High-mass Haloes Research Articles

Morphology rather than environment drives the SFR–mass relation in the local universe

Exploiting a sample of 680 star-forming galaxies from the Padova-Millennium GalaxyGroup Catalog (PM2GC) (Calvi et al. 2011) in the range 0.038<z<0.104, we present a detailed analysis of the Star Formation Rate (SFR)-stellar mass (M_star) and specific SFR(SSFR)-M_star relations as a function of environment. We adopt three different parameterizations of environment, to probe different scales. We consider separately 1) galaxies in groups, binary and single systems, defined in terms of a Friends-of-Friends algorithm, 2) galaxies located at different projected local densities, 3) galaxies in haloes of different mass. Overall, above logM_ast/M_sun>10.25 and SSFR>10^{-12} yr^{-1}, the SFR-M_ast and SSFR-M_ast relations do not depend on environment, when the global environment is used, while when the halo mass is considered, high mass haloes might have a systematically lower (S)SFR-M_ast relation. Finally, when local densities are exploited, at any given mass galaxies in less dense environments have systematically higher values of SFR. All the relations are characterized by a large scatter ({\sigma}~0.6), which is dueto the coexistence of galaxies of different morphological types. Indeed, at any given mass, late-types are characterized by systematically higher values of SFR and SSFR than S0s and ellipticals. Galaxies of the same morphology show similar trends in all the environments, but their incidence strongly depends on environment and on the environmental parametrization adopted, with late-types generally becoming less common in denser environments, contrasted by the increase of ellipticals and/or S0s. Our results suggest that in the local universe morphology and local interactions, probed by the local density parameterization, have dominant roles in driving the characteristics of the SFR-M_ast relation.

Structure formation in clustering DBI dark energy model with constant sound speed

ABSTRACT Within the framework of DBI non-canonical scalar field model of dark energy, we study the growth of dark matter perturbations in both the linear and non-linear regimes. In our DBI model, we consider the anti-de Sitter warp factor $f(\phi)=f_0\, \phi ^{-4}$ with constant f0 &gt; 0 and assume the DBI dark energy to be clustered and its sound speed cs to be constant. In the linear regime, we use the pseudo-Newtonian formalism to obtain the growth factor of dark matter perturbations and conclude that for smaller cs (or $\tilde{f_0} \equiv f_0 H_0^2/M_P^2$), the growth factor of dark matter is smaller for clustering DBI model compared to the homogeneous one. In the non-linear regime based on the spherical collapse model, we obtain the linear overdensity δc($z$c), the virial overdensity Δvir($z$c), overdensity at the turn around ζ($z$c), and the rate of expansion of collapsed region hta($z$). We point out that for the smaller cs (or $\tilde{f_0}$), the values of δc($z$c), Δvir($z$c), ζ($z$c), and hta($z$) in non-clustering DBI models deviate more than the ΛCDM compared to the clustering DBI models. Finally, with the help of spherical collapse parameters we calculate the relative number density of halo objects above a given mass and conclude that the differences between clustering and homogeneous DBI models are more pronounced for the higher mass haloes at high redshift.

The Cosmic Ballet: spin and shape alignments of haloes in the cosmic web

We investigate the alignment of haloes with the filaments of the cosmic web using an unprecedently large sample of dark matter haloes taken from the P-Millennium $\Lambda$CDM cosmological N-body simulation. We use the state-of-the-art NEXUS morphological formalism which, due to its multiscale nature, simultaneously identifies structures at all scales. We find strong and highly significant alignments, with both the major axis of haloes and their peculiar velocity tending to orient along the filament. However, the spin - filament alignment displays a more complex trend changing from preferentially parallel at low masses to preferentially perpendicular at high masses. This "spin flip" occurs at an average mass of $5\times10^{11}~h^{-1}M_\odot$. This mass increases with increasing filament diameter, varying by more than an order of magnitude between the thinnest and thickest filament samples. We also find that the inner parts of haloes have a spin flip mass that is several times smaller than that of the halo as a whole. These results confirm that recent accretion is responsible for the complex behaviour of the halo spin - filament alignment. Low-mass haloes mainly accrete mass along directions perpendicular to their host filament and thus their spins tend to be oriented along the filaments. In contrast, high-mass haloes mainly accrete along their host filaments and have their spins preferentially perpendicular to them. Furthermore, haloes located in thinner filaments are more likely to accrete along their host filaments than haloes of the same mass located in thicker filaments.

