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The evolution of star-forming galaxies at high redshifts is very sensitive to the strength and nature of stellar feedback. Using two sets of cosmological, zoom-in simulations from the VELA suite, we compare the effects of two different models of feedback: with and without kinetic feedback from the expansion of supernovae shells and stellar winds. At a fixed halo mass and redshift, the stellar mass is reduced by a factor of ∼1–3 in the models with stronger feedback, so the stellar mass–halo mass relation is in better agreement with abundance matching results. On the other hand, the three-dimensional shape of low-mass galaxies is elongated along a major axis in both models. At a fixed stellar mass, M* < 1010 M⊙, galaxies are more elongated in the strong-feedback case. More massive, star-forming discs with high surface densities form giant clumps. However, the population of round, compact, old (agec > 300 Myr), quenched, stellar (or gas-poor) clumps is absent in the model with strong feedback. On the other hand, giant star-forming clumps with intermediate ages (agec = 100–300 Myr) can survive for several disc dynamical times, independently of feedback strength. The evolution through compaction followed by quenching in the plane of central surface density and specific star formation rate is similar under the two feedback models.

 

We utilize high-resolution cosmological simulations to reveal that high-redshift galaxies tend to undergo a robust ‘wet compaction’ event when near a ‘golden’ stellar mass of $\sim \!\!10^{10}\, \rm M_\odot$ . This is a gaseous shrinkage to a compact star-forming phase, a ‘blue nugget’ (BN), followed by central quenching of star formation to a compact passive stellar bulge, a ‘red nugget’ (RN), and a buildup of an extended gaseous disc and ring. Such nuggets are observed at cosmic noon and seed today’s early-type galaxies. The compaction is triggered by a drastic loss of angular momentum due to, e.g. wet mergers, counter-rotating cold streams, or violent disc instability. The BN phase marks drastic transitions in the galaxy structural, compositional, and kinematic properties. The transitions are from star forming to quenched inside-out, from diffuse to compact with an extended disc or ring and a stellar envelope, from dark matter to baryon central dominance, from prolate to oblate stellar shape, from pressure to rotation support, from low to high metallicity, and from supernova to AGN feedback. The central black hole growth, first suppressed by supernova feedback when below the golden mass, is boosted by the compaction, and the black hole keeps growing once the halo is massive enough to lock in the supernova ejecta.

 

We analyze the circumgalactic medium (CGM) for eight commonly-used cosmological codes in the AGORA collaboration. The codes are calibrated to use identical initial conditions, cosmology, heating and cooling, and star formation thresholds, but each evolves with its own unique code architecture and stellar feedback implementation. Here, we analyze the results of these simulations in terms of the structure, composition, and phase dynamics of the CGM. We show properties such as metal distribution, ionization levels, and kinematics are effective tracers of the effects of the different code feedback and implementation methods, and as such they can be highly divergent between simulations. This is merely a fiducial set of models, against which we will in the future compare multiple feedback recipes for each code. Nevertheless, we find that the large parameter space these simulations establish can help disentangle the different variables that affect observable quantities in the CGM, e.g., showing that abundances for ions with higher ionization energy are more strongly determined by the simulation’s metallicity, while abundances for ions with lower ionization energy are more strongly determined by the gas density and temperature.

 

