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Federico Marinacci

Publications and source records attributed to Federico Marinacci.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Bursty Star Formation in Dwarfs is Sensitive to Numerical Choices in Supernova Feedback Models

Simulations of galaxy formation are mostly unable to resolve the energy-conserving phase of individual supernova events, having to resort to subgrid models to distribute the energy and momentum resulting from stellar feedback. However, the properties of these simulated galaxies, including the morphology, stellar mass formed and the burstiness of the star formation history, are highly sensitive to numerical choices adopted in these subgrid models. Using the {\small SMUGGLE} stellar feedback model, we compute idealized simulations of a $M_{\rm vir} \sim 10^{10} \, \msun$ dwarf galaxy, a regime where most simulation codes predict significant burstiness in star formation, resulting in strong gas flows that lead to the formation of dark matter cores. We find that by varying only the directional distribution of momentum imparted from supernovae to the surrounding gas, while holding the total momentum per supernova constant, bursty star formation may be amplified or completely suppressed, and the total stellar mass formed can vary by as much as a factor of $\sim 3$. In particular, when momentum is primarily directed perpendicular to the gas disk, less bursty and lower overall star formation rates result, yielding less gas turbulence, more disky morphologies and a retention of cuspy dark matter density profiles. An improved understanding of the non-linear coupling of stellar feedback into inhomogeneous gaseous media is thus needed to make robust predictions for stellar morphologies and dark matter core formation in dwarfs independent of uncertain numerical choices in the baryonic treatment.

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Auriga Streams II: orbital properties of tidally disrupting satellites of Milky Way-mass galaxies

Galaxies like the Milky Way are surrounded by complex populations of satellites at all stages of tidal disruption. In this paper, we present a dynamical study of the disrupting satellite galaxies in the Auriga simulations that are orbiting 28 distinct Milky Way-mass hosts across three resolutions. We find that the satellite galaxy populations are highly disrupted. The majority of satellites that remain fully intact at present day were accreted recently without experiencing more than one pericentre ($n_{\rm peri} \lesssim 1$) and have large apocentres ($r_{\rm apo} \gtrsim 200$ kpc) and pericentres ($r_{\rm peri} \gtrsim 50$ kpc). The remaining satellites have experienced significant tidal disruption and, given full knowledge of the system, would be classified as stellar streams. We find stellar streams in Auriga across the range of pericentres and apocentres of the known Milky Way dwarf galaxy streams and, interestingly, overlapping significantly with the Milky Way intact satellite population. We find no significant change in satellite orbital distributions across resolution. However, we do see substantial halo-to-halo variance of $(r_\text{peri}, r_\text{apo})$ distributions across host galaxies, as well as a dependence of satellite orbits on host halo mass - systems disrupt at larger pericentres and apocentres in more massive hosts. Our results suggest that either cosmological simulations (including, but not limited to, Auriga) are disrupting satellites far too readily, or that the Milky Way's satellites are more disrupted than current imaging surveys have revealed. Future observing facilities and careful mock observations of these systems will be key to revealing the nature of this apparent discrepancy.

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The Ultraviolet Slopes of Early Universe Galaxies: The Impact of Bursty Star Formation, Dust, and Nebular Continuum Emission

JWST has enabled the detection of the UV continuum of galaxies at z>10, evidencing a population of extremely blue, potentially dust-free galaxies. Interpreting the UV spectra of galaxies as they redden is complicated by the well-known degeneracy between stellar ages, dust, and nebular continuum. The main goal of this paper is to develop a theoretical model for the relationship between galaxy UV slopes, bursty star formation histories, dust evolution, and the contribution from nebular regions. We accomplish this via cosmological zoom-in simulations, and in specific, build a layered model where we simulate the UV slopes of galaxies with increasingly complex physics. Our main results follow. (i) Unattenuated stellar populations with no nebular emission exhibit a diverse range of intrinsic UV slopes, with values ranging from beta ~ -3 --> -2.2 due to long delays between bursts. This is manifested by an inverse correlation between the intrinsic UV slope and sSFR for early galaxies such that higher sSFR corresponds to bluer UV slopes. (ii) When including dust, our model galaxies demonstrate a rapid rise in dust obscuration between z ~ 8-10. This increase in dust mass is due to high grain-grain shattering rates, and enhanced growth per unit dust mass in very small grains, resulting in UV-detected galaxies at z ~ 12 descending into ALMA-detectable galaxies by z ~ 6. The rapid rise in dust content at z ~ 8-10 leads to a systematic reddening of the UV slopes during this redshift range. (iii) The inclusion of nebular continuum reddens the UV slope by a median factor Delta beta ~ 0.2-0.4. However, when including nebular continuum, our highest redshift galaxies (z~12) are insufficiently blue compared to observations; this may imply an evolving escape fraction from HII regions with redshift.

