High-mass Haloes Research Articles

Modeling the Multiwavelength Detection of Protoclusters. I. An Excess of Submillimeter Galaxies in Protocluster Cores

Studies of galaxy protoclusters yield insights into galaxy cluster formation complementary to those obtained via “archaeological” studies of present-day galaxy clusters. Submillimeter-selected galaxies (SMGs) are one class of sources used to find high-redshift protoclusters. However, due to the rarity of protoclusters (and thus the large simulation volume required) and the complexity of modeling dust emission from galaxies, the relationship between SMGs and protoclusters has not been adequately addressed in the theoretical literature. In this work, we apply the L-GALAXIES semianalytic model (SAM) to the Millennium N-body simulation. We assign submillimeter flux densities to the model galaxies using a scaling relation from previous work, in which dust radiative transfer was performed on high-resolution galaxy zoom simulations. We find that the fraction of model galaxies that are submillimeter-bright is higher in protocluster cores than in both protocluster “outskirts” and the field; the fractions for the latter two are similar. This excess is not driven by an enhanced starburst frequency. Instead, the primary reason is that overdense environments have a relative overdensity of high-mass halos and thus “oversample” the high-mass end of the star formation main sequence relative to less-dense environments. The fraction of SMGs that are optically bright is dependent on stellar mass and redshift but independent of the environment. The fraction of galaxies for which the majority of star formation is dust-obscured is higher in protocluster cores, primarily due to the dust-obscured fraction being correlated with stellar mass. Our results can be used to guide and interpret multiwavelength studies of galaxy populations in protoclusters.

Equilibrium States of Galactic Atmospheres. II. Interpretation and Implications

The scaling of galaxy properties with halo mass suggests that feedback loops regulate star formation, but there is no consensus yet about how those feedback loops work. To help clarify discussions of galaxy-scale feedback, Paper I presented a very simple model for supernova feedback that it called the minimalist regulator model. This follow-up paper interprets that model and discusses its implications. The model itself is an accounting system that tracks all of the mass and energy associated with a halo’s circumgalactic baryons—the central galaxy’s atmosphere. Algebraic solutions for the equilibrium states of that model reveal that star formation in low-mass halos self-regulates primarily by expanding the atmospheres of those halos, ultimately resulting in stellar masses that are insensitive to the mass-loading properties of galactic winds. What matters most is the proportion of supernova energy that couples with circumgalactic gas. However, supernova feedback alone fails to expand galactic atmospheres in higher-mass halos. According to the minimalist regulator model, an atmospheric contraction crisis ensues, which may be what triggers strong black hole feedback. The model also predicts that circumgalactic medium properties emerging from cosmological simulations should depend largely on the specific energy of the outflows they produce, and we interpret the qualitative properties of several numerical simulations in light of that prediction.

Evolution of HOD and galaxy properties in filaments and nodes of the cosmic web

ABSTRACT We study the evolution of the halo occupation distribution (HOD) and galaxy properties of nodes and filamentary structures obtained by disperse from the Illustris TNG300-1 hydrodynamical simulation, in the redshift range $0 \le z \le 2$. We compute the HOD in filaments and nodes and fit the HOD parameters to study their evolution for both faint and bright galaxies. In nodes, the number of faint galaxies increases with decreasing redshift in the low-mass haloes, while no significant differences are seen in high-mass haloes. Limiting the HOD to bright galaxies shows that haloes increase in mass more than the number of bright galaxies they accrete. For filaments, no large differences in HOD are found for faint galaxies, although for brighter galaxies the behaviour is the same as in nodes. The HOD parametrization suggests that filaments have no effect on the mass required to host a galaxy (central or satellite), whereas nodes do. The results of the study indicate that with this parametrization, filaments do not seem to affect the stellar mass content of galaxies. In contrast, nodes appear to affect haloes with masses below approximately $10^{12.5} h^{-1} {\rm M}_{\odot }$ at local redshift. The analysis of the galaxy colour evolution shows a reddening towards lower redshift, although these processes seem to be more efficient in massive haloes, with a strong effect on bright galaxies. The general evolution suggests that the building of galaxy population within haloes is influenced by both the accretion of faint galaxies and the mass growth of the bright ones.

