arXiv subjects

Andreea S. Font

Publications and source records attributed to Andreea S. Font.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

The BAHAMAS project: Evaluating the accuracy of the halo model in predicting the non-linear matter power spectrum

The halo model formalism is widely adopted in cosmological studies for predicting the growth of large-scale structure in the Universe. However, to date there have been relatively few direct comparisons of the halo model with more accurate (but much more computationally expensive) cosmological simulations. We test the accuracy of the halo model in reproducing the non-linear matter power spectrum, P(k), when the main inputs of the halo model (specifically the matter density profiles, halo mass function, and linear bias) are taken directly from the BAHAMAS simulations and we assess how well the halo model reproduces P(k) from the same simulations. We show that the halo model generally reproduces P(k) in the deep non-linear regime (1-halo) to typically a few percent accuracy, but struggles to reproduce (approx. 15% error) P(k) at intermediate scales of 0.1 < k [h/ Mpc] < 3 at z=0, marking the transition between the 1-halo and 2-halo terms. We show that the magnitude of this error is a strong function of the halo mass definition (through its effects on radial extent of haloes) and of redshift. Furthermore, we test the accuracy of the halo model in recovering the relative impact of baryons on P(k). We show that the systematic errors in recovering the absolute P(k) largely cancel when considering the relative impact of baryons. This suggests that the halo model can make precise predictions for the baryonic suppression, offering a fast and accurate way to adjust collisionless matter power spectra for the presence of baryons and associated processes.

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arXiv2021

Testing extensions to LCDM on small scales with forthcoming cosmic shear surveys

We investigate the constraining power of forthcoming Stage-IV weak lensing surveys (Euclid, LSST, and NGRST) for extensions to the LCDM model on small scales, via their impact on the cosmic shear power spectrum. We use high-resolution cosmological simulations to calculate how warm dark matter (WDM), self-interacting dark matter (SIDM) and a running of the spectral index affect the non-linear matter power spectrum, P(k), as a function of scale and redshift. We evaluate the cosmological constraining power using synthetic weak lensing observations derived from these power spectra and that take into account the anticipated source densities, shape noise and cosmic variance errors of upcoming surveys. We show that upcoming Stage-IV surveys will be able to place useful, independent constraints on both WDM models (ruling out models with a particle mass of < 0.5 keV) and SIDM models (ruling out models with a velocity-independent cross-section of > 10 cm^2 g^-1) through their effects on the small-scale cosmic shear power spectrum. Similarly, they will be able to strongly constrain cosmologies with a running spectral index. Finally, we explore the error associated with the cosmic shear cross-spectrum between tomographic bins, finding that it can be significantly affected by Poisson noise (the standard assumption is that the Poisson noise cancels between tomographic bins). We provide a new analytic form for the error on the cross-spectrum which accurately captures this effect.

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arXiv2021

Can cosmological simulations capture the diverse satellite populations of observed Milky Way analogues?

The recent advent of deep observational surveys of local Milky Way `analogues' and their satellite populations allows us to place the Milky Way in a broader cosmological context and to test models of galaxy formation on small scales. In the present study, we use the LCDM-based ARTEMIS suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations containing 45 Milky Way analogue host haloes to make comparisons to the observed satellite luminosity functions, radial distribution functions, and abundance scaling relations from the recent Local Volume and SAGA observational surveys, in addition to the Milky Way and M31. We find that, contrary to some previous claims, LCDM-based simulations can successfully and simultaneously capture the mean trends and the diversity in both the observed luminosity and radial distribution functions of Milky Way analogues once important observational selection criteria are factored in. Furthermore, we show that, at fixed halo mass, the concentration of the simulated satellite radial distribution is partly set by that of the underlying smooth dark matter halo, although stochasticity due to the finite number of satellites is the dominant driver of scatter in the radial distribution of satellites at fixed halo mass.

