arXiv subjects

Brian Tapia-Contreras

Publications and source records attributed to Brian Tapia-Contreras.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The properties of central stellar knots embedded in galactic bulges of CIELO simulations

Deeply bound stellar substructures of about 1 kpc at the center of bulges are found in a subset of galaxies from the cosmological chemo-hydrodynamical zoom-in CIELO simulation suite. They were identified as stellar overdensities at the lowest binding energies in each galaxy's circularity-energy $(ε, E)$ plane. We refer to these overdensities as stellar knots. We aim to characterize their properties in the context of bulge assembly using CIELO simulated galaxies spanning a wide range of stellar masses ($10^{8.0}$-$10^{10.7}\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$), with diverse formation histories. We inspect 54 galactic bulges. Within them, we isolate stellar knot candidates in $(ε, E)$ space, and identify 28 robust knots satisfying successive selection criteria: kinematic, concentration, and morphology. We characterize their chemical enrichment, formation timescales, formation sites, progenitor gas origin, and spatial distributions. Across all galaxy masses, knots are systematically alpha-element enhanced, having assembled the bulk of their stellar mass at earlier epochs and on shorter timescales than other bulge populations, with a median of $\sim$2$\,$Gyr versus $\sim$5$\,$Gyr. Regarding their origin, knots are predominantly in-situ ($5\%$ accreted mass fraction, roughly half that of the rest of the bulge), with negligible disk-born stars contribution and the largest gas fractions originating from a primordial central spheroid ($21\%$ versus 16--17$\%$ for the surrounding populations), consistent with being the primary gas fuel for the alpha-element enhancement. In terms of structure, knots exhibit a variety of morphologies, with spheroidal shapes predominating. Dynamical selection in $(ε, E)$ space of CIELO galaxies demonstrates its effectiveness in recovering coeval stellar populations, pointing to stellar knots as plausible fossil signatures of early in-situ bulge assembly.

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arXiv2026

Angular momentum evolution in the CIELO simulations. I. Temporal evolution of gas-stellar misalignments and baryonic merger timing

Gas-stellar kinematic misalignments trace how galaxies assemble and reorient their angular momentum. Although well documented locally, their continuous evolution remains largely unexplored. We aim to characterise the pathways linking aligned, misaligned, and counter-rotating phases, assessing how gas accretion channels and mergers drive reorientation. We analysed 44 central galaxies from the CIELO simulations from z=3.5 to z=0. We defined kinematic episodes using the intrinsic angle, psi, between the star-forming (SF) gas and stellar angular momentum vectors, interpreting these histories by tracking accreted gas origins and evaluating paired statistical contrasts. Nearly 80% of the simulated galaxies are aligned at z=0, yet 86% experience at least one non-aligned episode. Although 19% of non-aligned episodes last >2 Gyr, their durations do not differ significantly from aligned episodes. Abrupt changes in psi coincide with intervals where accreted gas dominates the pre-existing SF reservoir and is highly tilted relative to pre-existing stars. During transitions, the median mass ratio of accreted to pre-existing SF gas rises from 0.57 to 2.14, and the median angular offset increases from 21.2 to 64.6 deg. While relevant mergers cluster near these boundaries, they can drive either alignment or misalignment regardless of mass ratios or orbits. Instead, mergers triggering abrupt transitions typically encounter hosts that are already partially decoupled. In the simulated sample, gas-stellar misalignment is fundamentally driven by reservoir competition. Mergers act as conditional triggers, but a galaxy's ultimate kinematic fate depends strictly on how newly accreted gas couples to, replaces, or mixes with the pre-existing material as it joins the central SF reservoir.

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arXiv2026

Reconstructing chemical enrichment pathways in disc galaxies: A phylogenetic approach

Phylogenetic methods, traditionally used in biology to trace the evolutionary relationships among species, are emerging as a powerful framework to reconstruct evolutionary processes in galaxies from chemical information. We apply galactic phylogenetics to study the chemical evolution of stellar populations in distinct regions of a simulated disc galaxy, assessing its capability to unveil assembly histories. We used a high-resolution simulation that follows the chemical enrichment of an isolated disc galaxy, by different stellar progenitors. We track gas particles as they turn into stars and inherit their parent gas chemical composition. Target particles are selected to store the chemical history of each chemical element considered in the simulation. Two regions were analysed: an inner ring, influenced by early bar-driven inflows, and an outer ring, shaped by spiral arms. We built phylogenetic trees for stellar populations in each region and quantified their structure using the Corrected Colless index, a standard metric of tree balance used in biology. The inner ring tree reveals a compact clade of old stars enriched by rapid SNII feedback, followed by a hierarchical sequence with increasing SNIa and AGB contributions. In contrast, the outer ring exhibits more symmetric, caterpillar-like trees with smoother abundance gradients, consistent with more prolonged star formation and efficient local mixing. Chemical enrichment rates corroborate these trends, showing fast early enrichment in the inner ring and gradual, spatially extended enrichment in the outer disc. The structural indices differ significantly between the two regions and converge robustly even for modest stellar samples (NSSP = 100). Galactic phylogenetics provides a novel and complementary tool to decode the fossil record of galaxies.

