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Yetli Rosas-Guevara

Publications and source records attributed to Yetli Rosas-Guevara.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Stellar bar occurrence in TNG50 and TNG100: disentangling environmental effects and assembly history at z = 0

In this work, we investigate the dependence of bar presence on environment using TNG50 and TNG100 simulations at z=0. We select disc galaxies within $2 R_{200}$, with stellar mass M$_{\star} \geq 10^{10}$ M$_{\odot}$ (TNG100) and M$_{\star} \geq 10^{9}$ M$_{\odot}$ (TNG50). With these criteria, our final samples consist of 1719 and 859 satellite galaxies in TNG100 and TNG50, respectively. The environment is characterised by host halo mass: massive (M$_{\rm h} \geq 10^{14}$ M$_{\odot}$), intermediate ($10^{13} < \rm M_{\rm h} < 10^{14}$ M$_{\odot}$), and low-mass haloes (M$_{\rm h} \leq 10^{13}$ M$_{\odot}$). We find that our samples recover the morphology-density relation, with thin disc fractions increasing with cluster-centric distance and decreasing halo mass. The bar fraction and the bar length normalized by the effective radius decrease mildly with cluster-centric distance, while absolute bar lengths remain constant. At fixed distance, the bar fraction increases with halo mass, partly because more massive galaxies reside in more massive haloes. In addition, we find that galaxies with earlier assembly times show a higher bar fraction, especially within $0.5 R_{200}$, suggesting a connection between earlier assembly and a higher probability of hosting a bar. Overall, we find a mild environmental dependence, with a stronger connection to stellar mass and assembly history.

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Bulgeless Evolution And the Rise of Discs (BEARD) II. The role of mergers in shaping the Milky Way analogues in TNG50

We study the formation and evolution of bulgeless galaxies within the Milky Way-Andromeda analogue sample of the TNG50 simulation. Through kinematic decomposition with Mordor, we identified bulgeless galaxies with a bulge-to-disc mass ratio of B/D<0.08, in line with the Bulgeless Evolution And the Rise of Discs (BEARD) survey and Milky Way constraints. We compared them to bulge-dominated galaxies (B/D>1). We find that 74% of bulgeless galaxies experience at least one major merger (stellar mass ratio 1:4) over their lifetime. Bulgeless galaxies form later ($z_{50}\sim 0.7$) than bulge-dominated counterparts ($z_{50}\sim1.2$). Bulgeless galaxies have lower-mass haloes and higher specific stellar angular momentum, compatible with Milky Way observations. However, specific star formation rates and hydrogen gas fractions are slightly higher than Milky Way observations. Our analysis of the redshift evolution of stellar components reveals that bulgeless galaxies have gradual disc growth with high thin disc-to-total mass ratios (D/T>0.5) since $z\sim 1$ and minimal bulge growth (B/T<0.1) since $z\sim1.5$. In contrast, bulge-dominated galaxies have earlier disc formation, which is disrupted, resulting in higher morphology evolution. Bulgeless galaxies are more likely to undergo gas-rich, coplanar, and corotating mergers, promoting disc survival, compared to bulge-dominated galaxies that encounter a broader spectrum of mergers. We also observed differences in galaxy structure between bulgeless and bulge-dominated galaxies without major mergers, suggesting the relevance of early gas accretion and alignment. Bulgeless galaxies have younger stellar populations and more extended star formation histories than bulge-dominated galaxies, which rapidly quench and have older stellar populations. These findings elucidate the distinct merger-driven and secular pathways that give rise to Milky Way galaxies.