The environment of radio galaxies: a signature of AGN feedback at high redshifts

We use the semi-analytical model of galaxy formation GALFORM to characterise an indirect signature of AGN feedback in the environment of radio galaxies at high redshifts. The predicted environment of radio galaxies is denser than that of radio-quiet galaxies with the same stellar mass. This is consistent with observational results from the CARLA survey. Our model shows that the differences in environment are due to radio galaxies being hosted by dark matter haloes that are ~1.5 dex more massive than those hosting radio-quiet galaxies with the same stellar mass. By running a control-simulation in which AGN feedback is switched-off, we identify AGN feedback as the primary mechanism affecting the build-up of the stellar component of radio galaxies, thus explaining the different environment in radio galaxies and their radio-quiet counterparts. The difference in host halo mass between radio loud and radio quiet galaxies translates into different galaxies populating each environment. We predict a higher fraction of passive galaxies around radio loud galaxies compared to their radio-quiet counterparts. Furthermore, such a high fraction of passive galaxies shapes the predicted infrared luminosity function in the environment of radio galaxies in a way that is consistent with observational findings. Our results suggest that the impact of AGN feedback at high redshifts and environmental mechanisms affecting galaxies in high halo masses can be revealed by studying the environment of radio galaxies, thus providing new constraints on galaxy formation physics at high redshifts.

Gravitational lensing detection of an extremely dense environment around a galaxy cluster

Galaxy clusters form at the highest-density nodes of the cosmic web1,2. The clustering of dark matter halos hosting these galaxy clusters is enhanced relative to the general mass distribution, with the matter density beyond the virial region being strongly correlated to the halo mass (halo bias)3. Halo properties other than mass can further enhance the halo clustering (secondary bias)4–7. Observational campaigns have ascertained the halo bias8–10, but efforts to detect this secondary bias for massive halos have been inconclusive11–13. Here, we report the analysis of the environment bias in a sample of massive clusters, selected through the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect by the Planck mission14,15, focusing on the detection of the environment dark matter correlated to a single cluster, PSZ2 G099.86+58.45. The gravitational lensing signal of the outskirts is very large and can be traced up to 30 megaparsecs with a high signal-to-noise ratio (about 3.4), implying environment matter density in notable excess of the cosmological mean. Our finding reveals this system to be extremely rare in the current paradigm of structure formation and, implies that enhancing mechanisms around high-mass halos can be very effective. Future lensing surveys will probe the surroundings of single haloes, enabling the study of their formation and evolution of structure. The strong gravitational lensing signal around the massive cluster PSZ2 G099.86+58.45 indicates environment matter density in notable excess of the cosmological mean and implies that enhancing mechanisms around high-mass halos can be very effective.

Dissecting the roles of mass and environment quenching in galaxy evolution with EAGLE

We exploit the pioneering cosmological hydrodynamical simulation, EAGLE, to study how the connection between halo mass (M_halo), stellar mass (M*) and star-formation rate (SFR) evolves across redshift. Using Principal Component Analysis we identify the key axes of correlation between these physical quantities, for the full galaxy sample and split by satellite/central and low/high halo mass. The first principal component of the z=0 EAGLE galaxy population is a positive correlation between M_halo, M* and SFR. This component is particularly dominant for central galaxies in low mass haloes. The second principal component, most significant in high mass haloes, is a negative correlation between M_halo and SFR, indicative of environmental quenching. For galaxies above M*~10^10M_solar, however, the SFR is seen to decouple from the M_halo-M* correlation; this result is found to be independent of environment, suggesting that mass quenching effects are also in operation. We find extremely good agreement between the EAGLE principal components and those of SDSS galaxies; this lends confidence to our conclusions. Extending our study to EAGLE galaxies in the range z=0-4, we find that, although the relative numbers of galaxies in the different subsamples change, their principal components do not change significantly with redshift. This indicates that the physical processes that govern the evolution of galaxies within their dark matter haloes act similarly throughout cosmic time. Finally, we present halo occupation distribution model fits to EAGLE galaxies and show that one flexible 6-parameter functional form is capable of fitting a wide range of different mass- and SFR-selected subsamples.