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arXiv2020

Informing dark matter direct detection limits with the ARTEMIS simulations

Dark matter (DM) direct detection experiments aim to place constraints on the DM--nucleon scattering cross-section and the DM particle mass. These constraints depend sensitively on the assumed local DM density and velocity distribution function. While astrophysical observations can inform the former (in a model-dependent way), the latter is not directly accessible with observations. Here we use the high-resolution ARTEMIS cosmological hydrodynamical simulation suite of 42 Milky Way-mass halos to explore the spatial and kinematical distributions of the DM in the solar neighbourhood, and we examine how these quantities are influenced by substructures, baryons, the presence of dark discs, as well as general halo-to-halo scatter (cosmic variance). We also explore the accuracy of the standard Maxwellian approach for modelling the velocity distribution function. We find significant halo-to-halo scatter in the density and velocity functions which, if propagated through the standard halo model for predicting the DM detection limits, implies a significant scatter about the typically quoted limit. We also show that, in general, the Maxwellian approximation works relatively well for simulations that include the important gravitational effects of baryons, but is less accurate for collisionless (DM-only) simulations. Given the significant halo-to-halo scatter in quantities relevant for DM direct detection, we advocate propagating this source of uncertainty through in order to derive conservative DM detection limits.

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arXiv2020

The imprint of dark subhaloes on the circumgalactic medium

The standard model of cosmology, the LCDM model, robustly predicts the existence of a multitude of dark matter 'subhaloes' around galaxies like the Milky Way. A wide variety of observations have been proposed to look for the gravitational effects such subhaloes would induce in observable matter. Most of these approaches pertain to the stellar or cool gaseous phases of matter. Here we propose a new approach, which is to search for the perturbations that such dark subhaloes would source in the warm/hot circumgalactic medium (CGM) around normal galaxies. With a combination of analytic theory, carefully-controlled high-resolution idealised simulations, and full cosmological hydrodynamical simulations (the ARTEMIS simulations), we calculate the expected signal and how it depends on important physical parameters (subhalo mass, CGM temperature, and relative velocity). We find that dark subhaloes enhance both the local CGM temperature and density and, therefore, also the pressure. For the pressure and density, the fluctuations can vary in magnitude from tens of percent (for subhaloes with M_sub=10^10 Msun) to a few percent (for subhaloes with M_sub=10^8 Msun), although this depends strongly on the CGM temperature. The subhaloes also induce fluctuations in the velocity field ranging in magnitude from a few km/s up to 25 km/s. We propose that X-ray, Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, radio dispersion measure, and quasar absorption line observations can be used to measure these fluctuations and place constraints on the abundance and distribution of dark subhaloes, thereby placing constraints on the nature of dark matter.

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arXiv2020

The ARTEMIS simulations: stellar haloes of Milky Way-mass galaxies

We introduce the ARTEMIS simulations, a new set of 42 zoomed-in, high-resolution (baryon particle mass of ~ 2x10^4 Msun/h), hydrodynamical simulations of galaxies residing in haloes of Milky Way mass, simulated with the EAGLE galaxy formation code with re-calibrated stellar feedback. In this study, we analyse the structure of stellar haloes, specifically the mass density, surface brightness, metallicity, colour and age radial profiles, finding generally very good agreement with recent observations of local galaxies. The stellar density profiles are well fitted by broken power laws, with inner slopes of ~ -3, outer slopes of ~ -4 and break radii that are typically ~ 20-40 kpc. The break radii generally mark the transition between in situ formation and accretion-driven formation of the halo. The metallicity, colour and age profiles show mild large-scale gradients, particularly when spherically-averaged or viewed along the major axes. Along the minor axes, however, the profiles are nearly flat, in agreement with observations. Overall, the structural properties can be understood by two factors: that in situ stars dominate the inner regions and that they reside in a spatially-flattened distribution that is aligned with the disc. Observations targeting both the major and minor axes of galaxies are thus required to obtain a complete picture of stellar haloes.