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Bulgeless Evolution And the Rise of Discs (BEARD) III. A numerical simulation view of satellites around Milky-Way analogues

$Aims$. The existence of massive disc galaxies with little or no bulge challenges conventional $Λ$ cold dark matter model, which typically favours dynamically hot central structures due to early collapse and mergers. The study of these bulgeless disc galaxies is the aim of the Bulgeless Evolution And the Rise of Discs (BEARD) survey, as they offer a unique opportunity to investigate the link between galaxy morphology and the properties of their satellite systems. $Methods$. Using the high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamical simulation TNG50-1, we studied the satellite populations of 135 bulgeless galaxies. We compared their satellite properties to those of a bulge-dominated control sample with matched stellar masses. Our analysis focuses on satellite abundance, luminosity functions, spatial distribution, orbital alignment, and infall histories. $Results$. We find that satellite abundance is largely independent of host galaxy morphology. However, satellites around bulgeless galaxies exhibit luminosity functions with a steeper faint-end slope, are more centrally concentrated, and show stronger orbital alignment with the host disc plane. The orbital alignment originates from coherent post-infall dynamical evolution that depends on host galaxy morphology. The infall of more massive satellites can additionally perturb this process, contributing to a weakening or temporary stalling of the secular alignment. $Conclusions$. Due to the co-evolution of the host galaxy and the satellite system, the morphology of the central galaxy leaves a clear imprint on its satellite system. Bulgeless galaxies tend to have dynamically colder, more aligned, and more centrally concentrated satellite populations. These trends reflect a more quiet merger history and support the use of satellite properties as tracers of host galaxy formation pathways.

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The impact of cosmic voids on AGN activity

From the Eagle project, we study the properties of galaxies hosting AGN in cosmic voids and their surrounding structures, filaments and walls, at $z=0$, comparing them to non-AGN galaxies in similar environments. We found that the AGN fraction decreases as a function of void-centric distance, with void galaxies displaying the highest AGN fraction (12\%), and galaxies in denser environments, showing the lowest AGN fraction (6.7\%), consistent with observations. The AGN fraction is particularly high in most massive void galaxies when controlling for stellar mass. When comparing AGN host galaxies to inactive ones, we find that AGN galaxies tend to have slightly more massive SMBHs, higher specific star formation rates, and reside in higher-mass haloes at a given stellar mass than non-AGN galaxies. At $\rm M_{*} > \rm 10^{10.2} \rm M_{\odot}$, AGN hosts in voids tend to have slightly more massive SMBHs than those in denser environments. Otherwise, the AGN population does not show a clear trend in relation to the global environment. In contrast, non-AGN void galaxies host more massive SMBHs, slightly higher sSFRs, and are located in more massive haloes than those in denser environments. Analysing the recent merger histories of both AGN and non-AGN populations, we find that a larger fraction of massive AGN galaxies have undergone major mergers compared to non-AGN galaxies, regardless of environment. Notably, AGN galaxies in voids show a higher frequency of recent mergers, especially major mergers, than their counterparts in other environments, especially at high stellar mass. Our results suggest that the evolution of SMBHs in voids is closely related to that of their host galaxies and their surrounding environment, while the most recent AGN activity is more strongly linked to recent interactions.

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Study of barred galaxies in IllustrisTNG100: the case of low surface brightness galaxies

In this work, we compare the presence of stellar bars in low and high surface brightness galaxies (LSBs and HSBs, respectively) using the TNG100 simulation of the IllustrisTNG project. The sample consists of 4,244 disc galaxies at $z=0$ with stellar mass M$\star \geq 10^{10}$ M$\odot$. We find a bar fraction of $24 \pm 1.73 \%$ in LSBs, similar to the $28 \pm 0.74\%$ found in HSBs, consistent with observations. For a given stellar mass range, HSBs consistently exhibit a higher bar fraction compared to LSBs, except at M$\star > 10^{11}$ M$\odot$, where the difference vanishes. To explore the origin of this trend and its relation to host galaxy properties, we construct several control samples matched in stellar mass, spin, gas mass fraction, and bulge-to-total mass ratio. For galaxies with M$\star<10^{11}$ M$\odot$, the lower bar fraction in LSBs appears to be associated with their higher spin and gas content -factors known to inhibit bar formation and growth. At the high mass end, only the bulge-to-total mass ratio is capable of enhancing the bar fraction difference, although its effect is limited. We also study the role of the local environment through the tidal parameter. Our results suggest that, unlike in HSBs, where the bar fraction remains largely unaffected, tidal interactions may promote bar formation in LSBs, albeit with a smaller impact than the intrinsic physical properties. These findings provide insight into the physical conditions that shape the presence of bars in LSBs.

