arXiv · 1311.3163
The growth of galactic bulges through mergers in LCDM haloes revisited. II. Morphological mix evolution
Abstract
The mass aggregation and merger histories of present-day distinct haloes selected from the cosmological Millennium Simulations I and II are mapped into stellar mass aggregation and galaxy merger histories of central galaxies by using empirical stellar-to-halo and stellar-to-gas mass relations. The growth of bulges driven by the galaxy mergers/interactions is calculated using dynamical prescriptions. The predicted bulge demographics at redshift z~0 is consistent with observations (Zavala+2012). Here we present the evolution of the morphological mix (traced by the bulge-to-total mass ratio, B/T) as a function of mass up to z=3. This mix remains qualitatively the same up to z~1: B/T<0.1 galaxies dominate at low masses, 0.1 0.45 at large masses. At z>1, the fractions of disc-dominated and bulgeless galaxies increase strongly, and by z~2 the era of pure disc galaxies is reached. Bulge-dominated galaxies acquire such a morphology, and most of their mass, following a downsizing trend. Since our results are consistent with most of the recent observational studies of the morphological mix at different redshifts, a LCDM-based scenario of merger-driven bulge assembly does not seem to face critical issues. However, if the stellar-to-halo mass relation changes too little with redshift, then some tensions with observations appear.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Explore connections, maps & timelines
Vladimir Avila-Reese, Jesus Zavala, Ivan Lacerna. 2014-02-26. The growth of galactic bulges through mergers in LCDM haloes revisited. II. Morphological mix evolution. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras%2Fstu382
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.