The H i covering fraction of Lyman Limit Systems in FIRE haloes

ABSTRACT Atomic hydrogen (H i) serves a crucial role in connecting galactic-scale properties such as star formation with the large-scale structure of the Universe. While recent numerical simulations have successfully matched the observed covering fraction of H i near Lyman Break Galaxies (LBGs) and in the foreground of luminous quasars at redshifts $z \lesssim 3$, the low-mass end remains as-of-yet unexplored in observational and computational surveys. We employ a cosmological, hydrodynamical simulation (FIREbox) supplemented with zoom-in simulations (MassiveFIRE) from the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) project to investigate the H i covering fraction of Lyman Limit Systems ($N_{{\text{H}}\, \rm{{\small I}}} \gtrsim 10^{17.2}$ cm$^{-2}$) across a wide range of redshifts ($z=0-6$) and halo masses ($10^8-10^{13} \, \,\mathrm{ M}_{\odot }$ at $z=0$, $10^8-10^{11}\, \,\mathrm{ M}_{\odot }$ at $z=6$) in the absence of feedback from active galactic nuclei. We find that the covering fraction inside haloes exhibits a strong increase with redshift, with only a weak dependence on halo mass for higher mass haloes. For massive haloes ($M_{\mathrm{vir}} \sim 10^{11}-10^{12} \,\mathrm{ M}_{\odot }$), the radial profiles showcase scale-invariance and remain independent of mass. The radial dependence is well captured by a fitting function. The covering fractions in our simulations are in good agreement with measurements of the covering fraction in LBGs. Our comprehensive analysis unveils a complex dependence with redshift and halo mass for haloes with $M_{\mathrm{vir}} \lesssim 10^{10} \,\mathrm{ M}_{\odot }$ that future observations aim to constrain, providing key insights into the physics of structure formation and gas assembly.

The impact of AGN X-ray selection on the AGN halo occupation distribution

The connection between active galactic nuclei (AGN) and their host dark matter halos provides powerful insights into how supermassive black holes (SMBHs) grow and coevolve with their host galaxies. Here we investigate the impact of observational AGN selection on the AGN halo occupation distribution (HOD) by forward-modeling AGN activity into cosmological N-body simulations. By assuming straightforward relationships between the SMBH mass, galaxy mass, and (sub)halo mass, as well as a uniform broken power law distribution of Eddington ratios, we find that luminosity-limited AGN samples result in biased HOD shapes. While AGN defined by an Eddington ratio threshold produce AGN fractions that are flat across halo mass (unbiased by definition), luminosity-limited AGN fractions peak around galaxy-group-sized halo masses and then decrease with increasing halo mass. With higher luminosities, the rise of the AGN fraction starts at higher halo masses, the peak is shifted towards higher halo masses, and the decline at higher halo masses is more rapid. These results are consistent with recent HOD constraints from AGN clustering measurements, which find (1) characteristic halo mass scales of $ Vir $h^ M_ odot and (2) a shallower rise of the number of satellite AGN with increasing halo mass than for the overall galaxy population. Thus the observational biases due to AGN selection can naturally explain the constant, characteristic halo mass scale inferred from large-scale AGN clustering amplitudes over a range of redshifts, as well as the measured inconsistencies between AGN and galaxy HODs. We conclude that AGN selection biases can have significant impacts on the inferred AGN HOD, and can therefore lead to possible misinterpretations of how AGN populate dark matter halos and the AGN-host galaxy connection.

The contribution of massive haloes to the matter power spectrum in the presence of AGN feedback

ABSTRACT The clustering of matter, as measured by the matter power spectrum, informs us about cosmology, dark matter, and baryonic effects on the distribution of matter in the universe. Using cosmological hydrodynamical simulations from the cosmo-OWLS and BAHAMAS simulation projects, we investigate the contribution of power in haloes with various masses, to the full power spectrum, as well as the power ratio between baryonic and dark matter only (DMO) simulations for a matched (between simulations) and an unmatched set of haloes. We find that the presence of AGN feedback suppresses the power on all scales for haloes of all masses examined (1011.25 ≤ M500, crit ≤ $10^{14.75}\, \mathrm{M_\odot }/h$), by ejecting matter from within $r_{500,\mathrm{c}}\,$ to $r_{200,\mathrm{m}}\,$ and potentially beyond in massive haloes (M500, crit ≳ $10^{{13}}\, \mathrm{M_\odot }/h$), and likely impeding the growth of lower-mass haloes as a consequence. A lower AGN feedback temperature changes the behaviour of high-mass haloes (M500, crit ≥ $10^{{13.25}}\, \mathrm{M_\odot }/h$), damping the effects of AGN feedback at small scales, $k\, {{\gtrsim }}\, {{4}}\, h\mathrm{\, Mpc^{-1}}$. For $k\, {{\lesssim }}\, {{3}}\, h\mathrm{\, Mpc^{-1}}$, group-sized haloes ($10^{{14\pm 0.25}}\, \mathrm{M_\odot }/h$) dominate the power spectrum, while on smaller scales the combined contributions of lower-mass haloes to the full power spectrum rise above that of the group-sized haloes. Finally, we present a model for the power suppression due to feedback, which combines observed mean halo baryon fractions with halo mass fractions and halo-matter cross-spectra extracted from DMO simulations to predict the power suppression to per cent level accuracy down to $k\, {{\approx }}\, {{10}}\, h\mathrm{\, Mpc^{-1}}$ without any free parameters.

