M. Steinmetz

The radial velocity experiment (RAVE): First data release

We present the first data release of the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE), an ambitious spectroscopic survey to measure radial velocities and stellar atmosphere parameters (temperature, metallicity, and surface gravity) of up to one million stars using the Six Degree Field multiobject spectrograph on the 1.2 m UK Schmidt Telescope of the Anglo-Australian Observatory. The RAVE program started in 2003, obtaining medium-resolution spectra (median R 1⁄4 7500) in the Ca-triplet region (8410–8795 8) for southern hemisphere stars drawn from the Tycho-2 and SuperCOSMOS catalogs, in the magnitude range 9 < I < 12. The first data release is described in this paper and contains radial velocities for 24,748 individual stars (25,274 measurements when including reobservations). Those data were obtained on 67 nights between 2003 April 11 and 2004 April 3. The total sky coverage within this data release is 4760 deg. The average signal-to-noise ratio of the observed spectra is 29.5, and 80% of the radial velocities have uncertainties better than 3.4 km s . Combining internal errors and zero-point errors, the mode is found to be 2 km s . Repeat observations are used to assess the stability of our radial velocity solution, resulting in a variance of 2.8 km s . We demonstrate that the radial velocities derived for the first data set do not show any systematic trend with color or signal-to-noise ratio. The RAVE radial velocities are complemented in the data release with proper motions from Starnet 2.0, Tycho-2, and SuperCOSMOS, in addition to photometric data from the major optical and infrared catalogs (Tycho-2, USNO-B, DENIS, and the TwoMicron All Sky Survey). The data release can be accessed via the RAVE Web site.

Simulations of Galaxy Formation in a Λ Cold Dark Matter Universe. II. The Fine Structure of Simulated Galactic Disks

We present a detailed analysis of the disk component of a simulated galaxy formed in the ΛCDM cosmogony. At redshift z = 0, two distinct dynamical components are easily identified solely on the basis of the orbital parameters of stars in the galaxy: a slowly rotating, centrally concentrated spheroid and a disklike component largely supported by rotation. The disk may be further decomposed into a thin, dynamically cold component with stars on nearly circular orbits and a hotter, thicker component with orbital parameters transitional between the thin disk and the spheroid. Supporting evidence for the presence of distinct thick- and thin-disk components is provided, as in the Milky Way, by the double-exponential vertical structure of the disk and in abrupt changes in the vertical velocity distribution as a function of stellar age. The dynamical origin of these components offers intriguing clues to the assembly of spheroids and disks in the Milky Way and other spiral galaxies. The spheroid is old and has essentially no stars younger than the time elapsed since the last major accretion event, ~8 Gyr ago for the system we consider here. The majority of thin-disk stars, on the other hand, form after the merging activity is over, although a significant fraction (~15%) of thin-disk stars are old enough to predate the last major merger event. This unexpected population of old-disk stars consists mainly of the tidal debris of satellites whose orbital plane was coincident with the disk and whose orbits were circularized by dynamical friction prior to full disruption. More than half of the stars in the thick disk share this origin, part of a trend that becomes more pronounced with age: 9 out of 10 stars presently in the old (age of 10 Gyr) disk component were actually brought into the disk by satellites. By contrast, only one in two stars belonging to the old spheroid are tidal debris; the rest may be traced to a major merger event that dispersed the luminous progenitor at z ~ 1.5 and seeded the formation of the spheroid. Our results highlight the role of satellite accretion events in shaping the disk, as well as the spheroidal, component and reveal some of the clues to the assembly process of a galaxy preserved in the detailed dynamics of old stellar populations.