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arXiv2020

The BAHAMAS project: Effects of dynamical dark energy on large-scale structure

In this work we consider the impact of spatially-uniform but time-varying dark energy (or `dynamical dark energy', DDE) on large-scale structure in a spatially flat universe, using large cosmological hydrodynamical simulations that form part of the BAHAMAS project. As DDE changes the expansion history of the universe, it impacts the growth of structure. We explore variations in DDE that are constrained to be consistent with the cosmic microwave background. We find that DDE can affect the clustering of matter and haloes at the ~10% level (suppressing it for so-called `freezing' models, while enhancing it for `thawing' models), which should be distinguishable with upcoming large-scale structure surveys. DDE cosmologies can also enhance or suppress the halo mass function (with respect to LCDM) over a wide range of halo masses. The internal properties of haloes are minimally affected by changes in DDE, however. Finally, we show that the impact of baryons and associated feedback processes is largely independent of the change in cosmology and that these processes can be modelled separately to typically better than a few percent accuracy

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arXiv2020

The BAHAMAS project: Effects of a running scalar spectral index on large-scale structure

Recent analyses of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the Lyman-alpha forest indicate a mild preference for a deviation from a power law primordial matter power spectrum (a so-called negative `running'). We use an extension to the BAHAMAS suite of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations to explore the effects that a running scalar spectral index has on large-scale structure (LSS), using Planck CMB constraints to initialize the simulations. We focus on 5 key statistics: i) the non-linear matter power spectrum ii) the halo mass function; iii) the halo two-point auto correlation function; iv) total mass halo density profiles; and v) the halo concentration-mass relation. In terms of the matter power spectrum, we find that a running scalar spectral index affects all k-scales examined in this study, with a negative (positive) running leading to an amplification (suppression) of power. These effects should be easily detectable with upcoming surveys such as LSST and Euclid. In the mass range sampled, a positive running leads to an increase in the mass of galaxy groups and clusters, with the favoured negative running leading to a decrease in mass of lower-mass (M <~ 10^13 M_solar) halos, but an increase for the most massive (M >~ 10^13 M_solar) halos. Changes in the mass are generally confined to 5-10% which, while not insignificant, cannot by itself reconcile the claimed tension between the primary CMB and cluster number counts. We find that running does not significantly affect the shapes of density profiles of matched halos, changing only their amplitude. Finally, we demonstrate that the observed effects on LSS due to a running scalar spectral index are separable from those of baryonic effects to typically a few percent precision.

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arXiv2020

Exploring extensions to the standard cosmological model and the impact of baryons on small scales

It has been claimed that the standard model of cosmology (LCDM) cannot easily account for a number of observations on relatively small scales, motivating extensions to the standard model. Here we introduce a new suite of cosmological simulations that systematically explores three plausible extensions: warm dark matter, self-interacting dark matter, and a running of the scalar spectral index of density fluctuations. Current observational constraints are used to specify the additional parameters that come with these extensions. We examine a large range of observable metrics on small scales, including the halo mass function, density and circular velocity profiles, the abundance of satellite subhaloes, and halo concentrations. For any given metric, significant degeneracies can be present between the extensions. In detail, however, the different extensions have quantitatively distinct mass and radial dependencies, suggesting that a multi-probe approach over a range of scales can be used to break the degeneracies. We also demonstrate that the relative effects on the radial density profiles in the different extensions (compared to the standard model) are converged down to significantly smaller radii than are the absolute profiles. We compare the derived cosmological trends with the impact of baryonic physics using the EAGLE and ARTEMIS simulations. Significant degeneracies are also present between baryonic physics and cosmological variations (with both having similar magnitude effects on some observables). Given the inherent uncertainties both in the modelling of galaxy formation physics and extensions to LCDM, a systematic and simultaneous exploration of both is strongly warranted.