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Galaxy formation physics behind bar formation: A view from cosmological hydrodynamical simulations

We present a suite of zoom-in cosmological simulations of Milky Way-like galaxies with a prominent disc component and a strong bar in their centre, based on a subsample of barred galaxies from the TNG50 magneto-hydrodynamic simulation. We modify the physical models that regulate star formation, namely, supernova feedback and black hole quasar feedback, to examine how they affect the disc and bar formation. We find that, independently of the feedback prescriptions, all galaxies show a similar morphology, which is dominant in comparison with the bulge mass. The black hole quasar feedback models used in this study do not affect bar formation, although they can affect the bar strength and length. The energy released by the supernovae causes a delay in the time of bar formation and, in models with the strongest feedback, galaxies form stable discs against bar formation. This could be understood since supernova feedback influences disc and bulge assembly, resulting in discs with lower mass content, radial velocity dispersion and larger size as the supernova feedback strength increases. We study disc stability using three bar instability criteria proposed in the literature. We find that galaxies with varied supernovae and black hole quasar feedback satisfy these criteria at the moment of bar formation, except in extreme cases where the galaxy lacks or has weak supernova feedback. In these models, two of three criteria fail to forecast the existence (or absence) of a bar, probably because they do not account for the influence of a massive and compact bulge. Our findings provide insights into the physical processes behind bar formation and highlight the importance of additional conditions, other than a massive and compact disc that promote bar formation.

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Large-scale dual AGN in large-scale cosmological hydrodynamical simulations

Detecting dual active galactic nuclei (DAGN) in observations and understanding theoretically which massive black holes (MBHs) compose them and in which galactic and large-scale environment they reside are becoming increasingly important questions as we enter the multi-messenger era of MBH astronomy. This paper presents the abundance and properties of DAGN produced in nine large-scale cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. We focus on DAGN powered by AGN with Lbol > 1e43 erg/s and belonging to distinct galaxies, i.e. pairs that can be characterised with current and near-future electromagnetic observations. We find that the number density of DAGN separated by a few to 30 proper kpc varies from 1e-8 (or none) to 1e-3 comoving Mpc^3 in the redshift range z=0-7. At a given redshift, the densities of the DAGN numbers vary by up to two orders of magnitude from one simulation to another. However, for all simulations, the DAGN peak is in the range z=1-3, right before the peak of cosmic star formation or cosmic AGN activity. The corresponding fractions of DAGN (with respect to the total number of AGN) range from 0 to 6 percent. We find that simulations could produce too few DAGN at z=0 (or merge pairs too quickly) compared to current observational constraints while being consistent with preliminary constraints at high redshift (z = 3). Next-generation observatories (e.g., AXIS) will be of paramount importance to detect DAGN across cosmic times. We predict the detectability of DAGN with future X-ray telescopes and discuss DAGN as progenitors for future LISA gravitational wave detections.

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The rise and fall of bars in disc galaxies from $z=1$ to $z=0$. The role of the environment

