content of the circumgalactic medium (CGM) within the virial radius of $M_h \sim 10^{12} \; M_\odot$ haloes at z ~ 3, by modelling the surface brightness profile of the giant Ly$\alpha$ nebulae recently discovered by MUSE around bright QSOs at this redshift. We initially assume fluorescent emission from cold photo-ionized gas confined by the pressure of a hot halo. Acceptable CGM baryon fractions (equal or smaller than the cosmological value) require that the cold gas occupies $\lesssim$ 1% of the volume, but is about as massive as the hot gas. CGM baryon fractions as low as 30% of the cosmic value, as predicted by some strongly ejective feedback models at this redshift, are not easy to reconcile with observations, under our assumptions, unless both the QSO-hosting haloes at $z\sim3$ are more massive than recent BOSS estimates based on clustering and the photo-ionized gas is colder than expected in a standard QSO ionizing radiation field. We also consider the option that the emission is dominated by photons scattered from the QSO broad line region. In this scenario, a very stringent lower limit to the baryon fraction can be obtained under the extreme assumption of optically thin scattering. We infer in this case a baryon fraction of at least 70% of the cosmic value, for fiducial parameters. Lower values require halo masses or gas temperatures different than expected, or that some mechanism keeps the cold gas systematically over-pressured with respect to the ambient medium.

Distributions of the Baryon Fraction on Large Scales in the Universe

(Abridged) The nonlinear evolution of a system consisting of baryons and dark matter is generally characterized by strong shocks and discontinuities. The baryons slow down significantly at postshock areas of gravitational strong shocks, which can occur in high overdense as well as low overdense regions. Consequently, the baryon fraction would be nonuniform on large scales. We studied these phenomena with simulation samples produced by the WENO hybrid cosmological hydrodynamic/N-body code. We find that the baryon fraction in high mass density regions is lower on average than the cosmic baryon fraction, and many baryons accumulate in the regions with moderate mass density to form a high baryon fraction phase (HBFP). In dense regions with rho>100, which are the possible hosts for galaxy clusters, the baryon fraction can be lower than the cosmic baryon fraction by about 10%--20% at z ~ 0. Our simulation samples show that about 3% of the cosmic baryon budget was hidden in the HBFP at redshift z=3, while this percentage increases to about 14% at the present day. The gas in the HBFP cannot be detected either by Ly-alpha forests of QSO absorption spectra or by soft X-ray background. That is, the HBFP would be missed in the baryon budget given by current observations.

Cosmology from cosmic microwave background and galaxy clusters

We present the results of analysis of constraints on cosmological parameters from cosmic microwave background (CMB) alone and in combination with the galaxy cluster baryon fraction assuming inflation-generated adiabatic scalar fluctuations. The CMB constraints are obtained using our likelihood approximation method (Bartlett et al. 2000; Douspis et al. 2001). In the present analysis we use the new data coming from MAXIMA and BOOMERanG balloon-borne experiments and the first results of the DASI interferometer together with the COBE/DMR data. The quality of these independent data sets implies that the $C_\ell$ are rather well known, and allow reliable constraints. We found that the constraints in the $\Omega-H_0$ plane are very tightened, favouring a flat Universe, that the index of the primordial fluctuations is very close to one, that the primordial baryon density is now in good agreement with primordial nucleosynthesis. Nevertheless degeneracies between several parameters still exist, and for instance the constraint on the cosmological constant or the Hubble constant are very weak, preferred values being low. A way to break these degeneracies is to cross-constrain the parameters by combining them with constraints from other independent data. We use the baryon fraction determination from X-ray clusters of galaxies as an additional constraint and show that the combined analysis leads to strong constraints on all cosmological parameters. Using a high baryon fraction ( ∼ 15% for $h = 0.5$) we found a rather low Hubble constant, values around 80 km s -1 /Mpc being ruled out. Using a recent and low baryon fraction estimation ( ∼ 10% for $h = 0.5$) we found a preferred model with a low Hubble constant and a high density content ($\Omega_{\rm m}$), an Einstein-de Sitter model being only weakly ruled out.

Evolution of Small‐Scale Cosmological Baryon Perturbations and Matter Transfer Functions

The evolution of small scale cosmological perturbations is carefully re-examined. Through the interaction with photons via electrons, baryon perturbations show interesting behavior in some physical scales. Characteristic features of the evolution of baryon density fluctuations are discussed. In CDM models, it is found a power-law growing phase of the small-scale baryon density fluctuations, which is characterized by the terminal velocity, after the diffusion (Silk) damping and before the decoupling epoch. Then, a transfer function for total matter density fluctuations is studied by taking into account those physical processes. An analytic transfer function is presented, which is applicable for the entire range up to a solar mass scale in the high$-z$ universe, and it is suitable also to the high baryon fraction models.

Cosmological implications of two conflicting deuterium abundances

Constraints on big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) and on cosmological parameters from conflicting deuterium observations in different high redshift QSO systems are discussed. The high deuterium observations by Carswell et al., Songaila et al., and Rugers and Hogan are consistent with ${}^{4}$He and ${}^{7}$Li observations and standard BBN ${(N}_{\ensuremath{\nu}}$ =3) and allows ${N}_{\ensuremath{\nu}}<~3.6$ at 95% C.L., but are inconsistent with local observations of D and ${}^{3}$He in the context of conventional theories of stellar and galactic evolution. In contrast, the low deuterium observations by Tytler, Fan, and Burles and Burles and Tytler are consistent with the constraints from local galactic observations, but require ${N}_{\ensuremath{\nu}}=1.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.3$ at 68% C.L., excluding standard BBN at 99.9% C.L., unless the systematic uncertainties in the ${}^{4}$He observations have been underestimated by a large amount. The high and low primordial deuterium abundances imply, respectively, ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{B}{h}^{2}=0.005$--$0.01$ and ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{B}{h}^{2}=0.02$--$0.03$ at 95% C.L. When combined with the high baryon fraction inferred from x-ray observations of rich clusters, the corresponding total mass densities (for $50<~{H}_{0}<~90)$ are ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{M}=0.05$--$0.20$ and ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{M}=0.2$--$0.7$, respectively (95% C.L.). The range of ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{M}$ corresponding to high D is in conflict with dynamical constraints $({\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{\mathrm{m}}>~0.2$--$0.3)$ and with the shape parameter constraint $(\ensuremath{\Gamma}={\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{M}h=0.25\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.05)$ from large scale structure formation in CDM and $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$CDM models.

Cold dark matter models with high baryon content

Recent results have suggested that the density of baryons in the Universe, ΩB, is much more uncertain than previously thought, and may be significantly higher. We demonstrate that a higher ΩB increases the viability of critical-density cold dark matter (CDM) models. A high baryon fraction offers the twin benefits of boosting the first peak in the microwave anisotropy power spectrum and of suppressing short-scale power in the matter power spectrum. These enable viable CDM models to have a larger Hubble constant than otherwise possible. We carry out a general exploration of high-ΩB CDM models, varying the Hubble constant h and the spectral index n. We confront a variety of observational constraints and discuss specific predictions. Although some observational evidence may favour baryon fractions as high as 20 per cent, we find that values around 10 to 15 per cent provide a reasonable fit to a wide range of data. We suggest that models with ΩB in this range, with h ≃ 0.5 and n ≃ 0.8, are currently the best critical-density CDM models.