Halo histories versus galaxy properties at z = 0 – III. The properties of star-forming galaxies

We measure how the properties of star-forming central galaxies correlate with large-scale environment, $\delta$, measured on $10$Mpc/h scales. We use group catalogs to isolate a robust sample of central galaxies with high purity and completeness. The properties we investigate are star formation rate (SFR), exponential disk scale length $R_{\rm exp}$, and Sersic index of the light profile, $n$. We find that, at all stellar masses, there is an inverse correlation between SFR and $\delta$, meaning that above-average star forming centrals live in underdense regions. For $n$ and $R_{\rm exp}$, there is no correlation with $\delta$ at $M_{\rm star}\lesssim 10^{10.5}$ $M_\odot$, but at higher masses there are positive correlations; a weak correlation with $R_{\rm exp}$ and a strong correlation with $n$. These data are evidence of assembly bias within the star-forming population. The results for SFR are consistent with a model in which SFR correlates with present-day halo accretion rate, $\dot{M}_h$. In this model, galaxies are assigned to halos using the abundance matching ansatz, which maps galaxy stellar mass onto halo mass. At fixed halo mass, SFR is assigned to galaxies using the same approach,but $\dot{M}_h$ is used to map onto SFR. The best-fit model requires some scatter in the $\dot{M}_h$-SFR relation. The $R_{\rm exp}$ and $n$ measurements are consistent with a model in which these quantities are correlated with the spin parameter of the halo, $\lambda$. Halo spin does not correlate with $\delta$ at low halo masses, but for higher mass halos, high-spin halos live in higher density environments at fixed $M_h$. Put together with the earlier installments of this series, these data demonstrate that quenching processes have limited correlation with halo formation history, but the growth of active galaxies, as well as other detailed properties, are influenced by the details of halo assembly.

The impact of feedback and the hot halo on the rates of gas accretion on to galaxies

We investigate the physics that drives the gas accretion rates onto galaxies at the centers of dark matter haloes using the EAGLE suite of hydrodynamical cosmological simulations. We find that at redshifts $z{\le}2$ the accretion rate onto the galaxy increases with halo mass in the halo mass range $10^{10}-10^{11.7}M_{\odot}$, flattens between the halo masses $10^{11.7}-10^{12.7}M_{\odot}$, and increases again for higher-mass haloes. However, the galaxy gas accretion does not flatten at intermediate halo masses when AGN feedback is switched off. To better understand these trends, we develop a physically motivated semi-analytic model of galaxy gas accretion. We show that the flattening is produced by the rate of gas cooling from the hot halo. The ratio of the cooling radius and the virial radius does not decrease continuously with increasing halo mass as generally thought. While it decreases up to ${\sim}10^{13}M_{\odot}$ haloes, it increases for higher halo masses, causing an upturn in the galaxy gas accretion rate. This may indicate that in high-mass haloes AGN feedback is not sufficiently efficient. When there is no AGN feedback, the density of the hot halo is higher, the ratio of the cooling and virial radii does not decrease as much and the cooling rate is higher. Changes in the efficiency of stellar feedback can also increase or decrease the accretion rates onto galaxies. The trends can plausibly be explained by the re-accretion of gas ejected by progenitor galaxies and by the suppression of black hole growth, and hence AGN feedback, by stellar feedback.

Measurement of the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect with Planck and BOSS data

