The properties of satellite galaxies in simulations of galaxy formation Export

@article{citeulike:5712253, abstract = {We investigate the properties of satellite galaxies in cosmological N-body/SPH simulations of galaxy formation in Milky Way-sized haloes. Because of their shallow potential wells, satellite galaxies are very sensitive to heating processes which affect their gas content. Their properties can therefore be used to constrain the nature of feedback processes that regulate galaxy formation. In our simulations, we assume that all the energy produced by supernovae is used as kinetic energy to drive galactic winds. Several of our simulations produce bright, disc-dominated galaxies. We find that wind models in which the wind speed, v\_w, is proportional to local velocity dispersion of dark matter, sigma, (and thus the wind mass-loading, eta\_w \propto sigma^{-2}) have episodic star formation histories, reproduce the observed satellite luminosity function quite well (down to M\_v=-7) and match the luminosity-metallicity relation observed in the Local Group satellites. By contrast, models that assume a constant wind speed overproduce faint satellites and predict an incorrect luminosity-metallicity relation. Our simulations therefore suggest that the feedback processes that operate on the scale of satellite galaxies should generate galactic outflows whose intensity varies inversely with the depth of the potential.}, archivePrefix = {arXiv}, author = {Okamoto, Takashi and Frenk, Carlos S. and Jenkins, Adrian and Theuns, Tom}, citeulike-article-id = {5712253}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://arxiv.org/abs/0909.0265}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://arxiv.org/pdf/0909.0265}, day = {1}, eprint = {0909.0265}, keywords = {circumgalactica, dwarf\_gallaxies, galactic\_formation}, month = {Sep}, posted-at = {2009-09-03 12:01:09}, priority = {2}, title = {The properties of satellite galaxies in simulations of galaxy formation}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/0909.0265}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:5712253 L3 - citeulike-article-id:5712253 N2 - We investigate the properties of satellite galaxies in cosmological N-body/SPH simulations of galaxy formation in Milky Way-sized haloes. Because of their shallow potential wells, satellite galaxies are very sensitive to heating processes which affect their gas content. Their properties can therefore be used to constrain the nature of feedback processes that regulate galaxy formation. In our simulations, we assume that all the energy produced by supernovae is used as kinetic energy to drive galactic winds. Several of our simulations produce bright, disc-dominated galaxies. We find that wind models in which the wind speed, v_w, is proportional to local velocity dispersion of dark matter, sigma, (and thus the wind mass-loading, eta_w \propto sigma^{-2}) have episodic star formation histories, reproduce the observed satellite luminosity function quite well (down to M_v=-7) and match the luminosity-metallicity relation observed in the Local Group satellites. By contrast, models that assume a constant wind speed overproduce faint satellites and predict an incorrect luminosity-metallicity relation. Our simulations therefore suggest that the feedback processes that operate on the scale of satellite galaxies should generate galactic outflows whose intensity varies inversely with the depth of the potential. TI - The properties of satellite galaxies in simulations of galaxy formation KW - circumgalactica KW - dwarf_gallaxies KW - galactic_formation AU - Okamoto, Takashi AU - Frenk, Carlos AU - Jenkins, Adrian AU - Theuns, Tom PY - 2009/Sep/01/ UR - http://arxiv.org/abs/0909.0265 ER -