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The Supersonic Project: Early Star Formation with the Streaming Velocity

At high redshifts ($z\gtrsim12$), the relative velocity between baryons and dark matter (the so-called streaming velocity) significantly affects star formation in low-mass objects. Streaming substantially reduces the abundance of low-mass gas objects while simultaneously allowing for the formation of supersonically-induced gas objects (SIGOs) and their associated star clusters outside of dark matter halos. Here, we present a study of the population-level effects of streaming on star formation within both halos and SIGOs in a set of simulations with and without streaming. Notably, we find that streaming actually enhances star formation within individual halos of all masses at redshifts between $z=12$ and $z=20$. This is demonstrated both as an increased star formation rate per object as well as an enhancement of the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation for objects with streaming. We find that our simulations are consistent with some observations at high redshift, but on a population level, they continue to under-predict star formation relative to the majority of observations. Notably, our simulations do not include feedback, and so can be taken as an upper limit on the star formation rate, exacerbating these differences. However, simulations of overdense regions (both with and without streaming) agree with observations, suggesting a strategy for extracting information about the overdensity and streaming velocity in a given survey volume in future observations.

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Overview and public data release of the augmented Auriga Project: cosmological simulations of dwarf and Milky Way-mass galaxies

We present an extended suite of the Auriga cosmological gravo-magnetohydrodynamical "zoom-in" simulations of 40 Milky Way-mass halos and 26 dwarf galaxy-mass halos run with the moving-mesh code Arepo. Auriga adopts the $Λ$ Cold Dark Matter ($Λ$CDM) cosmogony and includes a comprehensive galaxy formation physics model following the coupled cosmic evolution of dark matter, gas, stars, and supermassive black holes which has been shown to produce numerically well-converged galaxy properties for Milky Way-mass systems. We describe the first public data release of this augmented suite of Auriga simulations, which includes raw snapshots, group catalogues, merger trees, initial conditions, and supplementary data, as well as public analysis tools with worked examples of how to use the data. To demonstrate the value and robustness of the simulation predictions, we analyse a series of low-redshift global properties that compare well with many observed scaling relations, such as the Tully-Fisher relation, the star-forming main sequence, and HI gas fraction/disc thickness. Finally, we show that star-forming gas discs appear to build rotation and velocity dispersion rapidly for $z\gtrsim 3$ before they "settle" into ever-increasing rotation-dispersion ratios ($V/σ$). This evolution appears to be in rough agreement with some kinematic measurements from H$α$ observations, and demonstrates an application of how to utilise the released data.

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Cosmological gas accretion history onto the stellar discs of Milky Way-like galaxies in the Auriga simulations -- (II) The inside-out growth of discs

We investigate the growth of stellar discs in Milky Way-mass galaxies using the magnetohydrodynamical simulations of the Auriga Project in a full cosmological context. We focus on the gas accretion process along the discs, calculating the net, infall and outflow rates as a function of galactocentric distance, and investigate the relation between them and the star formation activity. The stellar distributions of around 70% of the simulated galaxies exhibit an ``inside-out'' pattern, with older (younger) stellar populations preferentially located in the inner (outer) disc regions. In all cases, we find a very tight correlation between the infall, outflow and net accretion rates, as well as between these three quantities and the star formation rate. This is because the amount of gas which is ultimately available for star formation in each radial ring depends not only on the infall rates, but also on the amount of gas leaving the disc in outflows, which directly relates to the local star formation level. Therefore, any of these rates can be used to identify galaxies with inside-out growth. For these galaxies, the correlation between the dominant times of accretion/star formation and disc radius is well fitted by a linear function. We also find that, when averaged over galaxies with formation histories similar to the Milky Way, the simulated accretion rates show a similar evolution (both temporally- and radially-integrated) to the usual accretion prescriptions used in chemical evolution models, although some major differences arise at early times and in the inner disc regions.