Characterizing HOD in filaments and nodes of the cosmic web

ABSTRACT The standard paradigm for the formation of the Universe suggests that large structures are formed from hierarchical clustering by the continuous accretion of less massive galaxy systems through filaments. In this context, filamentary structures play an important role in the properties and evolution of galaxies by connecting high-density regions, such as nodes, and being surrounded by low-density regions, such as cosmic voids. The availability of the filament and critical point catalogues extracted by disperse from the illustris TNG300-1 hydrodynamic simulation allows a detailed analysis of these structures. The halo occupation distribution (HOD) is a powerful tool for linking galaxies and dark matter haloes, allowing constrained models of galaxy formation and evolution. In this work, we combine the advantage of halo occupancy with information from the filament network to analyse the HOD in filaments and nodes. In our study, we distinguish the inner regions of cosmic filaments and nodes from their surroundings. The results show that the filamentary structures have a similar trend to the total galaxy sample covering a wide range of densities. In the case of the nodes sample, an excess of faint and blue galaxies is found for the low-mass haloes suggesting that these structures are not virialized and that galaxies may be continuously falling through the filaments. Instead, the higher mass haloes could be in a more advanced stage of evolution showing features of virialized structures.

On bursty star formation during cosmological reionisation – how does it influence the baryon mass content of dark matter halos?

Abstract The baryon mass content (i.e. stellar and gas mass) of dark matter halos in the early Universe depends on both global factors – for example, ionising ultraviolet (UV) radiation background – and local factors – for example, star formation efficiency and assembly history. We use a lightweight semi-analytical model to investigate how both local and global factors impact the halo baryon mass content at redshifts of $z\geq 5$ . Our model incorporates a time delay between when stars form and when they produce feedback of $0\leq t^d/\mathrm{Myr} \leq 30$ , which can drive bursts of star formation, and a mass and redshift-dependent UV background, which captures the influence of cosmological reionisation on gas accretion onto halos. We use statistically representative halo assembly histories and assume that the cosmological gas accretion rate is proportional to the halo mass accretion rate. Delayed ( $t^d$ >0) feedback leads to oscillations in gas mass with cosmic time, behaviour that cannot be captured with instantaneous feedback ( $t^d$ =0). Highly efficient star formation drives stronger oscillations, while strong feedback impacts when oscillations occur; in contrast, inefficient star formation and weak feedback produce similar long-term behaviour to that observed in instantaneous feedback models. If the delayed feedback timescale is too long, a halo retains its gas reservoir but the feedback suppresses star formation. Our model predicts that lower mass systems (halo masses $m_\mathrm{h} \leq 10^7 \mathrm{M}_\odot$ ) at $z \leq 10$ should be strongly gas deficient ( $m_\mathrm{g}\rightarrow 0$ ), whereas higher mass systems retain their gas reservoirs because they are sufficiently massive to continue accreting gas through cosmological reionisation. Interestingly, in higher mass halos, the median $m_\star/(m_\star+m_\mathrm{g}) \simeq 0.01-0.05$ , but is a factor of 3–5 smaller when feedback is delayed. Our model does not include seed supermassive black hole feedback, which is necessary to explain massive quenched galaxies in the early Universe.

