TY - JOUR
T1 - Fingerprints of the hierarchical building-up of the structure on the gas kinematics of galaxies
AU - De Rossi, M. E.
AU - Tissera, P. B.
AU - Pedrosa, S. E.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the anonymous referee for his/her useful comments that helped significantly to improve this paper. We thank Mario Abadi for useful comments. We acknowledge support from the PICT 32342 (2005), PICT 245-Max Planck (2006) of ANCyT (Argentina), PIP 2009-112-200901-00305 of CONICET (Argentina) and the L’oreal-Unesco-Conicet 2010 Prize. Simulations were run in Fenix and HOPE clusters at IAFE.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Context. Recent observational and theoretical works have suggested that the Tully-Fisher relation might be generalised to include dispersion-dominated systems by combining the rotation and dispersion velocity in the definition of the kinematical indicator. Mergers and interactions have been pointed out as responsible of driving turbulent and disordered gas kinematics, which could generate Tully-Fisher relation outliers. Aims. We investigated the gas kinematics of galaxies by using a simulated sample that includes gas-disc-dominated as well as spheroid-dominated systems. We paid particular attention to the scatter evolution of the Tully-Fisher relation. We also determined the gas-phase velocity indicator, which traces the potential well of the galaxy better. Methods. Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations that include a multiphase model and physically motivated supernova feedback were performed to follow the evolution of galaxies as they are assembled. We analysed the gas kinematics of the surviving gas discs to estimate all velocity indicators. Results. Both the baryonic and stellar Tully-Fisher relations for gas-disc-dominated systems are tight while, as more dispersion-dominated systems are included, the scatter increases. We found a clear correlation between σ/V rot and morphology, with dispersion-dominated systems exhibiting higher values (>0.7). Mergers and interactions can affect the rotation curves directly or indirectly, inducing a scatter in the Tully-Fisher relation larger than the simulated evolution since z ~ 3. Kinematical indicators, which combine rotation velocity and dispersion velocity, can reduce the scatter in the baryonic and the stellar mass-velocity relations. In particular, s 1.0 = (V rot 2 + σ 2) 0.5 seems to be the best tracer of the circular velocity at larger radii. Our findings also show that the lowest scatter in both relations is obtained if the velocity indicators are measured at the maximum of the rotation curve. Conclusions. In agreement with previous works, we found that the gas kinematics of galaxies is significantly regulated by mergers and interactions, which play a key role in inducing gas accretion, outflows and starbursts. The joint action of these processes within a hierarchical ΛCDM Universe generates a mean simulated Tully-Fisher relation in good agreement with observations since z ~ 3 but with a scatter depending on morphology. The rotation velocity estimated at the maximum of the gas rotation curve is found to be the best proxy for the potential well regardless of morphology.
AB - Context. Recent observational and theoretical works have suggested that the Tully-Fisher relation might be generalised to include dispersion-dominated systems by combining the rotation and dispersion velocity in the definition of the kinematical indicator. Mergers and interactions have been pointed out as responsible of driving turbulent and disordered gas kinematics, which could generate Tully-Fisher relation outliers. Aims. We investigated the gas kinematics of galaxies by using a simulated sample that includes gas-disc-dominated as well as spheroid-dominated systems. We paid particular attention to the scatter evolution of the Tully-Fisher relation. We also determined the gas-phase velocity indicator, which traces the potential well of the galaxy better. Methods. Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations that include a multiphase model and physically motivated supernova feedback were performed to follow the evolution of galaxies as they are assembled. We analysed the gas kinematics of the surviving gas discs to estimate all velocity indicators. Results. Both the baryonic and stellar Tully-Fisher relations for gas-disc-dominated systems are tight while, as more dispersion-dominated systems are included, the scatter increases. We found a clear correlation between σ/V rot and morphology, with dispersion-dominated systems exhibiting higher values (>0.7). Mergers and interactions can affect the rotation curves directly or indirectly, inducing a scatter in the Tully-Fisher relation larger than the simulated evolution since z ~ 3. Kinematical indicators, which combine rotation velocity and dispersion velocity, can reduce the scatter in the baryonic and the stellar mass-velocity relations. In particular, s 1.0 = (V rot 2 + σ 2) 0.5 seems to be the best tracer of the circular velocity at larger radii. Our findings also show that the lowest scatter in both relations is obtained if the velocity indicators are measured at the maximum of the rotation curve. Conclusions. In agreement with previous works, we found that the gas kinematics of galaxies is significantly regulated by mergers and interactions, which play a key role in inducing gas accretion, outflows and starbursts. The joint action of these processes within a hierarchical ΛCDM Universe generates a mean simulated Tully-Fisher relation in good agreement with observations since z ~ 3 but with a scatter depending on morphology. The rotation velocity estimated at the maximum of the gas rotation curve is found to be the best proxy for the potential well regardless of morphology.
KW - Galaxies: evolution
KW - Galaxies: formation
KW - Galaxies: structure
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84867052447&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1051/0004-6361/201118409
DO - 10.1051/0004-6361/201118409
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84867052447
VL - 546
JO - Astronomy and Astrophysics
JF - Astronomy and Astrophysics
SN - 0004-6361
M1 - A52
ER -