The E-MOSAICS project: simulating the formation and co-evolution of galaxies and their star cluster populations

Pfeffer, Joel; Kruijssen, J. M. Diederik; Crain, Robert A.; Bastian, Nate

doi:10.1093/mnras/stx3124

Cited by 267 publications

(524 citation statements)

References 176 publications

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“…However, the wide dynamical range needed to be resolved (from subpc to several mega-pc scales) are outside the reach of current numerical simulation capabilities. Important efforts to follow the formation of stellar clusters are starting to shed light on such connection, but are limited to the scale of individual galaxies (Pfeffer et al 2018;Li et al 2017;Renaud et al 2017;Carlberg 2018;Kruijssen et al 2019), higher redshifts (Kim et al 2018) or idealized galaxy mergers set-ups (Karl et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is because our model is calibrated to reproduce the z = 0 content of GCs around galaxies, meaning that those GCs that were disrupted after birth are never part of our sample. This is advantageous since the modeling of such destruction processes can be cumbersome and requires many free parameters (Pfeffer et al 2018;El-Badry et al 2019;Choksi & Gnedin 2019b). Therefore, although our method is not able to inform about such processes affecting the early lifetime of GCs, it is also free from the uncertainties inherent to their modeling.…”

Section: Gc Massmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, due to the expensive calculations the run is stopped at high redshift (z = 5) and is not suitable for comparisons of nearby GCs in the local Universe. Several theoretical efforts are currently underway that couple the formation and evolution of stellar clusters to the star particles formed in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations (Li et al 2017;Renaud et al 2017;Li et al 2018;Pfeffer et al 2018;Li & Gnedin 2019). However, the price to pay for such an approach is high, as it requires resolving the necessary conditions for molecular clouds formation and their posterior tidal evolution at the sub-pc level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Simulating the spatial distribution and kinematics of globular clusters within galaxy clusters in illustris

Ramos

Sales

Abadi

et al. 2020

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We study the assembly of globular clusters (GCs) in 9 galaxy clusters using the cosmological simulation Illustris. GCs are tagged to individual galaxies at infall time and their tidal removal and distribution within the cluster is followed later self-consistently by the simulation. The method relies on the simple assumption of a single power-law relation between halo mass (M vir ) and mass in GCs (M GC ) as found in observations. We find that the GCs specific frequency S N as a function of V-band magnitude naturally reproduces the observed "U"-shape, due to the combination of a power law M GC -M vir relation and the non-linear M * -M vir relation from the simulation. Additional scatter in the S N values are traced back to galaxies with early infall times due to the evolution in the M * -M vir relation with redshift. GCs that have been tidally removed from their galaxies form today the intra-cluster component from which about ∼ 60% were brought in by galaxies that orbit today within the cluster potential. The remaining "orphan" GCs are contributed by satellite galaxies with a wide range of stellar masses that are fully tidally disrupted at z = 0. This intra-cluster component is a good dynamical tracer of the dark matter potential providing an estimate of the velocity dispersion of the dark matter with 25% accuracy. As a consequence of the accreted nature of most intra-cluster GCs, their orbits are fairly radial with a predicted orbital anisotropy β ≥ 0.5. However, local tangential motions may appear as a consequence of localized substructure, providing a possible interpretation to the β < 0 values suggested in observations of M87 or NGC 1407. † Hellman Fellow cause of their inferred old ages (Vandenberg et al. 1996) clustered distribution around galaxies, they are believed to be surviving probes of the early star formation in the universe.GCs are, however, more metal poor than the bulk of the stars in their host galaxy. In fact, GCs display a wide range of colors and metallicities suggestive of a separation where the youngest and more metal rich GCs are formed insitu -and perhaps associated to major mergers-while the metal poor component is likely acquired hierarchically via the accretion of smaller galaxies (e.g.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Gc Massmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Simulating the spatial distribution and kinematics of globular clusters within galaxy clusters in illustris

Ramos

Sales

Abadi

et al. 2020

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…These simulated galaxies are not as extreme in sSFR as the LBDs, which at log M star = 7 have log(sSFR/yr −1 ) = −7. Zoom-in simulations of galaxy formation in a cosmological context were used to study cluster formation in Pfeffer et al (2017) using a detailed sub-grid prescription. The galaxies readily formed massive clusters because of their high ambient pressures.…”

Section: Evidence From Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Little Blue Dots in the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields: Precursors to Globular Clusters?