The Santa Barbara Cluster Comparison Project: A Comparison of Cosmological Hydrodynamics Solutions

We have simulated the formation of an X-ray cluster in a cold dark matter universe using 12 different codes. The codes span the range of numerical techniques and implementations currently in use, including smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and grid methods with fixed, deformable, or multilevel meshes. The goal of this comparison is to assess the reliability of cosmological gasdynamical simulations of clusters in the simplest astrophysically relevant case, that in which the gas is assumed to be nonradiative. We compare images of the cluster at different epochs, global properties such as mass, temperature and X-ray luminosity, and radial profiles of various dynamical and thermodynamical quantities. On the whole, the agreement among the various simulations is gratifying, although a number of discrepancies exist. Agreement is best for properties of the dark matter and worst for the total X-ray luminosity. Even in this case, simulations that adequately resolve the core radius of the gas distribution predict total X-ray luminosities that agree to within a factor of 2. Other quantities are reproduced to much higher accuracy. For example, the temperature and gas mass fraction within the virial radius agree to within about 10%, and the ratio of specific dark matter kinetic to gas thermal energies agree to within about 5%. Various factors, including differences in the internal timing of the simulations, contribute to the spread in calculated cluster properties. Based on the overall consistency of results, we discuss a number of general properties of the cluster we have modeled.

Simulations of Galaxy Formation in a Λ Cold Dark Matter Universe. I. Dynamical and Photometric Properties of a Simulated Disk Galaxy

We present a detailed analysis of the dynamical and photometric properties of a disk galaxy simulated in the Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) cosmogony. The galaxy is assembled through a number of high-redshift mergers followed by a period of quiescent accretion after z ~ 1 that lead to the formation of two distinct dynamical components: a spheroid of mostly old stars and a rotationally supported disk of younger stars. The surface brightness profile is very well approximated by the superposition of an R1/4 spheroid and an exponential disk. Each photometric component contributes a similar fraction of the total luminosity of the system, although less than a quarter of the stars form after the last merger episode at z ~ 1. In the optical bands the surface brightness profile is remarkably similar to that of Sab galaxy UGC 615, but the simulated galaxy rotates significantly faster and has a declining rotation curve dominated by the spheroid near the center. The decline in circular velocity is at odds with observation and results from the high concentration of the dark matter and baryonic components, as well as from the relatively high mass-to-light ratio of the stars in the simulation. The simulated galaxy lies ~1 mag off the I-band Tully-Fisher relation of late-type spirals but seems to be in reasonable agreement with Tully-Fisher data on S0 galaxies. In agreement with previous simulation work, the angular momentum of the luminous component is an order of magnitude lower than that of late-type spirals of similar rotation speed. This again reflects the dominance of the slowly rotating, dense spheroidal component, to which most discrepancies with observation may be traced. On its own, the disk component has properties rather similar to those of late-type spirals: its luminosity, its exponential scale length, and its colors are all comparable to those of galaxy disks of similar rotation speed. This suggests that a different form of feedback than adopted here is required to inhibit the efficient collapse and cooling of gas at high redshift that leads to the formation of the spheroid. Reconciling, without fine-tuning, the properties of disk galaxies with the early collapse and high merging rates characteristic of hierarchical scenarios such as ΛCDM remains a challenging, yet so far elusive, proposition.

DARK HALO AND DISK GALAXY SCALING LAWS IN HIERARCHICAL UNIVERSES

We use cosmological N-body/gasdynamical simulations that include star formation and feedback to examine the proposal that scaling laws between the total luminosity, rotation speed, and angular momentum of disk galaxies reflect analogous correlations between the structural parameters of their surrounding dark matter halos. The numerical experiments follow the formation of galaxy-sized halos in two cold dark matter (CDM)-dominated universes: the standard Ω = 1 CDM scenario and the currently popular ΛCDM model. We find that the slope and scatter of the I-band Tully-Fisher relation are well reproduced in the simulations, although not, as proposed in recent work, as a result of the cosmological equivalence between halo mass and circular velocity: large systematic variations in the fraction of baryons that collapse to form galaxies and in the ratio between halo and disk circular velocities are observed in our numerical experiments. The Tully-Fisher slope and scatter are recovered in this model as a direct result of the dynamical response of the halo to the assembly of the luminous component of the galaxy. We conclude that models that neglect the self-gravity of the disk and its influence on the detailed structure of the halo cannot be used to derive meaningful estimates of the scatter or slope of the Tully-Fisher relation. Our models fail, however, to match the zero point of the Tully-Fisher relation, as well as that of the relation linking disk rotation speed and angular momentum. These failures can be traced, respectively, to the excessive central concentration of dark halos formed in the CDM cosmogonies we explore and to the formation of galaxy disks as the final outcome of a sequence of merger events. Disappointingly, our feedback formulation, calibrated to reproduce the empirical correlations linking star formation rate and gas surface density established by Kennicutt, has little influence on these conclusions. Agreement between model and observations appears to demand substantial revision to the CDM scenario or to the manner in which baryons are thought to assemble and evolve into galaxies in hierarchical universes.