We investigate the influence of the environment on the evolution of barred and unbarred disc galaxies with a mass $>10^{10}\Msun$ from z=1 down to z=0, employing the TNG50 magnetic-hydrodynamical simulation. We find that 49% of z=1 disc galaxies undergoes a morphological transformation, transitioning into either a lenticular or spheroidal, while the other 51% retains the massive disc. The morphological alteration is mostly influenced by the environment. Lenticular and spheroidal galaxies tend to exist in denser environments and have more frequent mergers compared to disc galaxies. We find that over half of the barred galaxies (60.2%) retain the bar structure and have experienced fewer mergers compared to those galaxies that lose their bars (5.6%). These latter ones start with weaker and shorter bars at z=1 influenced by tidal interactions and are frequently observed in more populated areas. Additionally, our study reveals that less than 20% of unbarred galaxies will never develop a bar and exhibit the quietest merger history. Unbarred galaxies that experience bar formation after z=1 exhibit more frequent instances of merging events. Furthermore, tidal interactions with a close companion may account for bar formation in at least one-third of the cases. Our findings highlight that stable bars are prevalent in disc galaxies. Bar evolution may nonetheless be affected by the environment. Interactions with nearby companions or tidal forces caused by mergers have the capacity to disrupt the disc. This perturbance may materialise as the dissolution of the bar, the formation of a bar, or, in its most severe form, the complete destruction of the disc, resulting in morphological transformation. Bars that are weak and short at z=1 and undergo major or minor mergers may eventually dissolve, whereas unbarred galaxies that enter crowded environments or experience a merger may develop a bar.

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Revealing the properties of void galaxies and their assembly using the EAGLE simulation

We explore the properties of central galaxies living in voids using the EAGLE cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. Based on the minimum void-centric distance, we define four galaxy samples: inner void, outer void, wall, and skeleton. We find that inner void galaxies with host halo masses $<10^{12}M_\odot$ have lower stellar mass and stellar mass fractions than those in denser environments, and the fraction of galaxies with star formation (SF) activity and atomic hydrogen (HI) gas decreases with increasing void-centric distance, in agreement with observations. To mitigate the influence of stellar (halo) mass, we compare inner void galaxies to subsamples of fixed stellar (halo) mass. Compared to denser environments, inner void galaxies with $M_{*}= 10^{[9.0-9.5]}M_\odot$ have comparable SF activity and HI gas fractions, but the lowest quenched galaxy fraction. Inner void galaxies with $M_{*}= 10^{[9.5-10.5]}M_\odot$ have the lowest HI gas fraction, the highest quenched fraction and the lowest gas metallicities. On the other hand, inner void galaxies with $M_{*}>10^{10.5}M_\odot$ have comparable SF activity and HI gas fractions to their analogues in denser environments. They retain the highest metallicity gas that might be linked to physical processes that act with lower efficiency in underdense regions, such as AGN feedback. Furthermore, inner void galaxies have the lowest fraction of positive gas-phase metallicity gradients, which are typically associated with external processes or feedback events, suggesting they have more quiet merger histories than galaxies in denser environments. Our findings shed light on how galaxies are influenced by their large-scale environment.

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Testing the key role of the stellar mass-halo mass relation in galaxy merger rates and morphologies via DECODE, a novel Discrete statistical sEmi-empiriCal mODEl

The relative roles of mergers and star formation in regulating galaxy growth are still a matter of intense debate. We here present our DECODE, a new Discrete statistical sEmi-empiriCal mODEl specifically designed to predict rapidly and efficiently, in a full cosmological context, galaxy assembly and merger histories for any given input stellar mass-halo mass (SMHM) relation. DECODE generates object-by-object dark matter merger trees (hence discrete) from accurate subhalo mass and infall redshift probability functions (hence statistical) for all subhaloes, including those residing within other subhaloes, with virtually no resolution limits on mass or volume. Merger trees are then converted into galaxy assembly histories via an input, redshift dependent SMHM relation, which is highly sensitive to the significant systematics in the galaxy stellar mass function and on its evolution with cosmic time. DECODE can accurately reproduce the predicted mean galaxy merger rates and assembly histories of hydrodynamic simulations and semi-analytic models, when adopting in input their SMHM relations. In the present work we use DECODE to prove that only SMHM relations implied by stellar mass functions characterized by large abundances of massive galaxies and significant redshift evolution, at least at $M_\star \gtrsim 10^{11} \, M_\odot$, can simultaneously reproduce the local abundances of satellite galaxies, the galaxy (major merger) pairs since $z \sim 3$, and the growth of Brightest Cluster Galaxies. The same models can also reproduce the local fraction of elliptical galaxies, on the assumption that these are strictly formed by major mergers, but not the full bulge-to-disc ratio distributions, which require additional processes.