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arXiv2020

Connecting the structure of dark matter haloes to the primordial power spectrum

A large body of work based on collisionless cosmological N-body simulations going back over two decades has advanced the idea that collapsed dark matter haloes have simple and approximately universal forms for their mass density and pseudo-phase space density (PPSD) distributions. However, a general consensus on the physical origin of these results has not yet been reached. In the present study, we explore to what extent the apparent universality of these forms holds when we vary the initial conditions (i.e., the primordial power spectrum of density fluctuations) away from the standard CMB-normalised case, but still within the context of LCDM with a fixed expansion history. Using simulations that vary the initial amplitude and shape, we show that the structure of dark matter haloes retains a clear memory of the initial conditions. Specifically, increasing (lowering) the amplitude of fluctuations increases (decreases) the concentration of haloes and, if pushed far enough, the density profiles deviate strongly from the NFW form that is a good approximation for the CMB-normalised case. Although, an Einasto form works well. Rather than being universal, the slope of the PPSD (or pseudo-entropy) profile steepens (flattens) with increasing (decreasing) power spectrum amplitude and can exhibit a strong halo mass dependence. Our results therefore indicate that the previously identified universality of the structure of dark matter haloes is mostly a consequence of adopting a narrow range of (CMB-normalised) initial conditions for the simulations. Our new suite provides a useful test-bench against which physical models for the origin of halo structure can be validated.

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arXiv2020

Environment from cross-correlations: connecting hot gas and the quenching of galaxies

The observable properties of galaxies depend on both internal processes and the external environment. In terms of the environmental role, we still do not have a clear picture of the processes driving the transformation of galaxies. The use of proxies for environment (e.g., host halo mass, distance to the N^th nearest neighbour, etc.), as opposed to the real physical conditions (e.g., hot gas density) may bear some responsibility for this. Here we propose a new method that directly links galaxies to their local environments, by using spatial cross-correlations of galaxy catalogues with maps from large-scale structure surveys (e.g., thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich [tSZ] effect, diffuse X-ray emission, weak lensing of galaxies or the CMB). We focus here on the quenching of galaxies and its link to local hot gas properties. Maps of galaxy overdensity and quenched fraction excess are constructed from volume-limited SDSS catalogs, which are cross-correlated with tSZ effect and X-ray maps from Planck and ROSAT, respectively. Strong signals out to Mpc scales are detected for most cross-correlations and are compared to predictions from the EAGLE and BAHAMAS cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. The simulations successfully reproduce many, but not all, of the observed power spectra, with an indication that environmental quenching may be too efficient in the simulations. We demonstrate that the cross-correlations are sensitive to both the internal (e.g., AGN and stellar feedback) and external processes (e.g., ram pressure stripping, harassment, strangulation, etc.) responsible for quenching. The methods outlined in this paper can be adapted to other observables and, with upcoming surveys, will provide a stringent test of physical models for environmental transformation.

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arXiv2018

Evolution of the stellar metallicities of galaxies in the EAGLE simulations

We study the correlation between stellar mass and stellar metallicity in the Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments (EAGLE) suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. At a given stellar mass, simulated galaxies with lower stellar metallicities show, on average, higher gas fractions, higher specific star formation rates and younger stellar populations. Active galactic nuclei feedback seems to play an important role on the determination of the stellar metallicity at high stellar masses. In general, simulated systems follow a well-defined anticorrelation between stellar metallicity and gas fraction, which does not evolve significantly with redshift. All these trends are consistent with previous findings regarding the metallicity of the star-forming gas in EAGLE.

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arXiv2018

The BAHAMAS project: the CMB--large-scale structure tension and the roles of massive neutrinos and galaxy formation

Recent studies have presented evidence for tension between the constraints on Omega_m and sigma_8 from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and measurements of large-scale structure (LSS). This tension can potentially be resolved by appealing to extensions of the standard model of cosmology and/or untreated systematic errors in the modelling of LSS, of which baryonic physics has been frequently suggested. We revisit this tension using, for the first time, carefully-calibrated cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, which thus capture the back reaction of the baryons on the total matter distribution. We have extended the BAHAMAS simulations to include a treatment of massive neutrinos, which currently represents the best motivated extension to the standard model. We make synthetic thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, weak galaxy lensing, and CMB lensing maps and compare to observed auto- and cross-power spectra from a wide range of recent observational surveys. We conclude that: i) in general there is tension between the primary CMB and LSS when adopting the standard model with minimal neutrino mass; ii) after calibrating feedback processes to match the gas fractions of clusters, the remaining uncertainties in the baryonic physics modelling are insufficient to reconcile this tension; and iii) if one accounts for internal tensions in the Planck CMB dataset (by allowing the lensing amplitude, A_Lens, to vary), invoking a non-minimal neutrino mass, typically of 0.2-0.4 eV, can resolve the tension. This solution is fully consistent with separate constraints from the primary CMB and baryon acoustic oscillations.