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Stellar populations and origin of thick disks in AURIGA simulations

The origin of thick disks and their evolutionary connection with thin disks are still a matter of debate. We provide new insights into this topic by connecting the stellar populations of thick disks at redshift $z=0$ with their past formation and growth, in 24 Milky Way-mass galaxies from the AURIGA zoom-in cosmological simulations. We projected each galaxy edge on, and decomposed it morphologically into two disk components, in order to define geometrically the thin and the thick disks as usually done in observations. We produced age, metallicity and [Mg/Fe] edge-on maps. We quantified the impact of satellite mergers by mapping the distribution of ex-situ stars. Thick disks are on average $\sim 3$~Gyr older, $\sim 0.25$~dex more metal poor and $\sim 0.06$~dex more [Mg/Fe]-enhanced than thin disks. Their average ages range from $\sim 6$ to $\sim 9$~Gyr, metallicities from $\sim -0.15$ to $\sim 0.1$~dex, and [Mg/Fe] from $\sim 0.12$ to $\sim 0.16$~dex. These properties are the result of an early initial in-situ formation, followed by a later growth driven by the combination of direct accretion of stars, some in-situ star formation fueled by mergers, and dynamical heating of stars. The balance between these processes varies from galaxy to galaxy. Mergers play a key role in the mass assembly of thick disks, contributing an average accreted mass fraction of $\sim 22$\% in the analyzed thick-disk dominated regions. In two galaxies, about half of the geometric thick-disk mass was directly accreted. While primordial thick disks form at high redshift in all galaxies, young metal-rich thin disks, with much lower [Mg/Fe] abundances, start to form later but at different times (higher or lower redshift) depending on the galaxy. We conclude that thick disks result from the interplay of external processes with the internal evolution of the galaxy.

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Insight into the Galactic Bulge Chemodynamical Properties from Gaia DR3

We explore the chemodynamical properties of the Galaxy in the azimuthal velocity $V_ϕ$ and metallicity [Fe/H] space using red giant stars from Gaia Data Release 3. The row-normalized $V_ϕ$-[Fe/H] maps form a coherent sequence from the bulge to the outer disk, clearly revealing the thin/thick disk and the Splash. The metal-rich stars display bar-like kinematics while the metal-poor stars show dispersion-dominated kinematics. The intermediate-metallicity population ($-1<$[Fe/H]$<-0.4$) can be separated into two populations, one that is bar-like, i.e. dynamically cold ($σ_{V_R}\sim80$ $\rm km\ s^{-1}$) and fast rotating ($V_ϕ\gtrsim100$ $\rm km\ s^{-1}$), and the Splash, which is dynamically hot ($σ_{V_R}\sim110$ $\rm km\ s^{-1}$) and slow rotating ($V_ϕ\lesssim100$ $\rm km\ s^{-1}$). We compare the observations in the bulge region with an Auriga simulation where the last major merger event occurred $\sim10$ Gyr ago: only stars born around the time of the merger reveal a Splash-like feature in the $V_ϕ$-[Fe/H] space, suggesting that the Splash is likely merger-induced, predominantly made-up of heated disk stars and the starburst associated with the last major merger. Since the Splash formed from the proto-disk, its lower metallicity limit coincides with that of the thick disk. The bar formed later from the dynamically hot disk with [Fe/H] $>-1$ dex, with the Splash not participating in the bar formation and growth. Moreover, with a set of isolated evolving $N$-body disk simulations, we confirm that a non-rotating classical bulge can be spun up by the bar and develop cylindrical rotation, consistent with the observation for the metal-poor stars.