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Milky Way-like galaxies: stellar population properties of dynamically defined disks, bulges and stellar halos

The formation of galaxies can be understood in terms of the assembly patterns of each type of galactic component. To perform this kind of analysis, is necessary to define some criteria to separate those components. Decomposition methods based on dynamical properties are more physically motivated than photometry-based ones. We use the unsupervised Gaussian Mixture model of \texttt{galactic structure finder} to extract the components of a sub-sample of galaxies with Milky Way-like masses from the EAGLE simulations. A clustering in the space of first and second order dynamical moments of all identified substructures reveals five types of galaxy components: thin and thick disks, stellar halos, bulges and spheroids. We analyse the dynamical, morphological and stellar population properties of these five component types, exploring to what extent these properties correlate with each other, and how much they depend on the total galaxy stellar and dark matter halo masses. All galaxies contain a bulge, a stellar halo and a disk. 60% of objects host two disks (thin and thick), and 68% host also a spheroid. The dynamical disk-to-total ratio does not depend on stellar mass, but the median rotational velocities of the two disks do. Thin disks are well separated in stellar ages, [Fe/H] and $α$-enhancement from the three dispersion-dominated components, while thick disks are in between. Except for thin disks, all components show correlations among their stellar population properties: older ages mean lower metallicities and larger $α$-enhancement. Finally, we quantify the weak dependence of stellar population properties on each component's dynamics.

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Morphological decomposition of TNG50 galaxies: methodology and catalogue

We present MORDOR (MORphological DecOmposeR, a new algorithm for structural decomposition of simulated galaxies based on stellar kinematics. The code measures the properties of up to five structural components (a thin/cold and a thick/warm disc, a classical and a secular bulge, and a spherical stellar halo), and determines the properties of a stellar bar (if present). A comparison with other algorithms presented in the literature yields overall good agreement, with MORDOR displaying a higher flexibility in correctly decomposing systems and identifying bars in crowded environments (e.g. with ongoing fly-bys, often observable in cosmological simulations). We use MORDOR to analyse galaxies in the TNG50 simulation and find the following: ($i$) the thick disc component undergoes the strongest evolution in the binding energy-circularity plane, as expected when disc galaxies decrease their turbulent-rotational support with cosmic time; ($ii$) smaller galaxies (with stellar mass, $10^{9} \lesssim M_{*} / {\rm M_{\odot}} \leq 5 \times 10^{9}$) undergo a major growth in their disc components after $z\sim 1$, whereas ($iii$) the most massive galaxies ($5 \times 10^{10} < M_{*} / {\rm M_{\odot}} \leq 5\times10^{11}$) evolve toward more spheroidal dominated objects down to $z=0$ due to frequent gravitational interactions with satellites; ($iv$) the fraction of barred galaxies grows rapidly at high redshift and stabilizes below $z\sim 2$, except for the most massive galaxies that show a decrease in the bar occupation fraction at low redshift; ($v$) galaxies with $M_{*} \sim 10^{11}~{\rm M_{\odot}}$ exhibit the highest relative occurrence of bars at $z=0$, in agreement with observational studies. We publicly release MORDOR and the morphological catalogue of TNG50 galaxies.

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Disc instability and bar formation: view from the IllustrisTNG simulations

We make use of z = 0 samples of strongly barred and unbarred disc galaxies from the TNG100 and TNG50 cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to assess the performance of the simple disc instability criterion proposed by Efstathiou, Lake & Negroponte (1982) (ELN-criterion). We find that strongly barred galaxies generally assemble earlier, are more star-dominated in their central regions, and have more massive and more compact discs than unbarred galaxies. The ELN-criterion successfully identifies ~75% and ~80% of the strongly barred and the unbarred galaxies, respectively. Strongly barred galaxies that the criterion fails to identify tend to have more extended discs, higher spin values and bars that assembled later than is typical for the bulk of the barred population. The bars in many of these cases appear to be produced by an interaction with a close neighbour (i.e. to be externally triggered) rather than to result from secular growth in the disc. On the other hand, we find that unbarred galaxies misclassified as barred by the ELN-criterion typically have stellar discs similar to those of barred galaxies, although more extended in the vertical direction and less star-dominated in their central regions, possibly reflecting later formation times. In addition, the bulge component of these galaxies is significantly more prominent at early times than in the strongly barred sample. Thus, the ELN-criterion robustly identifies secular bar instabilities in most simulated disc galaxies, but additional environmental criteria are needed to account for interaction-induced bar formation.