We present a new measurement of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (kSZ) using Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) data. Using the `LowZ North/South' galaxy catalogue from BOSS DR12, and the group catalogue from BOSS DR13, we evaluate the mean pairwise kSZ temperature associated with BOSS galaxies. We construct a `Central Galaxies Catalogue' (CGC) which consists of isolated galaxies from the original BOSS data set, and apply the aperture photometry (AP) filter to suppress the primary CMB contribution. By constructing a halo model to fit the pairwise kSZ function, we constrain the mean optical depth to be $\bar{\tau}=(0.53\pm0.32)\times10^{-4}(1.65\,\sigma)$ for `LowZ North CGC', $\bar{\tau}=(0.30\pm0.57)\times10^{-4}(0.53\,\sigma)$ for `LowZ South CGC', and $\bar{\tau}=(0.43\pm0.28)\times10^{-4}(1.53\,\sigma)$ for `DR13 Group'. In addition, we vary the radius of the AP filter and find that the AP size of $7\,{\rm arcmin}$ gives the maximum detection for $\bar{\tau}$. We also investigate the dependence of the signal with halo mass and find $\bar{\tau}=(0.32\pm0.36)\times10^{-4}(0.8\,\sigma)$ and $\bar{\tau}=(0.67\pm0.46)\times10^{-4}(1.4\,\sigma)$ for `DR13 Group' with halo mass restricted to, respectively, less and greater than its median halo mass, $10^{12}\, h^{-1}{\rm M}_{\odot}$. For the `LowZ North CGC' sample restricted to $M_{\rm h} \gtrsim 10^{14}\, h^{-1}{\rm M}_\odot$ there is no detection of the kSZ signal because these high mass halos are associated with the high-redshift galaxies of the LowZ North catalogue, which have limited contribution to the pairwise kSZ signals.

Stellar Mass—Halo Mass Relation and Star Formation Efficiency in High-Mass Halos

We study relation between stellar mass and halo mass for high-mass halos using a sample of galaxy clusters with accurate measurements of stellar masses from optical and IR data and total masses from X-ray observations. We find that stellar mass of the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) scales as M*BCG\propto M500^a_BCG with the best fit slope of a_BCG~0.35+-0.1 and scatter of M*BCG at a fixed M500 of ~0.2 dex. We show that M*-M relations from abundance matching or halo modelling reported in recent studies underestimate stellar masses of BCGs by a factor of ~2-4, because these studies used stellar mass functions (SMF) based on photometry that severely underestimates the outer surface brightness profiles of massive galaxies. We show that M*-M relation derived using abundance matching with the recent SMF calibration by Bernardi et al. (2013) based on improved photometry is in a much better agreement with the relation we derive. The total stellar mass of galaxies correlates with total mass M500 with the slope of \approx 0.6+-0.1 and scatter of 0.1 dex. This indicates that efficiency with which baryons are converted into stars decreases with increasing cluster mass. We show that for a fixed choice of the initial mass function (IMF) total stellar fraction in clusters is only a factor of ~3-5 lower than the peak stellar fraction reached in M\approx 10^12 Msun halos, and only a factor of ~1.5-3 if the IMF becomes progressively more bottom heavy with increasing mass in early type galaxies, as indicated by recent observations. The larger normalization and slope of the M*-M relation derived in this study shows that the overall efficiency of star formation in massive halos is suppressed much less than was thought before and that feedback and associated suppression of star formation in massive halos should be weaker than assumed in most of the current semi-analytic models and simulations.

Mufasa: the strength and evolution of galaxy conformity in various tracers

We investigate galaxy conformity using the Mufasa cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. We show a bimodal distribution in galaxy colour with radius, albeit with too many low-mass quenched satellite galaxies compared to observations. Mufasa produces conformity in observed properties such as colour, sSFR, and HI content; i.e neighbouring galaxies have similar properties. We see analogous trends in other properties such as in environment, stellar age, H$_2$ content, and metallicity. We introduce quantifying conformity using $S(R)$, measuring the relative difference in upper and lower quartile properties of the neighbours. We show that low-mass and non-quenched haloes have weak conformity ($S(R)\leq 0.5$) extending to large projected radii $R$ in all properties, while high-mass and quenched haloes have strong conformity ($S(R)\sim 1$) that diminishes rapidly with $R$ and disappears at $R\geq 1$ Mpc. $S(R)$ is strongest for environment in low-mass haloes, and sSFR (or colour) in high-mass haloes, and is dominated by one-halo conformity with the exception of HI in small haloes. Metallicity shows a curious anti-conformity in massive haloes. Tracking the evolution of conformity for $z=0$ galaxies back in time shows that conformity broadly emerges as a late-time ($z\leq 1$) phenomenon. However, for fixed halo mass bins, conformity is fairly constant with redshift out to $z\geq 2$. These trends are consistent with the idea that strong conformity only emerges once haloes grow above Mufasa's quenching mass scale of $\sim 10^{12}M_\odot$. A quantitative measure of conformity in various properties, along with its evolution, thus represents a new and stringent test of the impact of quenching on environment within current galaxy formation models.

