skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Large Dark Matter Content and Steep Metallicity Profile Predicted for Ultradiffuse Galaxies Formed in High-spin Halos
Abstract We study the stellar properties of a sample of simulated ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) with stellar massM⋆= 107.5–109M⊙, selected from the TNG50 simulation, where UDGs form mainly in high-spin dwarf-mass halos. We divide our sample into star-forming and quenched UDGs, finding good agreement with the stellar assembly history measured in observations. Star-forming UDGs and quenched UDGs withM⋆≥ 108M⊙in our sample are particularly inefficient at forming stars, having 2–10 times less stellar mass than non-UDGs for the same virial mass halo. These results are consistent with recent mass inferences in UDG samples and suggest that the most inefficient UDGs arise from a late assembly of the dark matter mass followed by a stellar growth that is comparatively slower (for star-forming UDGs) or that was interrupted due to environmental removal of the gas (for quenched UDGs). Regardless of efficiency, UDGs are 60% poorer in [Fe/H] than the population of non-UDGs at a fixed stellar mass, with the most extreme objects having metal content consistent with the simulated mass–metallicity relation atz∼ 2. Quenched UDGs stop their star formation in shorter timescales than non-UDGs of similar mass and are, as a consequence, alpha enhanced with respect to non-UDGs. We identify metallicity profiles in UDGs as a potential avenue to distinguish between different formation paths for these galaxies, where gentle formation as a result of high-spin halos would present well-defined declining metallicity radial profiles while powerful-outflows or tidal stripping formation models would lead to flatter or constant metallicity as a function of radius due to the inherent mixing of stellar orbits.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1945310 2107993
PAR ID:
10587247
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Benavides et al. 2024
Date Published:
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume:
977
Issue:
2
ISSN:
0004-637X
Page Range / eLocation ID:
169
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract Understanding the chemical enrichment of different elements is crucial to gaining a complete picture of galaxy chemical evolution. In this study, we present a new sample of 46 low-redshift, low-mass star-forming galaxies atM*∼ 108−10M⊙along with two quiescent galaxies atM*∼ 108.8M⊙observed with the Keck Cosmic Web Imager, aiming to investigate the chemical evolution of galaxies in the transition zone between Local Group satellites and massive field galaxies. We develop a novel method to simultaneously determine stellar abundances of iron and magnesium in star-forming galaxies. With the gas-phase oxygen abundance (O/H)gmeasured using the strong-line method, we are able to make the first-ever apples-to-apples comparison ofαelements in the stars and the interstellar medium. We find that the [Mg/H]*–[O/H]grelation is much tighter than the [Fe/H]*–[O/H]grelation, which can be explained by the similar production processes ofαelements. Most galaxies in our sample exhibit higher [O/H]gthan [Fe/H]*and [Mg/H]*. In addition, we construct mass–metallicity relations (MZRs) measured as three different elements (Fe*, Mg*, Og). Compared to the gas O-MZR, the stellar Fe- and Mg-MZRs show larger scatter driven by variations in specific star formation rates (sSFR), with star-forming galaxies exhibiting higher sSFR and lower stellar abundances at fixed mass. The excess of [O/H]gcompared to stellar abundances as well as the anticorrelation between sSFR and stellar abundance suggests that galaxy quenching of intermediate-mass galaxies atM*∼ 108−10M⊙is primarily driven by starvation. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; (, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)
    ABSTRACT We study the formation of ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) using the cosmological hydrodynamical simulation TNG50 of the Illustris-TNG suite. We define UDGs as dwarf galaxies in the stellar mass range $$\rm {7.5 \le log (M_{\star } / {\rm M}_{\odot }) \le 9 }$$ that are in the 5 per cent most extended tail of the simulated mass–size relation. This results in a sample of UDGs with half-mass radii $$\rm {r_{h \star } \gtrsim 2 \ kpc}$$ and surface brightness between $$\rm {24.5}$$ and $$\rm {28 \ mag \ arcsec^{-2}}$$, similar to definitions of UDGs in observations. The large cosmological volume in TNG50 allows for a comparison of UDGs properties in different environments, from the field to galaxy clusters with virial mass $$\rm {M_{200} \sim 2 \times 10^{14} ~ {\rm M}_{\odot }}$$. All UDGs in our sample have dwarf-mass haloes ($$\rm {M_{200}\sim 10^{11} ~ {\rm M}_{\odot } }$$) and show the same environmental trends as normal dwarfs: field UDGs are star-forming and blue while satellite UDGs are typically quiescent and red. The TNG50 simulation predicts UDGs that populate preferentially higher spin haloes and more massive haloes at fixed $$\rm {M_{\star }}$$ compared to non-UDG dwarfs. This applies also to most satellite UDGs, which are actually ‘born’ UDGs in the field and infall into groups and clusters without significant changes to their size. We find, however, a small subset of satellite UDGs ($$\lesssim 10~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$$) with present-day stellar size a factor ≥1.5 larger than at infall, confirming that tidal effects, particularly in the lower mass dwarfs, are also a viable formation mechanism for some of these dwarfs, although sub-dominant in this simulation. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract Due to their inability to self-regulate, ultrafaint dwarfs are sensitive to prescriptions in subgrid physics models that converge and regulate at higher masses. We use high-resolution cosmological simulations to compare the effect of bursty star formation histories (SFHs) on dwarf galaxy structure for two different subgrid supernova (SN) feedback models, superbubble and blastwave, in dwarf galaxies with stellar masses from 5000 <M*/M⊙< 109. We find that in the “MARVEL-ous Dwarfs” suite both feedback models produce cored galaxies and reproduce observed scaling relations for luminosity, mass, and size. Our sample accurately predicts the average stellar metallicity at higher masses, however low-mass dwarfs are metal poor relative to observed galaxies in the Local Group. We show that continuous bursty star formation and the resulting stellar feedback are able to create dark matter (DM) cores in the higher dwarf galaxy mass regime, while the majority of ultrafaint and classical dwarfs retain cuspy central DM density profiles. We find that the effective core formation peaks atM*/Mhalo≃ 5 × 10−3for both feedback models. Both subgrid SN models yield bursty SFHs at higher masses; however, galaxies simulated with superbubble feedback reach maximum mean burstiness values at lower stellar mass fractions relative to blastwave feedback. As a result, core formation may be better predicted by stellar mass fraction than the burstiness of SFHs. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract The metallicity of galaxies, and its variation with galactocentric radius, provides key insights into the formation histories of galaxies and the physical processes driving their evolution. In this work, we analyze the radial metallicity gradients of star-forming galaxies in the EAGLE, Illustris, IllustrisTNG, and SIMBA cosmological simulations across broad mass (108.0M⊙≤M⋆ ≲ 1012.0M⊙) and redshift (0 ≤z≤ 8) ranges. We find that all simulations predict strong negative (i.e., radially decreasing) metallicity gradients at early cosmic times, likely due to their similar treatments of relatively smooth stellar feedback not providing sufficient mixing to quickly flatten gradients. The strongest redshift evolution occurs in galaxies with stellar masses of 1010.0–1011.0M⊙, while galaxies with stellar mass < 1010M⊙and >1011M⊙exhibit weaker redshift evolution. Our result of negative gradients at high redshift contrast with the many positive and flat gradients in the 1 < z < 4 observational literature. Atz > 6, the negative gradients observed with JWST and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array are flatter than those in simulations, albeit with closer agreement than at lower redshift. Overall, we suggest that these smooth stellar feedback galaxy simulations may not sufficiently mix their metal content radially, and that either stronger stellar feedback or additional subgrid turbulent metal diffusion models may be required to better reproduce observed metallicity gradients. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; ; (, The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract Isolated dwarf galaxies usually exhibit robust star formation but satellite dwarf galaxies are often devoid of young stars, even in Milky Way–mass groups. Dwarf galaxies thus offer an important laboratory of the environmental processes that cease star formation. We explore the balance of quiescent and star-forming galaxies (quenched fractions) for a sample of ∼400 satellite galaxies around 30 Local Volume hosts from the Exploration of Local VolumE Satellites (ELVES) Survey. We present quenched fractions as a function of satellite stellar mass, projected radius, and host halo mass, to conclude that overall, the quenched fractions are similar to the Milky Way, dropping below 50% at satelliteM*≈ 108M⊙. We may see hints that quenching is less efficient at larger radii. Through comparison with the semianalytic modeling codeSatGen, we are also able to infer average quenching times as a function of satellite mass in host halo-mass bins. There is a gradual increase in quenching time with satellite stellar mass rather than the abrupt change from rapid to slow quenching that has been inferred for the Milky Way. We also generally infer longer average quenching times than recent hydrodynamical simulations. Our results are consistent with models that suggest a wide range of quenching times are possible via ram pressure stripping, depending on the clumpiness of the circumgalactic medium, the orbits of the satellites, and the degree of earlier preprocessing. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email