Bibcode
Dalla Vecchia, C.; Davis, Timothy A.; Barnes, David; Kay, Scott T.; Van de Sande, Jesse; Bahé, Yannick; Schaye, Joop; Lagos, C. del P.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 476, Issue 4, p.4327-4345
Advertised on:
6
2018
Description
Recent observations from integral field spectroscopy (IFS) indicate that
the fraction of galaxies that are slow rotators (SRs), FSR,
depends primarily on stellar mass, with no significant dependence on
environment. We investigate these trends and the formation paths of SRs
using the EAGLE and HYDRANGEA hydrodynamical simulations. EAGLE consists
of several cosmological boxes of volumes up to (100 Mpc)^3, while
HYDRANGEA consists of 24 cosmological simulations of galaxy clusters and
their environment. Together they provide a statistically significant
sample in the stellar mass range 10^{9.5}-10^{12.3} M_{⊙}, of 16 358
galaxies. We construct IFS-like cubes and measure stellar spin
parameters, λR, and ellipticities, allowing us to
classify galaxies into slow/fast rotators as in observations. The
simulations display a primary dependence of FSR on stellar
mass, with a weak dependence on environment. At fixed stellar mass,
satellite galaxies are more likely to be SRs than centrals.
FSR shows a dependence on halo mass at fixed stellar mass for
central galaxies, while no such trend is seen for satellites. We find
that ≈70 per cent of SRs at z = 0 have experienced at least one
merger with mass ratio ≥0.1, with dry mergers being at least twice
more common than wet mergers. Individual dry mergers tend to decrease
λR, while wet mergers mostly increase it. However, 30
per cent of SRs at z = 0 have not experienced mergers, and those inhabit
haloes with median spins twice smaller than the haloes hosting the rest
of the SRs. Thus, although the formation paths of SRs can be varied, dry
mergers and/or haloes with small spins dominate.