arXiv subjects

Shihong Liao

Publications and source records attributed to Shihong Liao.

63 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

The optimal gravitational softening length for cosmological N-body simulations

Gravitational softening length is one of the key parameters to properly set up a cosmological $N$-body simulation. In this paper, we perform a large suit of high-resolution $N$-body simulations to revise the optimal softening scheme proposed by Power et al. (P03). Our finding is that P03 optimal scheme works well but is over conservative. Using smaller softening lengths than that of P03 can achieve higher spatial resolution and numerically convergent results on both circular velocity and density profiles. However using an over small softening length overpredicts matter density at the inner most region of dark matter haloes. We empirically explore a better optimal softening scheme based on P03 form and find that a small modification works well. This work will be useful for setting up cosmological simulations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

The first constraint from SDSS galaxy-galaxy weak lensing measurements on interacting dark energy models

We combine constraints from linear and nonlinear scales, for the first time, to study the interaction between dark matter and dark energy. We devise a novel N-body simulation pipeline for cosmological models beyond $Λ$CDM. This pipeline is fully self-consistent and opens a new window to study the nonlinear structure formation in general phenomenological interacting dark energy models. By comparing our simulation results with the SDSS galaxy-galaxy weak lensing measurements, we are able to constrain the strength of interaction between dark energy and dark matter. Compared with the previous studies using linear examinations, we point to plausible improvements on the constraints of interaction strength by using small scale information from weak lensing. This improvement is mostly due to the sensitivity of weak lensing measurements on nonlinear structure formation at low redshift. With this new pipeline, it is possible to look for smoking gun signatures of dark matter-dark energy interaction.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2019

Impact of filaments on galaxy formation in their residing dark matter haloes

We make use of a high-resolution zoom-in hydrodynamical simulation to investigate the impact of filaments on galaxy formation in their residing dark matter haloes. A method based on the density field and the Hoshen-Kopelman algorithm is developed to identify filaments. We show that cold and dense gas preprocessed by dark matter filaments can be further accreted into residing individual low-mass haloes in directions along the filaments. Consequently, comparing with field haloes, gas accretion is very anisotropic for filament haloes. About 30 percent of the accreted gas of a residing filament halo was preprocessed by filaments, leading to two different thermal histories for the gas in filament haloes. Filament haloes have higher baryon and stellar fractions when comparing with their field counterparts. Without including stellar feedback, our results suggest that filaments assist gas cooling and enhance star formation in their residing dark matter haloes at high redshifts (i.e. z=4.0 and 2.5).

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

A Fully Self-Consistent Cosmological Simulation Pipeline for Interacting Dark Energy Models

We devise a fully self-consistent simulation pipeline for the first time to study the interaction between dark matter and dark energy. We perform convergence tests and show that our code is accurate on different scales. Using the parameters constrained by Planck, Type Ia Supernovae, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) and Hubble constant observations, we perform cosmological N-body simulations. We calculate the resulting matter power spectra and halo mass functions for four different interacting dark energy models. In addition to the dark matter density distribution, we also show the inhomogeneous density distribution of dark energy. With this new simulation pipeline, we can further refine and constrain interacting dark energy models.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2018

An alternative method to generate pre-initial conditions for cosmological $N$-body simulations

Currently, grid and glass methods are the two most popular choices to generate uniform particle distributions (i.e., pre-initial conditions) for cosmological $N$-body simulations. In this article, we introduce an alternative method called the capacity constrained Voronoi tessellation (CCVT), which originates from computer graphics. As a geometrical equilibrium state, a CCVT particle configuration satisfies two constraints: (i) the volume of the Voronoi cell associated with each particle is equal; (ii) every particle is in the center-of-mass position of its Voronoi cell. We show that the CCVT configuration is uniform and isotropic, follows perfectly the minimal power spectrum, $P(k)\propto k^4$, and is quite stable under gravitational interactions. It is natural to incorporate periodic boundary conditions during CCVT making, therefore, we can obtain a larger CCVT by tiling with a small periodic CCVT. When applying the CCVT pre-initial condition to cosmological $N$-body simulations, we show that it plays as good as grid and glass schemes. The CCVT method will be helpful in studying the numerical convergence of pre-initial conditions in cosmological simulations. It can also be used to set up pre-initial conditions in smoothed-particle hydrodynamics simulations.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

