Pierluigi Monaco

DIFFERENT STAR FORMATION LAWS FOR DISKS VERSUS STARBURSTS AT LOW AND HIGH REDSHIFTS

We present evidence that bona fide disks and starburst systems occupy distinct regions in the gas mass versus star formation rate (SFR) plane, both for the integrated quantities and for the respective surface densities. This result is based on carbon monoxide (CO) observations of galaxy populations at low and high redshifts, and on the current consensus for the CO luminosity to gas mass conversion factors. The data suggest the existence of two different SF regimes: a long-lasting mode for disks and a more rapid mode for starbursts, the latter probably occurring during major mergers or in dense nuclear SF regions. Both modes are observable over a large range of SFRs. The detection of CO emission from distant near-IR selected galaxies reveals such bimodal behavior for the first time, as they allow us to probe gas in disk galaxies with much higher SFRs than are seen locally. The different regimes can potentially be interpreted as the effect of a top-heavy initial mass function in starbursts. However, we favor a different physical origin related to the fraction of molecular gas in dense clouds. The IR luminosity to gas mass ratio (i.e., the SF efficiency) appears to be inversely proportional to the dynamical (rotation) timescale. Only when accounting for the dynamical timescale, a universal SF law is obtained, suggesting a direct link between global galaxy properties and the local SFR.

The Aquila comparison project: the effects of feedback and numerical methods on simulations of galaxy formation

We compare the results of various cosmological gas-dynamical codes used to simulate the formation of a galaxy in the Λ cold dark matter structure formation paradigm. The various runs (13 in total) differ in their numerical hydrodynamical treatment [smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), moving mesh and adaptive mesh refinement] but share the same initial conditions and adopt in each case their latest published model of gas cooling, star formation and feedback. Despite the common halo assembly history, we find large code-to-code variations in the stellar mass, size, morphology and gas content of the galaxy at z= 0, due mainly to the different implementations of star formation and feedback. Compared with observation, most codes tend to produce an overly massive galaxy, smaller and less gas rich than typical spirals, with a massive bulge and a declining rotation curve. A stellar disc is discernible in most simulations, although its prominence varies widely from code to code. There is a well-defined trend between the effects of feedback and the severity of the disagreement with observed spirals. In general, models that are more effective at limiting the baryonic mass of the galaxy come closer to matching observed galaxy scaling laws, but often to the detriment of the disc component. Although numerical convergence is not particularly good for any of the codes, our conclusions hold at two different numerical resolutions. Some differences can also be traced to the different numerical techniques; for example, more gas seems able to cool and become available for star formation in grid-based codes than in SPH. However, this effect is small compared to the variations induced by different feedback prescriptions. We conclude that state-of-the-art simulations cannot yet uniquely predict the properties of the baryonic component of a galaxy, even when the assembly history of its host halo is fully specified. Developing feedback algorithms that can effectively regulate the mass of a galaxy without hindering the formation of high angular momentum stellar discs remains a challenge.

The many manifestations of downsizing: hierarchical galaxy formation models confront observations

It has been widely claimed that several lines of observational evidence point towards a ‘downsizing’ of the process of galaxy formation over cosmic time. This behaviour is sometimes termed ‘antihierarchical’, and contrasted with the ‘bottom-up’ (small objects form first) assembly of the dark matter structures in cold dark matter (CDM) models. In this paper, we address three different kinds of observational evidence that have been described as ‘downsizing’: the stellar mass assembly (i.e. more massive galaxies assemble at higher redshift with respect to low-mass ones), star formation rate (SFR) (i.e. the decline of the specific star formation rate is faster for more massive systems) and the ages of the stellar populations in local galaxies (i.e. more massive galaxies host older stellar populations). We compare a broad compilation of available data sets with the predictions of three different semi-analytic models

The morgana model for the rise of galaxies and active nuclei

We present the Model for the Rise of Galaxies and Active Nuclei (MORGANA), a new code for the formation and evolution of galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Starting from the merger trees of dark matter (DM) haloes and a model for the evolution of substructure within the haloes, the complex physics of baryons is modelled with a set of state-of-the-art models that describe the mass, metal and energy flows between the various components (baryonic halo, bulge, disc) and phases (cold and hot gas, stars) of a galaxy. These flows are then numerically integrated to produce predictions for the evolution of galaxies. The processes of shock-heating and cooling, star formation, feedback, galactic winds and superwinds, accretion on to black holes and AGN feedback are described by new models. In particular, the evolution of the halo gas explicitly follows the thermal and kinetic energies of the hot and cold phases, while star formation and feedback follow the results of the multiphase model recently proposed by Monaco. The increased level of sophistication of these models allows to move from a phenomenological description of gas physics, based on simple scalings with the depth of the DM halo potential, towards a fully physically motivated one. We deem that this is fully justified by the level of maturity and rough convergence reached by the latest versions of numerical and semi-analytic models of galaxy formation. The comparison of the predictions of MORGANA with a basic set of galactic data reveals from the one hand an overall rough agreement, and from the other hand highlights a number of well- or less-known problems: (i) producing the cut-off of the luminosity function requires to force the quenching of the late cooling flows by AGN feedback, (ii) the normalization of the Tully‐Fisher relation of local spirals cannot be recovered unless the DM haloes are assumed to have a very low concentration, (iii) the mass function of H I gas is not easily fitted at small masses, unless a similarly low concentration is assumed, (iv) there is an excess of small elliptical galaxies at z = 0. These discrepancies, more than the points of agreement with data, give important clues on the missing ingredients of galaxy formation.