Circumgalactic Medium at High Halo Masses—Signatures of Cold Gas Depletion in Luminous Red Galaxies

We study ultraviolet H i and metal-line transitions in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of 15 massive, quenched luminous red galaxies (LRGs) at redshift z ∼ 0.5 and with impact parameters up to 400 kpc. We selected eight LRG–CGM systems to study general properties of the CGM around LRGs, while the other seven are already known to contain cool CGM gas from Mg ii optical studies (Mg ii-LRGs). In the general LRG population, we detect H i in four of eight LRGs, in all cases with N H I < 1016.7cm−2. In contrast, all Mg ii-LRGs show H i; for four LRGs, the H i column density is N H I ≳ 1018cm−2. The CGM of LRGs also shows low and intermediate ionized lines (such as C iii, C ii, Si iii, and Si ii) and highly ionized lines of O vi (we detect O vi around five of seven Mg ii-LRGs and one of eight in the random sample). Next, we combine our sample with literature LRGs and ≲L * galaxies, and we find that while for ≲L * galaxies CGM H i Lyα absorption is stronger as galaxies are more massive, the cool CGM traced by H i Lyα is suppressed above stellar masses of M* ∼ 1011.5 M ☉. While most LRG–CGM systems show weak or nondetectable O vi (equivalent width < 0.2 Å), a few LRG–CGM systems show strong O vi 1031, which in most cases likely originates from groups containing both an LRG and a blue star-forming neighboring galaxy.

Tracking the evolution of satellite galaxies: mass stripping and dark-matter deficient galaxies

ABSTRACT Satellite galaxies undergo a variety of physical processes when they are accreted by groups and clusters, often resulting in the loss of baryonic and dark matter (DM) mass. In this work, we evaluate the predictions from the IllustrisTNG hydrodynamical simulation regarding the evolution of the matter content of satellites, focusing on a population that are accreted at z &amp;gt; 1 and retain their identity as satellites down to z = 0. At fixed host halo mass, the amount of DM and stellar mass stripped depends mostly on the pericentric distance, dperi, here normalized by host halo virial radius. The closest encounters result in significant loss of DM, with subhaloes retaining between 20 and a few per cent of their z = 1 mass. At fixed dperi, DM mass stripping seems more severe in lower mass haloes. Conversely, the average satellite in higher mass haloes has its stellar mass growth halted earlier, having lost a higher fraction of stellar mass by z = 0. We also show that mass stripping has a strong impact on the quenched fractions. The IllustrisTNG boxes are qualitatively consistent in these predictions, with quantitative differences mostly originating from the distinct subhalo mass ranges covered by the boxes. Finally, we have identified DM-deficient systems in all TNG boxes. These objects are preferentially found in massive clusters (Mhost ≳ 1013 M⊙), had very close encounters with their central galaxies ($d_{\rm peri}\simeq 0.05\, R_{\rm vir}$), and were accreted at high redshift (zinfall ≳ 1.4), reinforcing the notion that tidal stripping is responsible for their remarkable lack of DM.

Dependence of peculiar velocity on the host properties of the gravitational wave sources and its impact on the measurement of Hubble constant

ABSTRACT Accurate measurement of the Hubble constant from standard sirens such as the gravitational wave (GW) sources with electromagnetic counterparts relies on the robust peculiar velocity correction of the redshift of the host galaxy. We show in this work that the peculiar velocity of the host galaxies exhibits a correlation with the properties of the host galaxy primarily such as its stellar mass and this correlation also evolves with redshift. As the galaxies of higher stellar mass tend to form in galaxies with higher halo masses which are located in spatial regions having a non-linear fluctuation in the density field of the matter distribution, the root mean square peculiar velocity of more massive galaxies is higher. As a result, depending on the formation channel of the binary compact objects, the peculiar velocity contamination to the galaxies will be different. The variation in the peculiar velocity of the host galaxies can lead to a significant variation in the estimation of the Hubble constant inferred using sources such as binary neutron stars. For the network of GW detectors such as LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK), LVK+LIGO-India, and Cosmic Explorer + Einstein Telescope, the variation in the precision of Hubble constant inferred from 10 bright siren events can vary from $\sim 5.4 - 6~{{\ \rm per \, cent}}$, $\sim 4.5 - 5.3~{{\ \rm per \, cent}}$, and $\sim 1.1 - 2.7~{{\ \rm per \, cent}}$, respectively. The impact of such a correlation between peculiar velocity and stellar mass on the inference of the Hubble constant is not only limited to GW sources but also applicable to type-Ia supernovae.