Beyond assembly bias: exploring secondary halo biases for cluster-size haloes

Secondary halo bias, commonly known as 'assembly bias,' is the dependence of halo clustering on a halo property other than mass. This prediction of the Lambda-Cold Dark Matter cosmology is essential to modelling the galaxy distribution to high precision and interpreting clustering measurements. As the name suggests, different manifestations of secondary halo bias have been thought to originate from halo assembly histories. We show conclusively that this is incorrect for cluster-size haloes. We present an up-to-date summary of secondary halo biases of high-mass haloes due to various halo properties including concentration, spin, several proxies of assembly history, and subhalo properties. While concentration, spin, and the abundance and radial distribution of subhaloes exhibit significant secondary biases, properties that directly quantify halo assembly history do not. In fact, the entire assembly histories of haloes in pairs are nearly identical to those of isolated haloes. In general, a global correlation between two halo properties does not predict whether or not these two properties exhibit similar secondary biases. For example, assembly history and concentration (or subhalo abundance) are correlated for both paired and isolated haloes, but follow slightly different conditional distributions in these two cases. This results in a secondary halo bias due to concentration (or subhalo abundance), despite the lack of assembly bias in the strict sense for cluster-size haloes. Due to this complexity, caution must be exercised in using any one halo property as a proxy to study the secondary bias due to another property.

The clustering and bias of radio-selected AGN and star-forming galaxies in the COSMOS field

Dark matter haloes in which galaxies reside are likely to have a significant impact on their evolution. We investigate the link between dark matter haloes and their constituent galaxies by measuring the angular two-point correlation function of radio sources, using recently released 3 GHz imaging over $\sim 2 \ \mathrm{deg}^2$ of the COSMOS field. We split the radio source population into Star Forming Galaxies (SFGs) and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), and further separate the AGN into radiatively efficient and inefficient accreters. Restricting our analysis to $z<1$, we find SFGs have a bias, $b = 1.5 ^{+0.1}_{-0.2}$, at a median redshift of $z=0.62$. On the other hand, AGN are significantly more strongly clustered with $b = 2.1\pm 0.2$ at a median redshift of 0.7. This supports the idea that AGN are hosted by more massive haloes than SFGs. We also find low-accretion rate AGN are more clustered ($b = 2.9 \pm 0.3$) than high-accretion rate AGN ($b = 1.8^{+0.4}_{-0.5}$) at the same redshift ($z \sim 0.7$), suggesting that low-accretion rate AGN reside in higher mass haloes. This supports previous evidence that the relatively hot gas that inhabits the most massive haloes is unable to be easily accreted by the central AGN, causing them to be inefficient. We also find evidence that low-accretion rate AGN appear to reside in halo masses of $M_{h} \sim 3-4 \times 10^{13}h^{-1}$M$_{\odot}$ at all redshifts. On the other hand, the efficient accreters reside in haloes of $M_{h} \sim 1-2 \times 10^{13}h^{-1}$M$_{\odot}$ at low redshift but can reside in relatively lower mass haloes at higher redshifts. This could be due to the increased prevalence of cold gas in lower mass haloes at $z \ge 1$ compared to $z<1$.

Testing baryon-induced core formation in ΛCDM: A comparison of the DC14 and coreNFW dark matter halo models on galaxy rotation curves