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arXiv2026

The heartbeat of stellar halos: Insights from the stellar halo mass-metallicity relation

This work investigates the presence and evolution of the MZhR from redshift z=3.5 to z=0, and identifies when galaxies settle on the present-day MZhR. We used central galaxies with log10(Mgal/Msun)=[9,11] from CIELO simulations. We identified stellar halos, from z=3.5 to z=0, using the AM-E method, focusing on the region between the 1.5 optical radius and the virial radius. We presented halo cardiograms, a novel approach to studying the assembly history of stellar halos. Using them, we defined a stability time (tst) as the first time that the median halo metallicity does not change more than \pm 0.1 dex with respect to its value at z=0. CIELO stellar halos reproduce the present-day observed MZhR. At z=3.5, stellar halos already define an MZhR whose slope is similar to the slope at z=0. For a fixed stellar halo mass, the metallicity increases ~0.21 dex from z=3.5 to z=0, reflecting the progressive chemical enrichment provided by the accretion of satellites with diverse masses and different levels of enrichment. When the first stellar halo main contributor (SHMC1) provides a mass fraction at least 20% higher than the remaining contributors, the stellar halo metallicity is set once SHMC1 is fully disrupted (tmerger). This yields a clear correlation between tst and tmerger, with a scatter of 2.2 Gyr driven by the relative importance of the second and third main contributing satellites. We provide two observational tracers for tst: t90 and a stability time from the age-metallicity relation. Our results suggest that estimating tst could serve as a proxy for dating the moment at which the stellar halo reaches the present-day MZhR, as well as for dating the last major merger that builds them. Combined with an estimation of the merger time of the main contributing satellite, it can provide insights into the relative importance of the second and third contributing satellites. (abridged)

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arXiv2025

Chemical enrichment in LINERs from MaNGA. II. Characterizing the shape of their radial metallicity gradients

Chemical abundance radial gradients provide key information on how the processes that affect chemical enrichment of the gas-phase interstellar medium (ISM) act at different galaxy scales. Whereas in the last decades there has been an increase in the number of galaxies studied with integral field spectroscopy, there is still not a clear picture on a subsequent characterization of the chemical abundance radial gradients in galaxies hosting Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). This lack of analysis is even more accentuated in the case of low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs). For the first time, we analyze the chemical abundance radial gradients in a sample of LINER-like galaxies, whose nuclear emission has been previously (Paper I) discussed. We use a sample of 97 galaxies from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA), whose nuclear regions show LINER-like emission. We use the open-source code HII-CHI-Mistry to estimate the chemical abundance ratios 12+log(O/H) and log(N/O) in the HII regions across the disks in our sample, as well as in the nuclear parts where the LINER-like activity dominates. To fit the radial profiles we use a piecewise methodology which uses a non-fixed number of breaks to find the best fit for the data. We obtain that majority of our sample of galaxies exhibits departures from the single linear gradient both in 12+log(O/H) and log(N/O) (as expected from the inside-out scenario). We investigate whether these departures are driven by galaxy properties (stellar mass, neutral gas mass, stellar velocity dispersion), finding not correlation at all. We also report that in most cases there is no correlation between the shape of the 12+log(O/H) and log(N/O) radial profiles. We propose a model in which AGN (feed)back, acting at different scales depending on the galaxy and its evolutionary stage, might be responsible for these departures.