We investigate how cosmic web structures affect galaxy quenching in the IllustrisTNG (TNG100) cosmological simulations by reconstructing the cosmic web within each snapshot using the DisPerSE framework. We measure the comoving distance from each galaxy with stellar mass$\log (M_{*}/M_{\odot })\ge 8$to the nearest node (d_node) and the nearest filament spine (d_fil) to study the dependence of both the median specific star formation rate (〈sSFR〉) and the median gas fraction (〈f_gas〉) on these distances. We find that the 〈sSFR〉 of galaxies is only dependent on the cosmic web environment atz< 2, with the dependence increasing with time. Atz≤ 0.5,$8\le \log (M_{*}/M_{\odot })<9$galaxies are quenched atd_node≲ 1 Mpc, and have significantly suppressed star formation atd_fil≲ 1 Mpc, trends driven mostly by satellite galaxies. Atz≤ 1, in contrast to the monotonic drop in 〈sSFR〉 of$\log (M_{*}/M_{\odot })<10$galaxies with decreasingd_nodeandd_fil,$\log (M_{*}/M_{\odot })\ge 10$galaxies—both centrals and satellites—experience an upturn in 〈sSFR〉 atd_node≲ 0.2 Mpc. Much of this cosmic web dependence of star formation activity can be explained by an evolution in 〈f_gas〉. Our results suggest that in the past ∼10 Gyr, low-mass satellites are quenched by rapid gas stripping in dense environments near nodes and gradual gas starvation in intermediate-density environments near filaments. At earlier times, cosmic web structures efficiently channeled cold gas into most galaxies. State-of-the-art ongoing spectroscopic surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and DESI, as well as those planned with the Subaru Prime Focus Spectrograph, JWST, and Roman, are required to test our predictions against observations.

 

We address the nature of the giant clumps in high-z galaxies that undergo violent disc instability, distinguishing between long-lived and short-lived clumps. We study the evolution of long-lived clumps during migration through the disc via an analytical model tested by simulations and confront theory with CANDELS-HST observations. The clump ‘bathtub’ model, which considers gas and stellar gain and loss, involves four parameters: the accretion efficiency α, the star formation rate (SFR) efficiency ϵd, and the outflow mass-loading factors for gas and stars, η and ηs. The corresponding time-scales are comparable to the migration time, two-three orbital times. The accretion-rate dependence on clump mass, gas, and stars, allows an analytical solution involving exponential growing and decaying modes. For the fiducial parameter values there is a main evolution phase where the SFR and gas mass are constant and the stellar mass is rising linearly with time. This makes the inverse specific SFR an observable proxy for clump age. When η or ϵd are high, or α is low, the decaying mode induces a decline of SFR and gas mass till the migration ends. Later, the masses and SFR approach an hypothetical exponential growth with a constant specific SFR. The model matches simulations with different, moderate feedbacks, both in isolated and cosmological settings. The observed clumps agree with our predictions, indicating that the massive clumps are long-lived and migrating. A challenge is to model feedback that is non-disruptive in massive clumps but suppresses SFR to match the galactic stellar-to-halo mass ratio.

 

ABSTRACT Cold Dark Matter with cosmological constant (ΛCDM) cosmological models with early dark energy (EDE) have been proposed to resolve tensions between the Hubble constant $H_0=100\, h$ km ṡ−1Ṁpc−1 measured locally, giving h ≈ 0.73, and H0 deduced from Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) and other early-Universe measurements plus ΛCDM, giving h ≈ 0.67. EDE models do this by adding a scalar field that temporarily adds dark energy equal to about 10 per cent of the cosmological energy density at the end of the radiation-dominated era at redshift z ∼ 3500. Here, we compare linear and non-linear predictions of a Planck-normalized ΛCDM model including EDE giving h = 0.728 with those of standard Planck-normalized ΛCDM with h = 0.678. We find that non-linear evolution reduces the differences between power spectra of fluctuations at low redshifts. As a result, at z = 0 the halo mass functions on galactic scales are nearly the same, with differences only 1–2 per cent. However, the differences dramatically increase at high redshifts. The EDE model predicts 50 per cent more massive clusters at z = 1 and twice more galaxy-mass haloes at z = 4. Even greater increases in abundances of galaxy-mass haloes at higher redshifts may make it easier to reionize the universe with EDE. Predicted galaxy abundances and clustering will soon be tested by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations. Positions of baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAOs) and correlation functions differ by about 2 per cent between the models – an effect that is not washed out by non-linearities. Both standard ΛCDM and the EDE model studied here agree well with presently available acoustic-scale observations, but the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and Euclid measurements will provide stringent new tests.