Recent cosmological hydrodynamical simulations suggest that baryonic processes, and in particular supernova feedback after bursts of star formation, can alter the structure of dark matter haloes and transform primordial cusps into shallower cores. To assess whether this mechanism offers a solution to the cusp-core controversy, simulated haloes must be compared to real dark matter haloes inferred from galaxy rotation curves. For this purpose, two new dark matter density profiles were recently derived from simulations of galaxies in complementary mass ranges: the DC14 halo ($10^{10} < M_{\text{halo}}/M_{\odot} < 8 \times 10^{11}$) and the coreNFW halo ($10^{7} < M_{\text{halo}}/M_{\odot} < 10^{9}$). Both models have individually been found to give good fits to observed rotation curves. For the DC14 model, however, the agreement of the predicted halo properties with cosmological scaling relations was confirmed by one study, but strongly refuted by another. A next question is whether the two models converge to the same solution in the mass range where both should be appropriate. To investigate this, we tested the DC14 and cNFW halo models on the rotation curves of a selection of galaxies with halo masses in the range $4 \times 10^{9}$ - $7 \times 10^{10}$ $M_{\odot}$. We further applied the DC14 model to a set of rotation curves at higher halo masses, up to $9 \times 10^{11}$ $M_{\odot}$, to verify the agreement with the cosmological scaling relations. We find that both models are generally able to reproduce the observed rotation curves, in line with earlier results, and the predicted dark matter haloes are consistent with the cosmological $c-M_{\text{halo}}$ and $M_{*}-M_{\text{halo}}$ relations. The DC14 and cNFW models are also in fairly good agreement with each other, even though DC14 tends to predict slightly less extended cores and somewhat more concentrated haloes than cNFW.

The evolution of the star formation rate function in the EAGLE simulations: a comparison with UV, IR and Hα observations from z ∼ 8 to z ∼ 0

We investigate the evolution of the galaxy Star Formation Rate Function (SFRF) and Cosmic Star Formation Rate Density (CSFRD) of $z\sim 0-8 $ galaxies in the Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments (EAGLE) simulations. In addition, we present a compilation of UV, IR and H$\alpha$ SFRFs and compare these with the predictions from the EAGLE suite of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. We find that the constraints implied by different indicators are inconsistent with each other for the highest star-forming objects at z < 2, a problem that is possibly related to selection biases and the uncertainties of dust attenuation effects. EAGLE's feedback parameters were calibrated to reproduce realistic galaxy sizes and stellar masses at z = 0.1. In this work we test if and why those choices yield realistic Star Formation Rates (SFRs) for $z \sim 0-8$ as well. We demonstrate that SNe feedback plays a major role at setting the abundance of galaxies at all star-forming regimes, especially at high redshifts. On the contrary, Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) feedback becomes more prominent at lower redshifts and is a major mechanism that affects only the highest star-forming systems. Furthermore, we find that galaxies with SFR $\sim 1-10 \, {\rm M_{\odot} \, yr^{-1}}$ dominate the CSFRD at redshifts z < 5, while rare high star-forming galaxies (SFR $\sim 10-100 \,{\rm M_{\odot} \, yr^{-1}}$) contribute significantly only briefly around the peak era ($z \sim 2$) and then are quenched by AGN feedback. In the absence of this prescription objects with SFR $\sim 10-100 \,{\rm M_{\odot} \, yr^{-1}}$ would dominate the CSFRD, while the cosmic budget of star formation would be extremely high. Finally, we demonstrate that the majority of the cosmic star formation occurs in relatively rare high mass halos ($ {\rm M_{Halo}} \sim 10^{11-13} \, {\rm M_{\odot}}$) even at the earliest epochs.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the environments of high- and low-excitation radio galaxies

We study the environments of low- and high- excitation radio galaxies (LERGs and HERGs respectively) in the redshift range $0.01 < z < 0.4$, using a sample of 399 radio galaxies and environmental measurements from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey. In our analysis we use the fifth nearest neighbour density ($\Sigma_{5}$) and the GAMA galaxy groups catalogue (G3Cv6) and construct control samples of galaxies matched in {\update stellar mass and colour} to the radio-detected sample. We find that LERGs and HERGs exist in different environments and that this difference is dependent on radio luminosity. High-luminosity LERGs ($L_{\rm NVSS} \gtrsim 10^{24}$ W Hz$^{-1}$) lie in much denser environments than a matched radio-quiet control sample (about three times as dense, as measured by $\Sigma_{5}$), and are more likely to be members of galaxy groups ($82^{+5}_{-7}$ percent of LERGs are in GAMA groups, compared to $58^{+3}_{-3}$ percent of the control sample). In contrast, the environments of the HERGs and lower luminosity LERGs are indistinguishable from that of a matched control sample. Our results imply that high-luminosity LERGs lie in more massive haloes than non-radio galaxies of similar stellar mass and colour, in agreement with earlier studies (Wake et al. 2008; Donoso et al. 2010). When we control for the preference of LERGs to be found in groups, both high- and low- luminosity LERGs are found in higher-mass haloes ($\sim 0.2$ dex; at least 97 percent significant) than the non-radio control sample.

