%0 Generic %1 aumer2014diverse %A Aumer, Michael %A White, Simon D. M. %A Naab, Thorsten %D 2014 %K disk sfh simulation %R 10.1093/mnras/stu818 %T The diverse formation histories of simulated disc galaxies %U http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.6926 %X We analyze the formation histories of 19 galaxies from cosmological smoothed particle hydrodynamics zoom-in resimulations. We construct mock three-colour images and show that the models reproduce observed trends in the evolution of galaxy colours and morphologies. However, only a small fraction of galaxies contains bars. Many galaxies go through phases of central mass growth by in-situ star formation driven by gas-rich mergers or misaligned gas infall. These events lead to accretion of low-angular momentum gas to the centres and leave imprints on the distributions of z=0 stellar circularities, radii and metallicities as functions of age. Observations of the evolution of structural properties of samples of disc galaxies at z=2.5-0.0 infer continuous mass assembly at all radii. Our simulations can only explain this if there is a significant contribution from mergers or misaligned infall, as expected in a LambdaCDM universe. Quiescent merger histories lead to high kinematic disc fractions and inside-out growth, but show little central growth after the last `destructive' merger at z>1.5. For sufficiently strong feedback, as assumed in our models, a moderate amount of merging does not seem to be a problem for the z=0 disc galaxy population, but may rather be a requirement. The average profiles of simulated disc galaxies agree with observations at z>=1.5. At z<=1, there is too much growth in size and too little growth in central mass, possibly due to the under-abundance of bars. The discrepancies may partly be caused by differences between the star formation histories of the simulations and those assumed for observations.

@misc{aumer2014diverse, abstract = {We analyze the formation histories of 19 galaxies from cosmological smoothed particle hydrodynamics zoom-in resimulations. We construct mock three-colour images and show that the models reproduce observed trends in the evolution of galaxy colours and morphologies. However, only a small fraction of galaxies contains bars. Many galaxies go through phases of central mass growth by in-situ star formation driven by gas-rich mergers or misaligned gas infall. These events lead to accretion of low-angular momentum gas to the centres and leave imprints on the distributions of z=0 stellar circularities, radii and metallicities as functions of age. Observations of the evolution of structural properties of samples of disc galaxies at z=2.5-0.0 infer continuous mass assembly at all radii. Our simulations can only explain this if there is a significant contribution from mergers or misaligned infall, as expected in a LambdaCDM universe. Quiescent merger histories lead to high kinematic disc fractions and inside-out growth, but show little central growth after the last `destructive' merger at z>1.5. For sufficiently strong feedback, as assumed in our models, a moderate amount of merging does not seem to be a problem for the z=0 disc galaxy population, but may rather be a requirement. The average profiles of simulated disc galaxies agree with observations at z>=1.5. At z<=1, there is too much growth in size and too little growth in central mass, possibly due to the under-abundance of bars. The discrepancies may partly be caused by differences between the star formation histories of the simulations and those assumed for observations.}, added-at = {2014-04-29T07:39:14.000+0200}, author = {Aumer, Michael and White, Simon D. M. and Naab, Thorsten}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2b44ff551e5de9bbeafc864bfaaaf536b/miki}, description = {[1404.6926] The diverse formation histories of simulated disc galaxies}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stu818}, interhash = {d1b17c51993a9fb7cf722585b1223ee4}, intrahash = {b44ff551e5de9bbeafc864bfaaaf536b}, keywords = {disk sfh simulation}, note = {cite arxiv:1404.6926Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS}, timestamp = {2014-04-29T07:39:14.000+0200}, title = {The diverse formation histories of simulated disc galaxies}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.6926}, year = 2014 }