Detection of Thermal Sunyaev–Zel’dovich Effect in the Circumgalactic Medium of Low-mass Galaxies—A Surprising Pattern in Self-similarity and Baryon Sufficiency

We report on the measurement of the thermal Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (tSZ) effect in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of 641,923 galaxies with M ⋆ = 109.8–11.3 M ⊙ at z < 0.5, pushing the exploration of the tSZ effect to lower-mass galaxies compared to those in previous studies. We cross-correlate the galaxy catalog of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and SuperCOSMOS with Compton-y maps derived from the combined data of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and Planck. We improve on the data analysis methods (correcting for cosmic infrared background and Galactic dust, masking galaxy clusters and radio sources, stacking, and employing aperture photometry), as well as modeling (taking into account beam smearing, the “two-halo” term, and any zero-point offset). We constrain the thermal pressure in the CGM of M ⋆ = 1010.6–11.3 M ⊙ galaxies for a generalized Navarro–Frenk–White profile and provide upper limits for M ⋆ = 109.8–10.6 M ⊙ galaxies. The relation between M 500 (obtained from an empirical M ⋆–M 200 relation and a concentration factor) and (a measure of the thermal energy within R 500) is >2σ steeper than the self-similarity relation and the deviation from the same that has been reported previously in higher-mass halos. We calculate the baryon fraction of the galaxies, f b , assuming the CGM to be at the virial temperature that is derived from M 200. The baryon fraction f b exhibits a nonmonotonic trend with mass, with M ⋆ = 1010.9–11.2 M ⊙ galaxies being baryon-sufficient.

The shape of dark matter haloes: results from weak lensing in the ultraviolet near-infrared optical Northern survey (UNIONS)

ABSTRACT Cold dark matter haloes are expected to be triaxial and so appear elliptical in projection. We use weak gravitational lensing from the Canada–France Imaging Survey (CFIS) component of the Ultraviolet Near-Infrared Optical Northern Survey (UNIONS) to measure the ellipticity of the dark matter haloes around Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (DR7) and from the CMASS and LOWZ samples of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), assuming their major axes are aligned with the stellar light. We find that DR7 LRGs with masses M ∼ 2.7 × 1013 M⊙ h−1 have halo ellipticities e = 0.46 ± 0.10. Expressed as a fraction of the galaxy's ellipticity, we find fh = 2.2 ± 0.6. For BOSS LRGs, the detection is of marginal significance: e = 0.20 ± 0.10 and fh = 0.7 ± 0.7. These results are in agreement with other measurements of halo ellipticity from weak lensing and, taken together with previous results, suggest an increase in halo ellipticity of 0.10 ± 0.06 per decade in halo mass. This trend agrees with the predictions from hydrodynamical simulations, which find that at higher halo masses, not only do dark matter haloes become more elliptical, but that the misalignment between the major axis of the stellar light in the central galaxy and that of the dark matter decreases.

On the anticorrelation between pericentric distance and inner dark matter density of Milky Way’s dwarf spheroidal galaxies

ABSTRACT An anticorrelation between the central density of the dark matter (DM) halo (ρ150, DM) and the pericentric distances (rp) of the Milky Way’s (MW’s) dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) has been reported in the literature. The existence and origin of such anticorrelation are, however, controversial, one possibility being that only the densest dSphs can survive the tidal field towards the centre of our Galaxy. In this work, we place particular emphasis on quantifying the statistical significance of such anticorrelation, by using available literature data in order to explore its robustness under different assumptions on the MW gravitational potential, and for various derivations of ρ150 and rp. We consider models in which the MW is isolated and has low ($8.8\times 10^{11}\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$ ) and high ($1.6\times 10^{12}\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$ ) halo masses, respectively, as well as configurations in which the MW’s potential is perturbed by a Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) infall. We find that, while data generally support models in which the dSphs’ central DM density decreases as a function of their pericentric radius, this anticorrelation is statistically significant at 3σ level only in ${\sim} 12~{{ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the combinations of ρ150 and rp explored. Moreover, including the impact of the LMC’s infall on to the MW weakens or even washes away this anticorrelation, with respect to models in which the MW is isolated. Our results suggest that the strength and existence of such anticorrelation are still debatable: exploring it with high-resolution simulations including baryonic physics and different DM flavours will help us to understand its emergence.