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arXiv2025

The formation and evolution of Supermassive disks in IllustrisTNG

Supermassive disks are outstanding galaxies whose formation and evolution are still poorly understood. They comprise a large variety of objects, ranging from large, low-surface-brightness galaxies, such as Malin 1, to the most spectacular superluminous spirals. However, we still do not know the physical mechanisms behind its formation, and whether they will be long-lived objects or whether their mass could destroy them in time. We aim to investigate the formation and evolution of these galaxies using the magnetohydrodynamical state-of-the-art simulation IllustrisTNG-100. We defined supermassive disks as galaxies with $λ/ \sqrt{\varepsilon} \geq 0.31$ or 0.71, and with stellar mass log$_{10}M_\star/M_\odot > 10^{11}$. We studied the color, merging history, AGN history, and environment in which these galaxies reside. Supermassive disk galaxies typically experience a quiescent merging history, with $48\%$ experiencing no significant mergers at $z \leq 1$. Their stellar mass growth is driven mainly by star formation, unlike spheroidal galaxies, which require a significant number of mergers to form. Moreover, the mergers experienced by disk galaxies are generally rich in gas content, irrespective of whether they are minor or major events. Supermassive disks exist across various environments, from isolation to clusters, with $\sim 60\%$ inhabiting in isolation or low-mass groups, $\sim 25\%$ residing in massive groups, and $\sim15\%$ residing within galaxy clusters. When studying the evolution of supermassive disks selected at $z=0.5$, we show that when they gain sufficient mass, the probability of them maintaining their disk-like structure up to $z=0$ is relatively high ($\sim 60\%$). Lastly, while AGN significantly influences the regulation of star formation in galaxies, it does not directly alter their morphological structure.

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arXiv2025

Insight into the physical processes that shape the metallicity profiles in galaxies

The distribution of chemical elements in the star-forming regions can store information on the chemical enrichment history of the galaxies. Negative metallicity gradients are expected in galaxies forming inside-out. However, observations show that the metallicity profiles can be broken. We aim to study the diversity of metallicity profiles that can arise in the current cosmological context and compare them with available observations. We also seek to identify the physical processes responsible for breaks in metallicity profiles by using two galaxies as case studies. We analyze central galaxies from the cosmological simulations of the CIELO project, within the stellar mass range [$10^{8.5}$, $10^{10.5}$] M$_\odot$ at $z=0$. A new algorithm, DB-A, was developed to fit multiple power laws to the metallicity profiles, enabling a flexible assessment of metallicity gradients in various galactic regions. The simulations include detailed modeling of gas, metal-dependent cooling, star formation, and supernova feedback. At $z=0$, we find diverse profile shapes, including inner and outer drops and rises, with some galaxies exhibiting double breaks. Gradient values align with observations. A temporal analysis of Local Group analogs shows inner and outer breaks occurring at all cosmic times, with outer breaks being more frequent. Metallicity gradients show high variability at high redshift, transitioning to mild evolution at lower redshift. Most inner breaks show central oxygen enhancement, linked to gas accretion and star formation. Inner drops result from disrupted gas due to feedback-driven outflows. Outer breaks with high metallicities arise from re-accreted material, extended star formation, and CGM-driven gas mixing. Outer drops are common at high redshift, linked to metal-poor gas accretion from cold flows. We highlight the complex interplay of these processes which often act together.

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arXiv2024

Unveiling the formation channels of stellar halos through their chemical fingerprints

Stellar halos around galaxies contain key information about their formation and assembly history. Using simulations, we can trace the origins of different stellar populations in these halos, contributing to our understanding of galaxy evolution. We aim to investigate the assembly of stellar halos and their chemical abundances in 28 galaxies from CIELO project with logMgal[9 and 11]Msun. Stellar halos were identified using the AM E method, focusing on the outer regions between the 1.5 optical radius and the virial radius. We divided the stellar populations based on their formation channel: exsitu, endodebris, and insitu, and analyzed their chemical abundances, ages, and spatial distributions. Additionally, we explored correlations between halo mass, metallicity, and alpha element enrichment. CIELO simulations reveal that stellar halos are predominantly composed of accreted material (exsitu and endodebris stars), in agreement with previous works. The mass fraction of these populations is independent of stellar halo mass, though their metallicities scale linearly with it. Exsitu stars tend to dominate the outskirts and be more alpha rich and older, while endodebris stars are more prevalent at lower radii and tend to be less alpha rich and slightly younger. Massive stellar halos require a median of five additional satellites to build 90 percent of their mass, compared to lower mass halos, which typically need fewer (median of 2.5) and lower-mass satellites and are assembled earlier. The diversity of accreted satellite histories results in well defined stellar halo mass metallicity and [alpha/Fe] [Fe/H] relations, offering a detailed view of the chemical evolution and assembly history of stellar halos. We find that the [alpha/Fe] [Fe/H] is more sensitive to the characteristics and star formation history of the contributing satellites than the stellar halo mass metallicity relationship

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