Connecting Angular Momentum and Galactic Dynamics: The Complex Interplay Between Spin, Mass, and Morphology

Teklu, Adelheid F.; Remus, Rhea-Silvia; Dolag, K.; Beck, Alexander M.; Burkert, Andreas; Schmidt, Andreas S.; Schulze, Felix; Steinborn, Lisa K.

doi:10.1088/0004-637x/812/1/29

Cited by 251 publications

(296 citation statements)

References 112 publications

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“…In fact, their trend is similar to the one found in our sample, but only when we consider galaxies with M * 10 10 M . Because low-mass galaxies dominate in number compared to more massive systems, the signal prevails when the whole galaxy sample is considered at stellar masses M * 10 10 M , which is the case in Teklu et al (2015). Nevertheless, we highlight that, at least in our sample, the trend between morphology and halo spin does exist in dwarf galaxies, disappearing later for more massive systems, likely as a combination of more complex assembly histories and the increasingly important role of mergers.…”

Section: Halo Spinmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…Fall 1983;Romanowsky & Fall 2012;Obreschkow & Glazebrook 2014), as well as in hydrodynamic simulations of a ΛCDM cosmology (e.g. Genel et al 2015;Teklu et al 2015;Sokolowska et al 2016;Lagos et al 2017b). We caution, however, that most of the stellar angular momentum in Illustris galaxies with M * 10 11 M is found at very large radii, which means that the total stellar angular momentum does not directly measure the degree of rotational support in the central, most luminous regions of such galaxies.…”

Section: The Amount Of Rotational Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, however, Teklu et al (2015) studied the halo spin parameter of disc-and spheroid-dominated galaxies with M halo > 5 × 10 11 M (approximately M * 10 10 M ), finding a mild preference for disc-dominated galaxies to form in haloes with larger spin (see their figure 15). This is unlikely to be in contradiction with our work or with previous ones.…”

Section: Halo Spinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Initial attempts to verify this prediction in cosmological simulations suffered from numerical issues leading to a 'catastrophic' loss of angular momentum (Navarro, Frenk & White 1995), but more recent studies have been able to verify such a trend (e.g. Teklu et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The role of mergers and halo spin in shaping galaxy morphology

Rodríguez-Gómez

Sales

Genel

et al. 2017

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

189

157

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Mergers and the spin of the dark matter halo are factors traditionally believed to determine the morphology of galaxies within a ΛCDM cosmology. We study this hypothesis by considering approximately 18,000 central galaxies at z = 0 with stellar masses M * = 10 9 -10 12 M selected from the Illustris cosmological hydrodynamic simulation. The fraction of accreted stars -which measures the importance of massive, recent and dry mergers -increases steeply with galaxy stellar mass, from less than 5 per cent in dwarfs to 80 per cent in the most massive objects, and the impact of mergers on galaxy morphology increases accordingly. For galaxies with M * 10 11 M , mergers have the expected effect: if gas-poor they promote the formation of spheroidal galaxies, whereas gas-rich mergers favour the formation and survivability of massive discs. This trend, however, breaks at lower masses. For objects with M * 10 11 M , mergers do not seem to play any significant role in determining the morphology, with accreted stellar fractions and mean merger gas fractions that are indistinguishable between spheroidal and disc-dominated galaxies. On the other hand, halo spin correlates with morphology primarily in the least massive objects in the sample (M * 10 10 M ), but only weakly for galaxies above that mass. Our results support a scenario where (1) mergers play a dominant role in shaping the morphology of massive galaxies, (2) halo spin is important for the morphology of dwarfs, and (3) the morphology of medium-sized galaxies -including the Milky Way -shows little dependence on galaxy assembly history or halo spin, at least when these two factors are considered individually.

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Section: Halo Spinmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: The Amount Of Rotational Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Halo Spinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The role of mergers and halo spin in shaping galaxy morphology

Rodríguez-Gómez

Sales

Genel

et al. 2017

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

189

157

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show abstract

“…They found, in agreement with our results, that the retention factor of the early-type galaxies is approximately 30%. They also analysed the evolution track of a group of selected galaxies, finding that different processes, such as mergers, could drastically redistribute the angular momentum content (see also Teklu et al 2015). Therefore, bulges are formed by important contributions of low angular momentum material which might have lost it during the galaxy formation process ).…”

Section: Comparison With Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Angular momentum evolution for galaxies in a Λ-CDM scenario

Pedrosa

Tissera

2015

A&A

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Context. Galaxy formation in the current cosmological paradigm is a very complex process in which inflows, outflows, interactions, and mergers are common events. These processes can redistribute the angular momentum content of baryons. Recent observational results suggest that disc formed conserving angular momentum while elliptical galaxies, although they lose angular momentum, determine a correlation between the specific angular momentum of the galaxy and the stellar mass. These observations provide stringent constraints for galaxy formation models in a hierarchical clustering scenario. Aims. We aim to analyse the specific angular momentum content of the disc and bulge components as a function of virial mass, stellar mass, and redshift. We also estimate the size of the simulated galaxies and compare them with observations. Methods. We use cosmological hydrodynamical simulations that include an effective, physically motivated supernova feedback which is able to regulate the star formation in haloes of different masses. We analyse the morphology and formation history of a sample of galaxies in a cosmological simulation by performing a bulge-disc decomposition of the analysed systems and their progenitors. We estimate the angular momentum content of the stellar and gaseous discs, stellar bulges, and total baryons. Results. In agreement with recent observational findings, our simulated galaxies have disc and spheroid components whose specific angular momentum content determine correlations with the stellar and dark matter masses with the same slope, although the spheroidal components are offset by a fixed fraction. The average angular momentum efficiency for the simulated discs is η ∼ 1, while for bulges it is η ∼ 0.10−0.20. For the simulated sample, the correlations found for the specific angular momentum content as a function of virial mass or stellar mass are found not to evolve significantly with redshift (up to z ∼ 2). Both dynamical components seem to move along the correlations as they evolve. The total specific angular momentum of galaxies occupy different positions filling the gap between pure rotational-dominated and dispersion-dominated systems. The scaling relations derived from the simulated galaxies determine a similar relation with the virial radius, which is in agreement with recent observations.

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Gas Accretion and Angular Momentum

Stewart

2017

Gas Accretion Onto Galaxies

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In this chapter, we review the role of gas accretion to the acquisition of angular momentum, both in galaxies and in their gaseous halos. We begin by discussing angular momentum in dark matter halos, with a brief review of tidal torque theory and the importance of mergers, followed by a discussion of the canonical picture of galaxy formation within this framework, where halo gas is presumed to shock-heat to the virial temperature of the halo, following the same spin distribution as the dark matter halo before cooling to the center of the halo to form a galaxy there. In the context of recent observational evidence demonstrating the presence of high angular momentum gas in galaxy halos, we review recent cosmological hydrodynamic simulations that have begun to emphasize the role of "cold flow" accretionanisotropic gas accretion along cosmic filaments that does not shock-heat before sinking to the central galaxy. We discuss the implications of these simulations, reviewing a number of recent developments in the literature, and suggest a revision to the canonical model as it relates to the expected angular momentum content of gaseous halos around galaxies.

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Connecting Angular Momentum and Galactic Dynamics: The Complex Interplay Between Spin, Mass, and Morphology

Cited by 251 publications

References 112 publications

The role of mergers and halo spin in shaping galaxy morphology

The role of mergers and halo spin in shaping galaxy morphology

Angular momentum evolution for galaxies in a Λ-CDM scenario

Gas Accretion and Angular Momentum

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