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arXiv2017

The diversity of assembly histories leading to disc galaxy formation in a LambdaCDM model

[Abridged] Typical disc galaxies forming in a LambdaCDM cosmology encounter a violent environment, where they often experience mergers with massive satellites. The fact that disc galaxies are ubiquitous in the local Universe suggests that a quiescent history is not necessary for their formation. Modern cosmological simulations can now obtain relatively realistic populations of disc galaxies, but it still remains to be clarified how discs manage to survive massive mergers. Here we use a suite of high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations set in a LambdaCDM cosmology to elucidate the fate of discs encountering massive mergers. We extract a sample of approximately 100 disc galaxies and follow the changes in their post-merger morphologies, as tracked by their disc-to-total ratios (D/T). We also examine the relations between their present-day morphology, assembly history and gas fractions. We find that approximately half of present-day disc galaxies underwent at least one merger with a satellite of total mass exceeding the host system's stellar mass, a third had mergers with satellites of mass exceeding 3 times the host's stellar mass, and approximately one-sixth had mergers with satellites of mass exceeding 10 times of the host's stellar mass. These mergers lead to a sharp, but often temporary, decrease in the D/T of the hosts, implying that discs are usually disrupted but then quickly re-grow. To do so, high cold gas fractions are required post-merger, as well as a relatively quiescent recent history (over a few Gyrs before z=0). Our results show that discs can form via diverse merger pathways and that quiescent histories are not the dominant mode of disc formation.

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arXiv2017

Galaxy metallicity scaling relations in the EAGLE simulations

We quantify the correlations between gas-phase and stellar metallicities and global properties of galaxies, such as stellar mass, halo mass, age and gas fraction, in the Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments (EAGLE) suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. The slope of the correlation between stellar mass and metallicity of star-forming (SF) gas ($M_*-Z_{\rm SF,gas}$ relation) depends somewhat on resolution, with the higher-resolution run reproducing a steeper slope. This simulation predicts a non-zero metallicity evolution, increasing by $\approx 0.5$ dex at $\sim 10^9 {\rm M}_{\odot}$ since $z = 3$. The simulated relation between stellar mass, metallicity and star formation rate at $z \lesssim 5$ agrees remarkably well with the observed fundamental metallicity relation. At $M_* \lesssim 10^{10.3} {\rm M}_{\odot}$ and fixed stellar mass, higher metallicities are associated with lower specific star formation rates, lower gas fractions and older stellar populations. On the other hand, at higher $M_*$, there is a hint of an inversion of the dependence of metallicity on these parameters. The fundamental parameter that best correlates with the metal content, in the simulations, is the gas fraction. The simulated gas fraction-metallicity relation exhibits small scatter and does not evolve significantly since $z = 3$. In order to better understand the origin of these correlations, we analyse a set of lower resolution simulations in which feedback parameters are varied. We find that the slope of the simulated $M_*-Z_{\rm SF,gas}$ relation is mostly determined by stellar feedback at low stellar masses ($M_* \lesssim 10^{10} {\rm M}_{\odot}$), and at high masses ($M_* \gtrsim 10^{10} {\rm M}_{\odot}$) by the feedback from active galactic nuclei.