Damped Lyα Absorber at High Redshift: Large Disks or Galactic Building Blocks?

We investigate the nature of the physical structures giving rise to damped Lyα absorption systems (DLAS) at high redshift. In particular, we examine the suggestion that rapidly rotating large disks are the only viable explanation for the characteristic observed asymmetric profiles of low-ionization absorption lines. Using hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy formation in a cosmological context, we demonstrate that irregular protogalactic clumps can reproduce the observed velocity width distribution and asymmetries of the absorption profiles equally well. The velocity broadening in the simulated clumps is the result of a mixture of rotation, random motions, infall, and merging. The observed velocity width correlates with the virial velocity of the dark matter halo of the forming protogalactic clump (Δv ≈ 0.6vvir for the median values, with a large scatter, on the order of a factor of 2, between different lines of sight). The typical virial velocity of the halos required to give rise to the DLAS population is about 100 km s-1, and most standard hierarchical structure formation scenarios can easily account for even the largest observed velocity widths. We conclude that the evidence that DLAS at high redshift are related to large, rapidly rotating disks with vcirc 200 km s-1 is not compelling.

THE RADIAL VELOCITY EXPERIMENT (RAVE): FOURTH DATA RELEASE

We present the stellar atmospheric parameters (effective temperature, surface gravity, overall metallicity), radial velocities, individual abundances, and distances determined for 425,561 stars, which constitute the fourth public data release of the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE). The stellar atmospheric parameters are computed using a new pipeline, based on the algorithms of MATISSE and DEGAS. The spectral degeneracies and the Two Micron All Sky Survey photometric information are now better taken into consideration, improving the parameter determination compared to the previous RAVE data releases. The individual abundances for six elements (magnesium, aluminum, silicon, titanium, iron, and nickel) are also given, based on a special-purpose pipeline that is also improved compared to that available for the RAVE DR3 and Chemical DR1 data releases. Together with photometric information and proper motions, these data can be retrieved from the RAVE collaboration Web site and the Vizier database.

Energy Input and Mass Redistribution by Supernovae in the Interstellar Medium

We present the results of numerical studies of supernova remnant evolution and its effects on galactic and globular cluster evolution. We show that parameters such as the density and the metallicity of the environment significantly influence the evolution of the remnant and thus change its effects on the global environment (e.g., globular clusters, galaxies) as a source of thermal and kinetic energy. We conducted our studies using a one-dimensional hydrodynamics code, in which we implemented a metallicity-dependent cooling function. Global time-dependent quantities such as the total kinetic and thermal energies and the radial extent are calculated for a grid of parameter sets. The quantities calculated are the total energy, the kinetic energy, the thermal energy, the radial extent, and the mass. We distinguished between the hot, rarefied bubble and the cold, dense shell, since these two phases are distinct in their roles in a gas-stellar system. We also present power-law fits to those quantities as a function of environmental parameters after the extensive cooling has ceased. The power-law fits enable simple incorporation of improved supernova energy input and matter redistribution (including the effect of the local conditions) in galactic/globular cluster models. Our results for the energetics of supernova remnants in the late stages of their expansion give total energies ranging from ≈ 9 × 1049 to ≈ 3 × 1050 ergs, with a typical case being ≈ 1050 ergs, depending on the surrounding environment. About 8.5 × 1049 ergs of this energy can be found in the form of kinetic energy. Supernovae play an important role in the evolution of the interstellar medium and galaxies as a whole, providing mechanisms for kinetic energy input and for phase transitions of the interstellar medium. However, we have found that the total energy input per supernova is about 1 order of magnitude smaller than the initial explosion energy.