A universal angular momentum profile for dark matter haloes

The angular momentum distribution in dark matter haloes and galaxies is a key ingredient in understanding their formation. Especially, the internal distribution of angular momenta is closely related to the formation of disk galaxies. In this article, we use haloes identified from a high-resolution simulation, the Bolshoi simulation, to study the spatial distribution of specific angular momenta, $j(r,θ)$. We show that by stacking haloes with similar masses to increase the signal-to-noise ratio, the profile can be fitted as a simple function, $j(r,θ)=j_s \sin^2(θ/θ_s) (r/r_s)^2/(1+r/r_s)^4 $, with three free parameters, $j_s, r_s$, and $θ_s$. Specifically, $j_s$ correlates with the halo mass $M_\mathrm{vir}$ as $j_s\propto M_\mathrm{vir}^{2/3}$, $r_s$ has a weak dependence on the halo mass as $r_s \propto M_\mathrm{vir}^{0.040}$, and $θ_s$ is independent of $M_\mathrm{vir}$. This profile agrees with that from a rigid shell model, though its origin is unclear. Our universal specific angular momentum profile $j(r,θ)$ is useful in modelling haloes' angular momenta. Furthermore, by using an empirical stellar mass - halo mass relation, we can infer the averaged angular momentum distribution of a dark matter halo. The specific angular momentum - stellar mass relation within a halo computed from our profile is shown to share a similar shape as that from the observed disk galaxies.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

Angular momentum - mass relation for dark matter haloes

We study the empirical relation between an astronomical object's angular momentum $J$ and mass $M$, $J=βM^α$, the $J-M$ relation, using N-body simulations. In particular, we investigate the time evolution of the $J-M$ relation to study how the initial power spectrum and cosmological model affect this relation, and to test two popular models of its origin - mechanical equilibrium and tidal torque theory. We find that in the $Λ$CDM model, $α$ starts with a value of $\sim 1.5$ at high redshift $z$, increases monotonically, and finally reaches $5/3$ near $z=0$, whereas $β$ evolves linearly with time in the beginning, reaches a maximum and decreases, and stabilizes finally. A three-regime scheme is proposed to understand this newly observed picture. We show that the tidal torque theory accounts for this time evolution behaviour in the linear regime, whereas $α=5/3$ comes from the virial equilibrium of haloes. The $J-M$ relation in the linear regime contains the information of the power spectrum and cosmological model. The $J-M$ relations for haloes in different environments and with different merging histories are also investigated to study the effects of a halo's non-linear evolution. An updated and more complete understanding of the $J-M$ relation is thus obtained.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2017

The segregation of baryons and dark matter during halo assembly

The standard galaxy formation theory assumes that baryons and dark matter are initially well-mixed before becoming segregated due to radiative cooling. We use non-radiative hydrodynamical simulations to explicitly examine this assumption and find that baryons and dark matter can also be segregated because of different physics obeyed by gas and dark matter during the build-up of the halo. As a result, baryons in many haloes do not originate from the same Lagrangian region as the dark matter. When using the fraction of corresponding dark matter and gas particles in the initial conditions (the "paired fraction") as a proxy of the dark matter and gas segregation strength of a halo, on average about $25$ percent of the baryonic and dark matter of the final halo are segregated in the initial conditions. This is at odds with the assumption of the standard galaxy formation model. A consequence of this effect is that the baryons and dark matter of the same halo initially experience different tidal torques and thus their angular momentum vectors are often misaligned. The degree of the misalignment is largely preserved during later halo assembly and can be understood with the tidal torque theory. The result challenges the precision of some semi-analytical approaches which utilize dark matter halo merger trees to infer properties of gas associated to dark matter haloes.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2017

A Universe of Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies: Theoretical Predictions from $Λ$CDM Simulations

A particular population of galaxies have drawn much interest recently, which are as faint as typical dwarf galaxies but have the sizes as large as $L^*$ galaxies, the so called "ultra-diffuse galaxie" (UDGs). The lack of tidal features of UDGs in dense environments suggests that their host halos are perhaps as massive as that of the Milky Way. On the other hand, galaxy formation efficiency should be much higher in the halos of such masses. Here we use the model galaxy catalog generated by populating two large simulations: the Millennium-II cosmological simulation and Phoenix simulations of 9 big clusters with the semi-analytic galaxy formation model. This model reproduces remarkably well the observed properties of UDGs in the nearby clusters, including the abundance, profile, color, and morphology, etc. We search for UDG candidates using the public data and find 2 UDG candidates in our Local Group and 23 in our Local Volume, in excellent agreement with the model predictions. We demonstrate that UDGs are genuine dwarf galaxies, formed in the halos of $\sim 10^{10}M_{\odot}$. It is the combination of the late formation time and high-spins of the host halos that results in the spatially extended feature of this particular population. The lack of tidal disruption features of UDGs in clusters can also be explained by their late infall-time.

astro-ph.GA↗