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arXiv2017

Predictions for the detection of Tidal Streams with Gaia using Great Circle Methods

The Gaia astrometric mission may offer an unprecedented opportunity to discover new tidal streams in the Galactic halo. To test this, we apply nGC3, a great-circle-cell count method that combines position and proper motion data to identify streams, to ten mock Gaia catalogues of K giants and RR Lyrae stars constructed from cosmological simulations of Milky Way analogues. We analyse two sets of simulations, one using a combination of $N$-body and semi-analytical methods which has extremely high resolution, the other using hydro-dynamical methods, which captures the dynamics of baryons, including the formation of an in situ halo. These ten realisations of plausible Galactic merger histories allow us to assess the potential for the recovery of tidal streams in different Milky Way formation scenarios. We include the Gaia~selection function and observational errors in these mock catalogues. We find that the nGC3 method has a well-defined detection boundary in the space of stream width and projected overdensity, that can be predicted based on direct observables alone. We predict that about 4-13 dwarf galaxy streams can be detected in a typical Milky Way-mass halo with Gaia+nGC3, with an estimated efficiency of $>$80\% inside the detection boundary. The progenitors of these streams are in the mass range of the classical dwarf galaxies and may have been accreted as early as redshift $\sim3$. Finally, we analyse how different possible extensions of the Gaia mission will improve the detection of tidal streams.

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arXiv2015

The evolution of galaxy metallicity scaling relations in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations

The evolution of the metal content of galaxies and its relations to other global properties [such as total stellar mass (M*), circular velocity, star formation rate (SFR), halo mass, etc.] provides important constraints on models of galaxy formation. Here we examine the evolution of metallicity scaling relations of simulated galaxies in the Galaxies-Intergalactic Medium Interaction Calculation suite of cosmological simulations. We make comparisons to observations of the correlation of gas-phase abundances with M* (the mass-metallicity relation, MZR), as well as with both M* and SFR or gas mass fraction (the so-called 3D fundamental metallicity relations, FMRs). The simulated galaxies follow the observed local MZR and FMRs over an order of magnitude in M*, but overpredict the metallicity of massive galaxies (log M* > 10.5), plausibly due to inefficient feedback in this regime. We discuss the origin of the MZR and FMRs in the context of galactic outflows and gas accretion. We examine the evolution of mass-metallicity relations defined using different elements that probe the three enrichment channels (SNII, SNIa, and AGB stars). Relations based on elements produced mainly by SNII evolve weakly, whereas those based on elements produced preferentially in SNIa/AGB exhibit stronger evolution, due to the longer timescales associated with these channels. Finally, we compare the relations of central and satellite galaxies, finding systematically higher metallicities for satellites, as observed. We show this is due to the removal of the metal poor gas reservoir that normally surrounds galaxies and acts to dilute their gas-phase metallicity (via cooling/accretion onto the disk), but is lost due to ram pressure stripping for satellites.

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arXiv2013

The satellites of the Milky Way - Insights from semi-analytic modelling in a LambdaCDM cosmology

We combine the six high-resolution Aquarius dark matter simulations with a semi-analytic galaxy formation model to investigate the properties of the satellites of Milky Way-like galaxies. We find good correspondence with the observed luminosity function, luminosity-metallicity relation and radial distribution of the Milky Way satellites. The star formation histories of the dwarf galaxies in our model vary widely, in accordance with what is seen observationally. Ram-pressure stripping of hot gas from the satellites leaves a clear imprint of the environment on the characteristics of a dwarf galaxy. We find that the fraction of satellites dominated by old populations of stars matches observations well. However, the internal metallicity distributions of the model satellites appear to be narrower than observed. This may indicate limitations in our treatment of chemical enrichment, which is based on the instantaneous recycling approximation. Our model works best if the dark matter halo of the Milky Way has a mass of ~8 x 10^11 Msun, in agreement with the lower estimates from observations. The galaxy that resembles the Milky Way the most also has the best matching satellite luminosity function, although it does not contain an object as bright as the SMC or LMC. Compared to other semi-analytic models and abundance matching relations we find that central galaxies reside in less massive haloes, but the halo mass-stellar mass relation in our model is consistent both with hydrodynamical simulations and with recent observations.

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