arXiv subjects

Santi Roca-Fàbrega

Publications and source records attributed to Santi Roca-Fàbrega.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

The AGORA High-resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project. III: Cosmological zoom-in simulation of a Milky Way-mass halo

We present a suite of high-resolution cosmological zoom-in simulations to $z=4$ of a $10^{12}\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$ halo at $z=0$, obtained using seven contemporary astrophysical simulation codes widely used in the numerical galaxy formation community. Physics prescriptions for gas cooling, heating, and star formation, are similar to the ones used in our previous {\it AGORA} disk comparison but now account for the effects of cosmological processes. In this work, we introduce the most careful comparison yet of galaxy formation simulations run by different code groups, together with a series of four calibration steps each of which is designed to reduce the number of tunable simulation parameters adopted in the final run. After all the participating code groups successfully completed the calibration steps, we reach a suite of cosmological simulations with similar mass assembly histories down to $z=4$. With numerical accuracy that resolves the internal structure of a target halo, we find that the codes overall agree well with one another in e.g., gas and stellar properties, but also show differences in e.g., circumgalactic medium properties. We argue that, if adequately tested in accordance with our proposed calibration steps and common parameters, the results of high-resolution cosmological zoom-in simulations can be robust and reproducible. New code groups are invited to join this comparison by generating equivalent models by adopting the common initial conditions, the common easy-to-implement physics package, and the proposed calibration steps. Further analyses of the simulations presented here will be in forthcoming reports from our Collaboration.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2021

OVI Traces Photoionized Streams With Collisionally Ionized Boundaries in Cosmological Simulations of $z \sim 1$ Massive Galaxies

We analyse the distribution and origin of OVI in the Circumgalactic Medium (CGM) of dark-matter haloes of $\sim 10^{12}$ M$_\odot$ at $z\sim1$ in the VELA cosmological zoom-in simulations. We find that the OVI in the inflowing cold streams is primarily photoionized, while in the bulk volume it is primarily collisionally ionized. The photoionized component dominates the observed column density at large impact parameters ($\gtrsim 0.3 R_{\rm vir}$), while the collisionally ionized component dominates closer in. We find that most of the collisional OVI, by mass, resides in the relatively thin boundaries of the photoionized streams. We discuss how the results are in agreement with analytic predictions of stream and boundary properties, and their compatibility with observations. This allows us to predict the profiles of OVI and other ions in future CGM observations and provides a toy model for interpreting them.

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arXiv2020

The AGORA high-resolution galaxy simulations comparison project: Public data release

As part of the AGORA High-resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project (Kim et al. 2014, 2016) we have generated a suite of isolated Milky Way-mass galaxy simulations using 9 state-of-the-art gravito-hydrodynamics codes widely used in the numerical galaxy formation community. In these simulations we adopted identical galactic disk initial conditions, and common physics models (e.g., radiative cooling and ultraviolet background by a standardized package). Subgrid physics models such as Jeans pressure floor, star formation, supernova feedback energy, and metal production were carefully constrained. Here we release the simulation data to be freely used by the community. In this release we include the disk snapshots at 0 and 500Myr of evolution per each code as used in Kim et al. (2016), from simulations with and without star formation and feedback. We encourage any member of the numerical galaxy formation community to make use of these resources for their research - for example, compare their own simulations with the AGORA galaxies, with the common analysis yt scripts used to obtain the plots shown in our papers, also available in this release.

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arXiv2018

The AGORA High-Resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project. II: Isolated Disk Test

Using an isolated Milky Way-mass galaxy simulation, we compare results from 9 state-of-the-art gravito-hydrodynamics codes widely used in the numerical community. We utilize the infrastructure we have built for the AGORA High-resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project. This includes the common disk initial conditions, common physics models (e.g., radiative cooling and UV background by the standardized package Grackle) and common analysis toolkit yt, all of which are publicly available. Subgrid physics models such as Jeans pressure floor, star formation, supernova feedback energy, and metal production are carefully constrained across code platforms. With numerical accuracy that resolves the disk scale height, we find that the codes overall agree well with one another in many dimensions including: gas and stellar surface densities, rotation curves, velocity dispersions, density and temperature distribution functions, disk vertical heights, stellar clumps, star formation rates, and Kennicutt-Schmidt relations. Quantities such as velocity dispersions are very robust (agreement within a few tens of percent at all radii) while measures like newly-formed stellar clump mass functions show more significant variation (difference by up to a factor of ~3). Systematic differences exist, for example, between mesh-based and particle-based codes in the low density region, and between more diffusive and less diffusive schemes in the high density tail of the density distribution. Yet intrinsic code differences are generally small compared to the variations in numerical implementations of the common subgrid physics such as supernova feedback. Our experiment reassures that, if adequately designed in accordance with our proposed common parameters, results of a modern high-resolution galaxy formation simulation are more sensitive to input physics than to intrinsic differences in numerical schemes.