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Evolution and distribution of superbubbles in simulated Milky Way-like galaxies

Stellar feedback plays a crucial role in regulating baryon cycles of a galactic ecosystem, and may manifest itself in the formation of superbubbles in the interstellar medium. In this work, we used a set of high-resolution simulations to systematically study the properties and evolution of superbubbles in galactic environments. The simulations were based on the SMUGGLE galaxy formation framework using the hydrodynamical moving-mesh code Arepo, reaching a spatial resolution of $\sim 4 \, \rm pc$ and mass resolution of $\sim 10^3 \, \rm M_{\odot}$. We identified superbubbles and tracked their time evolution using the parent stellar associations within the bubbles. The X-ray luminosity-size distribution of superbubbles in the fiducial run is largely consistent with the observations of nearby galaxies. The size of superbubbles shows a double-peaked distribution, with the peaks attributed to early feedback (radiative and stellar wind feedback) and supernova feedback. The early feedback tends to suppress the subsequent supernova feedback, and it is strongly influenced by star formation efficiency, which regulates the environmental density. Our results show that the volume filling factor of hot gas ($T > 10^{5.5} ~\mathrm{K}$) is about $12 \%$ averaged over a region of 4 kpc in height and 20 kpc in radius centered on the disk of the galaxy. Overall, the properties of superbubbles are sensitive to the choice of subgrid galaxy formation models and can, therefore, be used to constrain these models.

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AGN feedback in isolated galaxies with a SMUGGLE multiphase ISM

Feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) can strongly impact the host galaxies by driving high-velocity winds that impart substantial energy and momentum to the interstellar medium (ISM). In this work, we study the impact of these winds in isolated galaxies using high-resolution hydrodynamics simulations. Our simulations use the explicit ISM and stellar evolution model called Stars and MUltiphase Gas in GaLaxiEs (SMUGGLE). Additionally, using a super-Lagrangian refinement scheme, we resolve AGN feedback coupling to the ISM at $\sim$10-100 pc scales. We find that AGN feedback efficiently regulates the growth of SMBHs. However, its effect on star formation and outflows depends strongly on the relative strengths of AGN vs local stellar feedback and the geometrical structure of the gas disk. When the energy injected by AGN is subdominant to that of stellar feedback, there are no significant changes in the star formation rates or mass outflow rates of the host galaxy. Conversely, when the energy budget is dominated by the AGN, we see a significant decline in the star formation rates accompanied by an increase in outflows. Galaxies with thin gas disks like the Milky Way allow feedback to escape easily into the polar directions without doing much work on the ISM. In contrast, galaxies with thick and diffuse gas disks confine the initial expansion of the feedback bubble within the disk, resulting in more work done on the ISM. Phase space analysis indicates that outflows primarily comprise hot and diffuse gas, with a lack of cold and dense gas.

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Cosmological evolution of metallicity correlation functions from the Auriga simulations

We study the cosmological evolution of the two-point correlation functions of galactic gas-phase metal distributions using the 28 simulated galaxies from the Auriga Project. Using mock observations of the $z = 0$ snapshots to mimic our past work, we show that the correlation functions of the simulated mock observations are well matched to the correlation functions measured from local galaxy surveys. This comparison suggests that the simulations capture the processes important for determining metal correlation lengths, the key parameter in metallicity correlation functions. We investigate the evolution of metallicity correlations over cosmic time using the true simulation data, showing that individual galaxies undergo no significant systematic evolution in their metal correlation functions from $z\sim 3$ to today. In addition, the fluctuations in metal correlation length are correlated with but lag ahead fluctuations in star formation rate. This suggests that re-arrangement of metals within galaxies occurs at a higher cadence than star formation activity, and is more sensitive to the changes of environment, such as galaxy mergers, gas inflows / outflows, and fly-bys.