The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS) - Galaxy clustering and redshift-space distortions at z ≃ 0.8 in the first data release

We present in this paper the general real- and redshift-space clustering properties of galaxies as measured in the first data release of the VIPERS survey. VIPERS is a large redshift survey designed to probe the distant Universe and its large-scale structure at 0.5 < z < 1.2. We describe in this analysis the global properties of the sample and discuss the survey completeness and associated corrections. This sample allows us to measure the galaxy clustering with an unprecedented accuracy at these redshifts. From the redshift-space distortions observed in the galaxy clustering pattern we provide a first measurement of the growth rate of structure at z = 0.8: f\sigma_8 = 0.47 +/- 0.08. This is completely consistent with the predictions of standard cosmological models based on Einstein gravity, although this measurement alone does not discriminate between different gravity models.

Mass function of dormant black holes and the evolution of active galactic nuclei

Under the assumption that accretion onto massive black holes powers active galactic nuclei (AGN), the mass function (MF) of the BHs responsible for their past activity is estimated. For this, we take into account not only the activity related to the optically selected AGN, but also that required to produce the Hard X–Ray Background (HRXB). The MF of the Massive Dark Objects (MDOs) in nearby quiescent galaxies is computed by means of the most recent results on their demography. The two mass functions match well under the assumption that the activity is concentrated in a single significant burst with � = L/LEdd being a weakly increasing function of luminosity. This behaviour may be indicative of some level of recurrence and/or of accretion rates insufficient to maintain the Eddington rates in low luminosity/low redshift objects. Our results support the scenario in which the early phase of intense nuclear activity occurred mainly in early type galaxies (E/S0) during the relatively short period in which they had still an abundant interstellar medium. Only recently, with the decline of the QSO luminosities, did the activity in late type galaxies (Sa/Sab) become statistically significant.

Luminosity function and radial distribution of Milky Way satellites in a ΛCDM Universe

We study the luminosity function (LF) and the radial distribution of satellite galaxies within Milky Way (MW) sized haloes as predicted in cold dark matter based models of galaxy formation, making use of numericalN-body techniques as well as three different semi-analytic models (SAMs) galaxy formation codes. We extract merger trees from very high-resolution dissipationless simulations of four Galaxy-sized DM haloes, and use these as common input for the SAMs. We present a detailed comparison of our predictions with the observational data recently obtained on the MW satellite LF. We find that SAMs with rather standard astrophysical ingredients are able to reproduce the observed LF over six orders of magnitude in luminosity, down to magnitudes as faint as MV =− 2. We also perform a comparison with the actual observed number of satellites as a function of luminosity, by applying the selection criteria of the SDSS survey to our simulations instead of correcting the observations for incompleteness. Using this approach, we again find good agreement for both the luminosity and radial distributions of MW satellites. We investigate which physical processes in our models are responsible for shaping the predicted satellite LF, and find that tidal destruction, suppression of gas infall by a photoionizing background, and supernova feedback all make important contributions. We conclude that the number and luminosity of MW satellites can be naturally accounted for within the (� )cold dark matter paradigm, and this should no longer be considered a problem.

The pinocchio algorithm: pinpointing orbit‐crossing collapsed hierarchical objects in a linear density field

ABSTRA C T PINOCCHIO (PINpointing Orbit-Crossing Collapsed HIerarchical Objects) is a new algorithm proposed recently by Monaco et al. (Paper I) for identifying dark matter haloes in a given numerical realization of the linear density field in a hierarchical universe. Mass elements are assumed to have collapsed after undergoing orbit crossing, as computed using perturbation theory. It is shown that Lagrangian perturbation theory, and in particular its ellipsoidal truncation, is able to predict accurately the collapse, in the orbit-crossing sense, of generic mass elements. Collapsed points are grouped into haloes using an algorithm that mimics the hierarchical growth of structure through accretion and mergers. Some points that have undergone orbit crossing are assigned to the network of filaments and sheets that connects the haloes; it is demonstrated that this network resembles closely that found in N-body simulations. The code generates a catalogue of dark matter haloes with known mass, position, velocity, merging history and angular momentum. It is shown that the predictions of the code are very accurate when compared with the results of large N-body simulations that cover a range of cosmological models, box sizes and numerical resolutions. The mass function is recovered with an accuracy of better than 10 per cent in number density for haloes with at least 30 ‐ 50 particles. A similar accuracy is reached in the estimate of the correlation length r0. The good agreement is still valid on the object-by-object level, with 70 ‐ 100 per cent of the objects with more than 50 particles in the simulations also identified by our algorithm. For these objects the masses are recovered with an error of 20 ‐ 40 per cent, and positions and velocities with a root mean square error of ,1 ‐2 MpcO0:5 ‐ 2 grid lengths) and ,100 km s 21 , respectively. The recovery of the angular momentum of haloes is considerably noisier, and accuracy at the statistical level is achieved only by introducing free parameters. The algorithm requires negligible computer time as compared with performing a numerical N-body simulation.

The luminosity function of high-redshift quasi-stellar objects. A combined analysis of GOODS and SDSS

Aims. In this work the luminosity function of QSOs is measured in the redshift range

The Nearby Optical Galaxy Sample: The Local Galaxy Luminosity Function

3.5 Methods. We have defined suitable criteria to select faint QSOs in the GOODS fields, checking their effectiveness and completeness in detail. A spectroscopic follow-up of the resulting QSO candidates was carried out. The confirmed sample of faint QSOs is compared with a brighter one derived from the SDSS. We used a Monte-Carlo technique to estimate the properties of the luminosity function, checking various parameterizations for its shape and evolution. Results. Models based on pure density evolution show better agreement with observation than do models based on pure luminosity evolution. However, a different break magnitude with respect to