The Rapid Onset of Stellar Bars in the Baryon-dominated Centers of Disk Galaxies

Recent observations of high-redshift galactic disks (z ≈ 1–3) show a strong negative trend in the dark-matter (DM) fraction f DM with increasing baryon surface density. For this to be true, the inner baryons must dominate over DM in early massive galaxies, as observed in the Milky Way today. If disks are dominant at early times, we show that stellar bars form promptly within these disks, leading to a high bar fraction. New James Webb Space Telescope observations provide the best evidence for mature stellar bars in this redshift range. The disk mass fraction f disk within R s = 2.2 R disk is the dominant factor determining how rapidly a bar forms. Using 3D hydro simulations of halo-bulge-disk galaxies, we confirm the “Fujii relation” for the exponential dependence of the bar formation time τ bar as a function of f disk. For f disk > 0.3, the bar formation time declines exponentially fast with increasing f disk. Instead of Fujii's arbitrary threshold for when a bar appears, for the first time, we exploit the exponential growth timescale associated with the positive feedback cycle as the bar emerges from the underlying disk. A modified, mass-dependent trend is observed for halos relevant to systems at cosmic noon (), where the bar onset is slower for higher-mass halos at a fixed f disk. If baryons dominate over DM within R ≈ R s , we predict that a high fraction of bars will be found in high-redshift disks long before z = 1.

The thesan project: Lyman-α emitter luminosity function calibration

ABSTRACT The observability of Lyα emitting galaxies (LAEs) during the Epoch of Reionization can provide a sensitive probe of the evolving neutral hydrogen gas distribution, thus setting valuable constraints to distinguish different reionization models. In this study, we utilize the new thesan suite of large-volume ($L_\text{box} = 95.5\, \text{cMpc}$) cosmological radiation-hydrodynamic simulations to directly model the Lyα emission from individual galaxies and the subsequent transmission through the intergalactic medium. thesan combines the arepo-rt radiation-hydrodynamic solver with the IllustrisTNG galaxy formation model and includes high- and medium-resolution simulations designed to investigate the impacts of halo-mass-dependent escape fractions, alternative dark matter models, and numerical convergence. We find important differences in the Lyα transmission based on reionization history, bubble morphology, frequency offset from line centre, and galaxy brightness. For a given global neutral fraction, Lyα transmission reduces when low-mass haloes dominate reionization over high-mass haloes. Furthermore, the variation across sightlines for a single galaxy is greater than the variation across all galaxies. This collectively affects the visibility of LAEs, directly impacting observed Lyα luminosity functions (LFs). We employ Gaussian Process Regression using SWIFTEmulator to rapidly constrain an empirical model for dust escape fractions and emergent spectral-line profiles to match observed LFs. We find that dust strongly impacts the Lyα transmission and covering fractions of MUV ≲ −19 galaxies in $M_\text{vir} \gtrsim 10^{11}\, \text{M}_{\bigodot }$ haloes, such that the dominant mode of removing Lyα photons in non-LAEs changes from low-IGM transmission to high dust absorption around z ∼ 7.

Exploring supermassive black hole physics and galaxy quenching across halo mass in FIRE cosmological zoom simulations

ABSTRACT Feedback from accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs) is thought to be a primary driver of quenching in massive galaxies, but how to best implement SMBH physics into galaxy formation simulations remains ambiguous. As part of the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project, we explore the effects of different modelling choices for SMBH accretion and feedback in a suite of ∼500 cosmological zoom-in simulations across a wide range of halo mass (1010–1013 M⊙). Within the suite, we vary the numerical schemes for BH accretion and feedback, accretion efficiency, and the strength of mechanical, radiative, and cosmic ray feedback independently. We then compare the outcomes to observed galaxy scaling relations. We find several models satisfying observational constraints for which the energetics in different feedback channels are physically plausible. Interestingly, cosmic rays accelerated by SMBHs play an important role in many plausible models. However, it is non-trivial to reproduce scaling relations across halo mass, and many model variations produce qualitatively incorrect results regardless of parameter choices. The growth of stellar and BH mass are closely related: for example, overmassive BHs tend to overquench galaxies. BH mass is most strongly affected by the choice of accretion efficiency in high-mass haloes, but by feedback efficiency in low-mass haloes. The amount of star formation suppression by SMBH feedback in low-mass haloes is determined primarily by the time-integrated feedback energy. For massive galaxies, the ‘responsiveness’ of a model (how quickly and powerfully the BH responds to gas available for accretion) is an additional important factor for quenching.