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arXiv2016

GARROTXA Cosmological Simulations of Milky Way-sized Galaxies: General Properties, Hot Gas Distribution, and Missing Baryons

We introduce a new set of simulations of Milky Way-sized galaxies using the AMR code ART + hydrodynamics in a $Λ$CDM cosmogony. The simulation series is named GARROTXA and follow the formation of a halo/galaxy from z~$=$~60 to z~$=$~0. The final virial mass of the system is $\sim$7.4$\times$10$^{11}$M$_{\odot}$. Our results are as follows: (a) contrary to many previous studies, the circular velocity curve shows no central peak and overall agrees with recent MW observations. (b) Other quantities, such as M$\_{*}$(6$\times$10$^{10}$M$_\odot$) and R$_d$ (2.56 kpc), fall well inside the observational MW range. (c) We measure the disk-to-total ratio kinematically and find that D/T=0.42. (d) The cold gas fraction and star formation rate (SFR) at z=0, on the other hand, fall short from the values estimated for the Milky Way. As a first scientific exploitation of the simulation series, we study the spatial distribution of the hot X-ray luminous gas. We have found that most of this X-ray emitting gas is in a halo-like distribution accounting for an important fraction but not all of the missing baryons. An important amount of hot gas is also present in filaments. In all our models there is not a massive disk-like hot gas distribution dominating the column density. Our analysis of hot gas mock observations reveals that the homogeneity assumption leads to an overestimation of the total mass by factors 3 to 5 or to an underestimation by factors $0.7-0.1$, depending on the used observational method. Finally, we confirm a clear correlation between the total hot gas mass and the dark matter halo mass of galactic systems.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

A novel method to bracket the corotation radius in galaxy disks: vertex deviation maps

We map the kinematics of stars in simulated galaxy disks with spiral arms using the velocity ellipsoid vertex deviation (l$_v$). We use test particle simulations, and for the first time, fully self-consistent high resolution N-body models. We compare our maps with the Tight Winding Approximation model analytical predictions. We see that for all barred models spiral arms rotate closely to a rigid body manner and the vertex deviation values correlate with the density peaks position bounded by overdense and underdense regions. In such cases, vertex deviation sign changes from negative to positive when crossing the spiral arms in the direction of disk rotation, in regions where the spiral arms are in between corotation (CR) and the Outer Lindblad Resonance (OLR). By contrast, when the arm sections are inside the CR and outside the OLR, l$_v$ changes from negative to positive.We propose that measurements of the vertex deviations pattern can be used to trace the position of the main resonances of the spiral arms. We propose that this technique might exploit future data from Gaia and APOGEE surveys. For unbarred N-body simulations with spiral arms corotating with disk material at all radii, our analysis suggests that no clear correlation exists between l$_v$ and density structures.

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arXiv2013

On the galaxy spiral arms' nature as revealed by rotation frequencies

High resolution N-body simulations using different codes and initial condition techniques reveal two different behaviours for the rotation frequency of transient spiral arms like structures. Whereas unbarred disks present spiral arms nearly corotatingwith disk particles, strong barred models (bulged or bulge-less) quickly develop a bar-spiral structure dominant in density, with a pattern speed almost constant in radius. As the bar strength decreases the arm departs from bar rigid rotation and behaves similar to the unbarred case. In strong barred models we detect in the frequency space other subdominant and slower modes at large radii, in agreement with previous studies, however we also detect them in the configuration space. We propose that the distinctive behaviour of the dominant spiral modes can be exploited in order to constraint the nature of Galactic spiral arms by the astrometric survey GAIA and by 2-D spectroscopic surveys like CALIFA and MANGA in external galaxies.

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