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We investigate stellar metallicity distribution functions (MDFs), including Fe and a-element abundances, in dwarf galaxies from the Feedback in Realistic Environment (FIRE) project. We examine both isolated dwarf galaxies and those that are satellites of a MilkyWay-mass galaxy. In particular, we study the effects of including a sub-grid turbulent model for the diffusion of metals in gas. Simulations that include diffusion have narrower MDFs and abundance ratio distributions, because diffusion drives individual gas and star particles towards the average metallicity. This effect provides significantly better agreement with observed abundance distributions in dwarf galaxies in the Local Group, including small intrinsic scatter in [α/Fe] versus [Fe/H] of ≲0.1 dex. This small intrinsic scatter arises in our simulations because the interstellar medium in dwarf galaxies is well mixed at nearly all cosmic times, such that stars that form at a given time have similar abundances to ≲0.1 dex. Thus, most of the scatter in abundances at z = 0 arises from redshift evolution and not from instantaneous scatter in the ISM. We find similar MDF widths and intrinsic scatter for satellite and isolated dwarf galaxies, which suggests that environmental effects play a minor role compared with internal chemical evolution in our simulations. Overall, with the inclusion of metal diffusion, our simulations reproduce abundance distribution widths of observed low-mass galaxies, enabling detailed studies of chemical evolution in galaxy formation.

We study the structure, age and metallicity gradients, and dynamical evolution using a cosmological zoom-in simulation of a Milky Way-mass galaxy from the Feedback in Realistic Environments project. In the simulation, stars older than 6 Gyr were formed in a chaotic, bursty mode and have the largest vertical scaleheights (1.5-2.5 kpc) by z = 0, while stars younger than 6 Gyr were formed in a relatively calm, stable disc. The vertical scaleheight increases with stellar age at all radii, because (1) stars that formed earlier were thicker 'at birth', and (2) stars were kinematically heated to an even thicker distribution after formation. Stars of the same age are thicker in the outer disc than in the inner disc (flaring). These lead to positive vertical age gradients and negative radial age gradients. The radial metallicity gradient is negative at the mid-plane, flattens at larger disc height |Z|, and turns positive above |Z| ~ 1.5 kpc. The vertical metallicity gradient is negative at all radii, but is steeper at smaller radii. These trends broadly agree with observations in the Milky Way and can be naturally understood from the age gradients. The vertical stellar density profile can be well described by two components, with scaleheights 200-500 pc and 1-1.5 kpc, respectively. The thick component is a mix of stars older than 4 Gyr, which formed through a combination of several mechanisms. Our results also demonstrate that it is possible to form a thin disc in cosmological simulations even with a strong stellar feedback.

We measured velocities of 862 individual red giant stars in seven isolated dwarf galaxies in the Local Group: NGC 6822, IC 1613, VV 124 (UGC 4879), the Pegasus dwarf irregular galaxy (DDO 16), Leo A, Cetus and Aquarius (DDO 210). We also computed velocity dispersions, taking into account the measurement uncertainties on individual stars. None of the isolated galaxies is denser than the densest Local Group satellite galaxy. Furthermore, the isolated dwarf galaxies have no obvious distinction in the velocity dispersion-half-light radius plane from the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way and M31. The similarity of the isolated and satellite galaxies dynamics and structural parameters imposes limitations on environmental solutions to the too big to fail problem, wherein there are fewer dense dwarf satellite galaxies than would be expected from cold dark matter simulations. This data set also has many other applications for dwarf galaxy evolution, including the transformation of dwarf irregular into dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We intend to explore these issues in future work. © 2014 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.

We study the structure, age and metallicity gradients, and dynamical evolution using a cosmological zoom-in simulation of a Milky Way-mass galaxy from the Feedback in Realistic Environments project. In the simulation, stars older than 6 Gyr were formed in a chaotic, bursty mode and have the largest vertical scaleheights (1.5-2.5 kpc) by z = 0, while stars younger than 6 Gyr were formed in a relatively calm, stable disc. The vertical scaleheight increases with stellar age at all radii, because (1) stars that formed earlier were thicker 'at birth', and (2) stars were kinematically heated to an even thicker distribution after formation. Stars of the same age are thicker in the outer disc than in the inner disc (flaring). These lead to positive vertical age gradients and negative radial age gradients. The radial metallicity gradient is negative at the mid-plane, flattens at larger disc height ∣Z∣, and turns positive above ∣Z∣ > 1.5 kpc. The vertical metallicity gradient is negative at all radii, but is steeper at smaller radii. These trends broadly agree with observations in the Milky Way and can be naturally understood from the age gradients. The vertical stellar density profile can be well described by two components, with scaleheights 200-500 pc and 1-1.5 kpc, respectively. The thick component is a mix of stars older than 4 Gyr, which formed through a combination of several mechanisms. Our results also demonstrate that it is possible to form a thin disc in cosmological simulations even with a strong stellar feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]