Internal and external alignment of the shapes and angular momenta of ΛCDM halos

We investigate how the shapes and angular momenta of galaxy and group mass dark matter halos in a ?CDM N-body simulation are correlated internally and how they are aligned with respect to the location and properties of surrounding halos. We explore these relationships down to halos of much lower mass (1011 h-1 M?) than previous studies. The halos are triaxial, with c/a ratios of 0.6 ? 0.1 and a mean two-dimensional projected ellipticity of = 0.24. More massive halos are more flattened. The axis ratios rise out to 0.6rvir, beyond which they drop. The principal axes, in particular the minor axes, are very well aligned within 0.6 rvir. High-mass halos show particularly strong internal alignment. The angular momentum vectors are also reasonably well aligned except between the very outermost and very innermost regions of the halo. The angular momentum vectors tend to align with the minor axes, with a mean misalignment of ~25?, and lie perpendicular to the major and intermediate axes. The properties of a halo at 0.4 rvir are quite characteristic of the properties at most other radii within the halo. There is a very strong tendency for the minor axes of halos to lie perpendicular to large-scale filaments, and a much weaker tendency for the major axes to lie along the filaments. This alignment extends to much larger separations for group and cluster mass halos than for galaxy mass halos. As a consequence, the intrinsic alignments of galaxies are likely weaker than previous predictions, which were based on the shapes of cluster mass halos. The angular momenta of the highest concentration halos tend to point toward other halos. The angular momenta of galaxy mass halos point parallel to filaments, while those of group and cluster mass halos show a very strong tendency to point perpendicular to the filaments. This suggests that group and cluster mass halos acquire most of their angular momentum from major mergers along filaments, while the accretion history of mass and angular momentum onto galaxy mass halos has been smoother.

The Cosmological Origin of the Tully-Fisher Relation

We use high-resolution cosmological simulations that include the effects of gasdynamics and star formation to investigate the origin of the Tully-Fisher relation in the standard cold dark matter cosmogony. Stars are assumed to form in collapsing, Jeans-unstable gas clumps at a rate set by the local gas density and the dynamical/cooling timescale. The energetic feedback from stellar evolution is assumed to heat the gas-surrounding regions of ongoing star formation, where it is radiated away very rapidly. The star formation algorithm thus has little effect on the rate at which gas cools and collapses, and, as a result, most galaxies form their stars very early. Luminosities are computed for each model galaxy using their full star formation histories and the latest spectrophotometric models. We find that the stellar mass of model galaxies is proportional to the total baryonic mass within the virial radius of their surrounding halos. Circular velocity then correlates tightly with the total luminosity of the galaxy, which reflects the equivalence between mass and circular velocity of systems identified in a cosmological context. The slope of the relation steepens slightly from the blue to the red bandpasses and is in fairly good agreement with observations. Its scatter is small, decreasing from ~0.38 mag in the U band to ~0.24 mag in the K band. The particular cosmological model we explore here seems unable to account for the zero point of the correlation. Model galaxies are too faint at z=0 (by about 2 mag) if the circular velocity at the edge of the luminous galaxy is used as an estimator of the rotation speed. The model Tully-Fisher relation is brighter in the past by ~0.7 mag in the B band at z=1, which is at odds with recent observations of z~1 galaxies. We conclude that the slope and tightness of the Tully-Fisher relation can be naturally explained in hierarchical models, but that its normalization and evolution depend strongly on the star formation algorithm chosen and on the cosmological parameters that determine the universal baryon fraction and the time of assembly of galaxies of different mass.