Elmegreen

2017

ApJL

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Galaxies with stellar masses < 10 7 M ⊙ and specific star formation rates sSFR > 10 −7 yr −1 were examined on images of the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Field Parallels for Abell 2744 and MACS J0416.1-02403. They appear as unresolved "Little Blue Dots" (LBDs). They are less massive and have higher sSFR than "blueberries" studied by Yang et al. (2017) and higher sSFR than "Blue Nuggets" studied by Tacchella et al. (2016). We divided the LBDs into 3 redshift bins and, for each, stacked the B435, V606, and I814 images convolved to the same stellar point spread function (PSF). Their radii were determined from PSF deconvolution to be ∼ 80 to ∼ 180 pc. The high sSFR suggest that their entire stellar mass has formed in only 1% of the local age of the universe. The sSFRs at similar epochs in local dwarf galaxies are lower by a factor of ∼ 100. Assuming that the star formation rate is ǫ ff M gas /t ff for efficiency ǫ ff , gas mass M gas , and free fall time, t ff , the gas mass and gas-to-star mass ratio are determined. This ratio exceeds 1 for reasonable efficiencies, and is likely to be ∼ 5 even with a high ǫ ff of 0.1. We consider whether these regions are forming today's globular clusters. With their observed stellar masses, the maximum likely cluster mass is ∼ 10 5 M ⊙ , but if star formation continues at the current rate for ∼ 10t ff ∼ 50 Myr before feedback and gas exhaustion stop it, then the maximum cluster mass could become ∼ 10 6 M ⊙ .

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“…9, and in the previous subsection may also support the dynamical friction scenario, as it provides a natural way to bring more metal-poor stellar populations to the center of the galaxy. The massive star clusters that can inspiral to NSCs appear to be more efficiently produced at low metallicities (Pfeffer et al 2018). Therefore, NSCs more metal-poor than their surrounding hosts are likely an expectation of dynamical friction-driven infall models.…”

Section: Globular Cluster Infall and Mergingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuclear Star Clusters

Neumayer

2015

Proc. IAU

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We review the current knowledge about nuclear star clusters (NSCs), the spectacularly dense and massive assemblies of stars found at the centers of most galaxies. Recent observational and theoretical work suggest that many NSC properties, including their masses, densities, and stellar populations vary with the properties of their host galaxies. Understanding the formation, growth, and ultimate fate of NSCs therefore is crucial for a complete picture of galaxy evolution. Throughout the review, we attempt to combine and distill the available evidence into a coherent picture of NSC evolution. Combined, this evidence points to a clear transition mass in galaxies of ∼ 10 9 M where the characteristics of nuclear star clusters change. We argue that at lower masses, NSCs are formed primarily from globular clusters that inspiral into the center of the galaxy, while at higher masses, star formation within the nucleus forms the bulk of the NSC. We also discuss the coexistence of NSCs and central black holes, and how their growth may be linked. The extreme densities of NSCs and their interaction with massive black holes lead to a wide range of unique phenomena including tidal disruption and gravitational wave events. Lastly, we review the evidence that many NSCs end up in the halos of massive galaxies stripped of the stars that surrounded them, thus providing valuable tracers of the galaxies' accretion histories.

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The E-MOSAICS project: simulating the formation and co-evolution of galaxies and their star cluster populations

Cited by 267 publications

References 176 publications

Simulating the spatial distribution and kinematics of globular clusters within galaxy clusters in illustris

Simulating the spatial distribution and kinematics of globular clusters within galaxy clusters in illustris

Little Blue Dots in the Hubble Space Telescope Frontier Fields: Precursors to Globular Clusters?

Nuclear Star Clusters

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