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The evolution of the barred galaxy population in the TNG50 simulation

We use the magnetic-hydrodynamical simulation TNG50 to study the evolution of barred massive disc galaxies. Massive spiral galaxies are already present as early as $z=4$, and bar formation takes place already at those early times. The bars grow longer and stronger as the host galaxies evolve, with the bar sizes increasing at a pace similar to that of the disc scale lengths. The bar fraction mildly evolves with redshift for galaxies with $M_{*}\geq10^{10}M\odot$, being greater than $\sim40\%$ at $0.5<z<3$ and $\sim30\%$ at $z=0$. When bars larger than a given physical size ($\geq 2\,\rm kpc$) or the angular resolution limit of twice the I-band angular PSF FWHM of the HST are considered, the bar fraction dramatically decreases with increasing redshift, reconciling the theoretical predictions with observational data. We find that barred galaxies have an older stellar population, lower gas fractions and star formation rates than unbarred galaxies. In most cases, the discs of barred galaxies assembled earlier and faster than the discs of unbarred galaxies. We also find that barred galaxies are typical in haloes with larger concentrations and smaller spin parameters than unbarred galaxies. Furthermore, the inner regions of barred galaxies are more baryon-dominated than those of unbarred galaxies but have comparable global stellar mass fractions. Our findings suggest that the bar population could be used as a potential tracer of the buildup of disc galaxies and their host haloes. With this paper, we release a catalogue of barred galaxies in TNG50 at $6$ redshifts between $z=4$ and $z=0$.

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The buildup of strongly barred galaxies in the TNG100 simulation

We analyse the properties of strongly barred disc galaxies using the TNG100 simulation, a cosmological hydrodynamical realisation of the IllustrisTNG suite. We identify 270 disc galaxies at $z=0$ in the stellar mass range $M_{*}=10^{10.4-11}M_{\odot}$, of which 40 per cent are barred. Of the detected bars, more than half are strong. We find that the fraction of barred galaxies increases with stellar mass, in agreement with observational results. Strongly barred galaxies exhibit, overall, lower gas-to-stellar mass ratios compared to unbarred galaxies. The majority of barred galaxies are quenched (sSFR $\sim10^{-11.7} $yr$^{-1}$), whereas unbarred galaxies continue to be active (sSFR $\sim10^{-10.3}$yr$^{-1}$) on the main sequence of star-forming galaxies. We explore the evolution of strongly barred and unbarred galaxies to investigate their formation and quenching histories. We find that strong bars form between $0.5< z< 1.5$, with more massive galaxies hosting older bars. Strong bars form in galaxies with an early-established prominent disc component, undergoing periods of enhanced star formation and black hole accretion, possibly assisted by cosmological inflows. Unbarred galaxies, on the other hand, assemble most of their mass and disc component at late times. The nuclear region of strongly barred galaxies quenches shortly after bar formation, while unbarred galaxies remain active across time. Our findings are indicative of bar quenching, possibly assisted by nuclear feedback processes. We conclude that the cosmological environment, together with small scale feedback processes, determine the chances of a galaxy to form a bar and to rapidly quench its central region.