The thesan project: ionizing escape fractions of reionization-era galaxies

Abstract A fundamental requirement for reionizing the Universe is that a sufficient fraction of the ionizing photons emitted by galaxies successfully escapes into the intergalactic medium. However, due to the scarcity of high-redshift observational data, the sources driving reionization remain uncertain. In this work, we calculate the ionizing escape fractions (fesc) of reionization-era galaxies from the state-of-the-art thesan simulations, which combine an accurate radiation-hydrodynamic solver (arepo-rt) with the well-tested IllustrisTNG galaxy formation model to self-consistently simulate both small-scale galaxy physics and large-scale reionization throughout a large patch of the universe ($L_\text{box} = 95.5\, \text{cMpc}$). This allows the formation of numerous massive haloes ($M_\text{halo} \gtrsim 10^{10}\, {\text{M}_{\odot }}$), which are often statistically underrepresented in previous studies but are believed to be important to achieving rapid reionization. We find that low-mass galaxies ($M_\text{stars} \lesssim 10^7\, {\text{M}_{\odot }}$) are the main drivers of reionization above z ≳ 7, while high-mass galaxies ($M_\text{stars} \gtrsim 10^8\, {\text{M}_{\odot }}$) dominate the escaped ionizing photon budget at lower redshifts. We find a strong dependence of fesc on the effective star formation rate (SFR) surface density defined as the SFR per gas mass per escape area, i.e. $\bar{\Sigma }_\text{SFR} = \text{SFR}/M_\text{gas}/R_{200}^2$. The variation in halo escape fractions decreases for higher mass haloes, which can be understood from the more settled galactic structure, SFR stability, and fraction of sightlines within each halo significantly contributing to the escaped flux. Dust is capable of reducing the escape fractions of massive galaxies, but the impact on the global fesc depends on the dust model. Finally, active galactic nuclei are unimportant for reionization in thesan and their escape fractions are lower than stellar ones due to being located near the centres of galaxy gravitational potential wells.

The effect of AGN feedback on shape of dark matter haloes

Feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) plays an important role on the formation and matter distribution in haloes. We investigate the effect of AGN feedback on shape of dark haloes formed in the EAGLE simulations, and trace the evolution. We select three mass ranges of haloes; low (1011 − 1011.5M⨀), intermediate (1012 − 1012.5M⨀) and high (1013 − 1014.5M⨀) mass, the last range is of small cluster scale. We find the median profile of triaxiality in each mass range at three redshifts (0, 0.27 and 0.87) from two simulations, with and without AGN. The difference of triaxiality in both simulations of low mass haloes at all redshifts is relatively not apparent while the most apparent difference exhibits in high mass haloes. The shape of dark matter haloes in the simulation with AGN is more prolate than that in the simulation without AGN. We also use the ratio between blackhole and dark matter mass, relating to AGN energy output relative to halo potential depth to explain the result. Since the mass ratio between blackhole and dark matter mass in the high and intermediate mass is much larger and extends to the larger radii than that of low mass haloes, the difference is more prominent out to the outer region. We conclude that the shape of dark matter haloes of small cluster scale can be affected by AGN feedback through the evolution. However, this study focuses on an extreme AGN feedback model with a relatively small dynamical range.

Conditional colour–magnitude distribution of central galaxies in galaxy formation models

ABSTRACT We investigate the conditional colour–magnitude distribution (CCMD), namely the colour–magnitude distribution at fixed halo mass, of the central galaxies in semi-analytical galaxy formation model (SAM) and hydrodynamic simulations. We analyse the CCMD of central galaxies in each halo mass bin with the Gaussian mixture model and find that it can be decomposed into red and blue components nearly orthogonal to each other, a red component narrow in colour and extended in magnitude and a blue component narrow in magnitude and extended in colour. We focus on the SAM galaxies to explore the origin of the CCMD components by studying the relation between central galaxy colour and halo or galaxy properties. Central galaxy colour is correlated with halo assembly properties for low-mass haloes and independent of them for high-mass haloes. Galaxy properties such as central supermassive black hole mass, cold gas mass, and gas specific angular momentum can all impact central galaxy colour. These results are corroborated by an alternative machine learning analysis in which we attempt to predict central galaxy colour with halo and galaxy properties. We find that the prediction for colours of central galaxies can be significantly improved using both halo and galaxy properties as input compared to using halo properties alone. With the halo and galaxy properties considered here, we find that subtle discrepancies remain between predicted and original colour distribution for low-mass haloes and that no significant determining properties are identified in massive haloes, suggesting modulations by additional stochastic processes in galaxy formation.