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The density of the Milky Way's corona at $z\approx 1.6$ through ram pressure stripping of the Draco dSph galaxy

Satellite galaxies within the Milky Way's (MW) virial radius $R_{\mathrm{vir}}$ are typically devoid of cold gas due to ram pressure stripping by the MW's corona. The density of this corona is poorly constrained today and essentially unconstrained in the past, but can be estimated using ram pressure stripping. In this paper, we probe the MW corona at $z\approx 1.6$ using the Draco dwarf spheroidal galaxy. We assume that i) Draco's orbit is determined by its interaction with the MW, whose dark matter halo we evolve in time following cosmologically-motivated prescriptions, ii) Draco's star formation was quenched by ram pressure stripping and iii) the MW's corona is approximately smooth, spherical and in hydrostatic equilibrium. We used GAIA proper motions to set the initial conditions and Draco's star formation history to estimate its past gas content. We found indications that Draco was stripped of its gas during the first pericentric passage. Using 3D hydrodynamical simulations at a resolution that enables us to resolve individual supernovae and assuming no tidal stripping, which we estimate to be a minor effect, we find a density of the MW corona $\geq 8\times 10^{-4}$ cm$^{-3}$ at a radius $\approx 0.72R_{\mathrm{vir}}$. This provides evidence that the MW's corona was already in place at $z\approx 1.6$ and with a higher density than today. If isothermal, this corona would have contained all the baryons expected by the cosmological baryon fraction. Extrapolating to today shows good agreement with literature constraints if feedback has removed $\lesssim 30$% of baryons accreted onto the halo.

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The Supersonic Project: Lighting up the faint end of the JWST UV luminosity function

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is capable of probing extremely early eras of our Universe when the supersonic relative motions between dark matter and baryonic overdensities modulate structure formation ($z>\sim 10$). We study low-mass galaxy formation including this "stream velocity" using high resolution AREPO hydrodynamics simulations, and present theoretical predictions of the UV luminosity function (UVLF) and galaxy stellar mass function (GSMF) down to extremely faint and low mass galaxies ($M_{UV}>\sim-15$, $10^4M_\odot<=M_*<=10^8 M_\odot)$. We show that, although the stream velocity suppresses early star formation overall, it induces a short period of rapid star formation in some larger dwarfs, leading to an enhancement in the faint-end of the UVLF at $z=12$. We demonstrate that JWST observations are close to this enhanced regime, and propose that the UVLF may constitute an important probe of the stream velocity at high redshift for JWST and future observatories.

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Low- and High-velocity \ion{O}{6} in Milky Way-like Galaxies: the Role of Stellar Feedback

Milky Way-type galaxies are surrounded by a warm-hot gaseous halo containing a considerable amount of baryons and metals. The kinematics and spatial distribution of highly-ionized ion species such as \ion{O}{6} can be significantly affected by supernova (SN) explosions and early (pre-SN) stellar feedback (e.g., stellar winds, radiation pressure). Here, we investigate effects of stellar feedback on \ion{O}{6} absorptions in Milky Way-like galaxies by analyzing the suites of high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations under the framework of {\it SMUGGLE}, a physically motivated subgrid interstellar medium and stellar feedback model for the moving-mesh code {\sc Arepo}. We find that the fiducial run with the full suite of stellar feedback and moderate star formation activities can reasonably reproduce Galactic \ion{O}{6} absorptions observed by space telescopes such as {\it FUSE}, including the scale height of low-velocity ($|v_{\rm LSR}|< 100\, \rm km~s^{-1}$) \ion{O}{6}, the column density $-$ line width relation for high-velocity ($100 \leq |v_{\rm LSR}|< 400\, \rm km~s^{-1}$) \ion{O}{6}, and the cumulative \ion{O}{6} column densities. In contrast, model variations with more intense star formation activities deviate from observations further. Additionally, we find that the run considering only SN feedback is in broad agreement with the observations, whereas in runs without SN feedback this agreement is absent, which indicates a dominant role of SN feedback in heating and accelerating interstellar \ion{O}{6}. This is consistent with the current picture that interstellar \ion{O}{6} is predominantly produced by collisional ionization where mechanical feedback can play a central role. In contrast, photoionization is negligible for \ion{O}{6} production due to the lack of high-energy ($\gtrsim114\ {\rm eV}$) photons required.