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The evolution of the oxygen abundance gradients in star-forming galaxies in the EAGLE simulations

We analyse the evolution of the oxygen abundance gradient of star-forming galaxies with stellar mass Mstar > 10^9 Mo in the EAGK simulation over the redshift range z=[0, 2.5]. We find that the median metallicity gradient of the simulated galaxies is close to zero at all z, whereas the scatter around the median increases with z. The metallicity gradients of individual galaxies can evolve from strong to weak and vice-versa, since mostly low-metallicity gas accretes onto the galaxy, resulting in enhanced star formation and ejection of metal enriched gas by energy feedback. Such episodes of enhanced accretion, mainly dominated by major mergers, are more common at higher z, and hence contribute to increasing the diversity of gradients. For galaxies with negative metallicity gradients, we find a redshift evolution of ~ -0.03 dex/kpc/δz$. A positive mass dependence is found at z< 0.5, which becomes slightly stronger for higher redshifts and, mainly, for Mstar < 10^9.5 Mo. Only galaxies with negative metallicity gradients define a correlation with galaxy size, consistent with an inside-out formation scenario. Our findings suggest that major mergers and/or significant gas accretion can drive strong negative or positive metallicity gradients. The first ones are preferentially associated with disc-dominated galaxies, and the second ones with dispersion-dominated systems. The comparison with forthcoming observations at high redshift will allow a better understanding of the potential role of metallicity gradients as a chemical probe of galaxy formation.

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Supermassive black holes in cosmological simulations II: the AGN population and predictions for upcoming X-ray missions

In large-scale hydrodynamical cosmological simulations, the fate of massive galaxies is mainly dictated by the modeling of feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN). The amount of energy released by AGN feedback is proportional to the mass that has been accreted onto the BHs, but the exact sub-grid modeling of AGN feedback differs in all simulations. Whilst modern simulations reliably produce populations of quiescent massive galaxies at z<2, it is also crucial to assess the similarities and differences of the responsible AGN populations. Here, we compare the AGN population of the Illustris, TNG100, TNG300, Horizon-AGN, EAGLE, and SIMBA simulations. The AGN luminosity function (LF) varies significantly between simulations. Although in agreement with current observational constraints at z=0, at higher redshift the agreement of the LFs deteriorates with most simulations producing too many AGN of L_{x, 2-10 keV}~10^43-10^44 erg/s. AGN feedback in some simulations prevents the existence of any bright AGN with L_{x, 2-10 keV}>=10^45 erg/s (although this is sensitive to AGN variability), and leads to smaller fractions of AGN in massive galaxies than in the observations at z<=2. We find that all the simulations fail at producing a number density of AGN in good agreement with observational constraints for both luminous (L_{x, 2-10 keV}~10^43-10^45 erg/s) and fainter (L_{x, 2-10 keV}~10^42-10^43 erg/s) AGN, and at both low and high redshift. These differences can aid us in improving future BH and galaxy subgrid modeling in simulations. Upcoming X-ray missions (e.g., Athena, AXIS, and LynX) will bring faint AGN to light and new powerful constraints. After accounting for AGN obscuration, we find that the predicted number density of detectable AGN in future surveys spans at least one order of magnitude across the simulations, at any redshift.

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Supermassive black holes in cosmological simulations I: M_BH-M_star relation and black hole mass function

The past decade has seen significant progress in understanding galaxy formation and evolution using large-scale cosmological simulations. While these simulations produce galaxies in overall good agreement with observations, they employ different sub-grid models for galaxies and supermassive black holes (BHs). We investigate the impact of the sub-grid models on the BH mass properties of the Illustris, TNG100, TNG300, Horizon-AGN, EAGLE, and SIMBA simulations, focusing on the M_BH-M_star relation and the BH mass function. All simulations predict tight M_BH-M_star relations, and struggle to produce the lowest (M_BH< 10^7.5 Msun) in galaxies of M_star~10^10.5-10^11.5 Msun. While the time evolution of the mean M_BH-M_star relation is mild (<1 dex in BH mass for 0 10^9 Msun in most of the simulations. The BH mass function is dominated by efficiently accreting BHs (log10 f_Edd >-2$) at high redshifts, and transitions progressively from the high-mass to the low-mass end to be governed by inactive BHs. The transition time and the contribution of active BHs are different among the simulations, and can be used to evaluate models against observations.

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