Verifying the consistency relation for the scale-dependent bias from local primordial non-Gaussianity

We measure the large-scale bias of dark matter halos in simulations with non-Gaussian initial conditions of the local type, and compare this bias to the response of the mass function to a change in the primordial amplitude of fluctuations. The two are found to be consistent, as expected from physical arguments, for three halo-finder algorithms which use different Spherical Overdensity (SO) and Friends-of-Friends (FoF) methods. On the other hand, we find that the commonly used prediction for universal mass functions, that the scale-dependent bias is proportional to the first-order Gaussian Lagrangian bias, does not yield a good agreement with the measurements. For all halo finders, high-mass halos show a non-Gaussian bias suppressed by 10-15% relative to the universal mass function prediction. For SO halos, this deviation changes sign at low masses, where the non-Gaussian bias becomes larger than the universal prediction.

A general explanation on the correlation of dark matter halo spin with the large-scale environment

Abstract Both simulations and observations have found that the spin of halo/galaxy is correlated with the large-scale environment, and particularly the spin of halo flips in filament. A consistent picture of halo spin evolution in different environments is still lacked. Using N-body simulation, we find that halo spin with its environment evolves continuously from sheet to cluster, and the flip of halo spin happens both in filament and nodes. The flip in filament can be explained by halo formation time and migrating time when its environment changes from sheet to filament. For low-mass haloes, they form first in sheets and migrate into filaments later, so their mass and spin growth inside filament are lower, and the original spin is still parallel to filament. For high-mass haloes, they migrate into filaments first, and most of their mass and spin growth are obtained in filaments, so the resulted spin is perpendicular to filament. Our results well explain the overall evolution of cosmic web in the cold dark matter model and can be tested using high-redshift data. The scenario can also be tested against alternative models of dark matter, such as warm/hot dark matter, where the structure formation will proceed in a different way.

The f(ℛ) halo mass function in the cosmic web

An important indicator of modified gravity is the effect of the local environment on halo properties. This paper examines the influence of the local tidal structure on the halo mass function, the halo orientation, spin and the concentration-mass relation. We use the excursion set formalism to produce a halo mass function conditional on large-scale structure. Our simple model agrees well with simulations on large scales at which the density field is linear or weakly non-linear. Beyond this, our principal result is that f(ℛ) does affect halo abundances, the halo spin parameter and the concentration-mass relationship in an environment-independent way, whereas we find no appreciable deviation from \ ext{ΛCDM} for the mass function with fixed environment density, nor the alignment of the orientation and spin vectors of the halo to the eigenvectors of the local cosmic web. There is a general trend for greater deviation from \ ext{ΛCDM} in underdense environments and for high-mass haloes, as expected from chameleon screening.

Evidence of pre-processing and a dependence on dynamical state for low-mass satellite galaxies

We study the dependence of satellite star formation rate and morphology on group dynamics for a sample of SDSS groups. We classify the group dynamical state and study satellite properties for populations of galaxies at small and large group-centric radii. For galaxies at large radii we find no differences in the star-forming or disc fraction for those in Gaussian groups compared to those in non-Gaussian groups. By comparing the star-forming and disc fractions of infalling galaxies to field galaxies we find evidence for the pre-processing of both star formation rate and morphology. The strength of pre-processing increases with halo mass and is highest for low-mass galaxies infalling onto high-mass haloes. We show that the star formation rate of galaxies at small radii correlates with group dynamical state, with galaxies in non- Gaussian groups showing enhanced star-forming fractions compared to galaxies in Gaussian groups. Similar correlations are not seen for the disc fractions of galaxies at small radii. This seems to suggest that either the mechanisms driving star formation quenching at small halo-centric radii are more efficient in dynamically relaxed groups, or that non-Gaussian groups have assembled more recently and therefore satellites of the groups will have been exposed to these transforming mechanisms for less time.