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Outshining by Recent Star Formation Prevents the Accurate Measurement of High-z Galaxy Stellar Masses

In this paper, we demonstrate that the inference of galaxy stellar masses via spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting techniques for galaxies formed in the first billion years after the Big Bang carries fundamental uncertainties owing to the loss of star formation history (SFH) information from the very first episodes of star formation in the integrated spectra of galaxies. While this early star formation can contribute substantially to the total stellar mass of high-redshift systems, ongoing star formation at the time of detection outshines the residual light from earlier bursts, hampering the determination of accurate stellar masses. As a result, order of magnitude uncertainties in stellar masses can be expected. We demonstrate this potential problem via direct numerical simulation of galaxy formation in a cosmological context. In detail, we carry out two cosmological simulations with significantly different stellar feedback models which span a significant range in star formation history burstiness. We compute the mock SEDs for these model galaxies at z=7 via 3D dust radiative transfer calculations, and then backwards fit these SEDs with Prospector SED fitting software. The uncertainties in derived stellar masses that we find for z>7 galaxies motivate the development of new techniques and/or star formation history priors to model early Universe star formation.

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An Exploration of AGN and Stellar Feedback Effects in the Intergalactic Medium via the Low Redshift Lyman-$α$ Forest

We explore the role of galactic feedback on the low redshift Lyman-$α$ (Ly$α$)~forest ($z \lesssim 2$) statistics and its potential to alter the thermal state of the intergalactic medium. Using the Cosmology and Astrophysics with Machine Learning Simulations (CAMELS) suite, we explore variations of the AGN and stellar feedback models in the IllustrisTNG and Simba sub-grid models. We find that both AGN and stellar feedback in Simba play a role in setting the Ly$α$ forest column density distribution function (CDD) and the Doppler width ($b$-value) distribution. The Simba AGN jet feedback mode is able to efficiently transport energy out to the diffuse IGM causing changes in the shape and normalization of the CDD and a broadening of the $b$-value distribution. We find that stellar feedback plays a prominent role in regulating supermassive black hole growth and feedback, highlighting the importance of constraining stellar and AGN feedback simultaneously. In IllustrisTNG, the AGN feedback variations explored in CAMELS do not affect the Ly$α$ forest, but varying the stellar feedback model does produce subtle changes. Our results imply that the low-$z$ Ly$α$ forest can be sensitive to changes in the ultraviolet background (UVB), stellar and black hole feedback, and that AGN jet feedback in particular can have a strong effect on the thermal state of the IGM.

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The impact of the Large Magellanic Cloud on dark matter direct detection signals

We study the effect of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) on the dark matter (DM) distribution in the Solar neighborhood, utilizing the Auriga magneto-hydrodynamical simulations of Milky Way (MW) analogues that have an LMC-like system. We extract the local DM velocity distribution at different times during the orbit of the LMC around the MW in the simulations. As found in previous idealized simulations of the MW-LMC system, we find that the DM particles in the Solar neighborhood originating from the LMC analogue dominate the high speed tail of the local DM speed distribution. Furthermore, the native DM particles of the MW in the Solar region are boosted to higher speeds as a result of a response to the LMC's motion. We simulate the signals expected in near future xenon, germanium, and silicon direct detection experiments, considering DM interactions with target nuclei or electrons. We find that the presence of the LMC causes a considerable shift in the expected direct detection exclusion limits towards smaller cross sections and DM masses, with the effect being more prominent for low mass DM. Hence, our study shows, for the first time, that the LMC's influence on the local DM distribution is significant even in fully cosmological MW analogues.

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How Nested Bars Enhance, Modulate, and are Destroyed by Gas Inflows

Gas flows in the presence of two independently-rotating nested bars remain not fully understood, which is likely to play an important role in fueling the central black hole. We use high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations with detailed models of subgrid physics to study this problem. Our results show that the inner bar in double-barred galaxies can help drive gas flow from the nuclear ring to the center. In contrast, gas inflow usually stalls at the nuclear ring in single-barred galaxies. The inner bar causes a quasi-periodic inflow with a frequency determined by the difference between the two bar pattern speeds. We find that the star formation rate is higher in the model with two bars than in that with one bar. The inner bar in our model gradually weakens and dissolves due to gas inflow over a few billion years. Star formation produces metal-rich/$α$-poor stars which slows the weakening of the inner bar, but does not halt its eventual decay. We also present a qualitative comparison of the gas morphology and kinematics in our simulations with those of observed double-barred galaxies.

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