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We present cosmological zoom-in hydrodynamical simulations for the formation of disc galaxies, implementing dust evolution and dust promoted cooling of hot gas. We couple an improved version of our previous treatment of dust evolution, which adopts the two-size approximation to estimate the grain-size distribution, with the MUPPI star formation and feedback subresolution model. Our dust evolution model follows carbon and silicate dust separately. To distinguish differences induced by the chaotic behaviour of simulations from those genuinely due to different simulation set-up, we run each model six times, after introducing tiny perturbations in the initial conditions. With this method, we discuss the role of various dust-related physical processes and the effect of a few possible approximations adopted in the literature. Metal depletion and dust cooling affect the evolution of the system, causing substantial variations in its stellar, gas, and dust content. We discuss possible effects on the Spectral Energy Distribution of the significant variations of the size distribution and chemical composition of grains, as predicted by our simulations during the evolution of the galaxy. We compare dust surface density, dust-to-gas ratio, and small-to-large grain mass ratio as a function of galaxy radius and gas metallicity predicted by our fiducial run with recent observational estimates for three disc galaxies of different masses. The general agreement is good, in particular taking into account that we have not adjusted our model for this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new implementation of the GAlaxy Evolution and Assembly (gaea) semi-analytic model, that features an improved modelling of the process of cold gas accretion on to supermassive black hole (SMBHs), derived from both analytic arguments and high-resolution simulations. We consider different scenarios for the loss of angular momentum required for the available cold gas to be accreted on to the central SMBHs, and we compare different combinations of triggering mechanisms, including galaxy mergers and disc instabilities in star-forming discs. We compare our predictions with the luminosity function (LF) observed for active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and we confirm that a non-instantaneous accretion time-scale (either in the form of a low-angular momentum reservoir or as an assumed light-curve evolution) is needed in order to reproduce the measured evolution of the AGN-LF and the so-called AGN-downsizing trend. Moreover, we also study the impact of AGN feedback, in the form of AGN-driven outflows, on the SF properties of model galaxies, using prescriptions derived both from empirical studies and from numerical experiments. We show that AGN-driven outflows are effective in suppressing the residual star formation rate in massive galaxies (>1011 M⊙) without changing their overall assembly history. These winds also affect the SFR of lower mass galaxies, resulting in a too large fraction of passive galaxies at <1010 M⊙. Finally, we study the Eddington ratio distribution as a function of SMBH mass, showing that only objects more massive than 108 M⊙ are already in a self-regulated state as inferred from observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present simulations of galaxy formation, based on the gadget -3 code, in which a sub-resolution model for star formation and stellar feedback is interfaced with a new model for active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback. Our sub-resolution model describes a multiphase interstellar medium (ISM), accounting for hot and cold gas within the same resolution element: we exploit this feature to investigate the impact of coupling AGN feedback energy to the different phases of the ISM over cosmic time. Our fiducial model considers that AGN feedback energy coupling is driven by the covering factors of the hot and cold phases. We perform a suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of disc galaxies (⁠|$M_{\rm halo,DM} \simeq 2 \times 10^{12}$|  M⊙, at z  = 0), to investigate: (i) the effect of different ways of coupling AGN feedback energy to the multiphase ISM; (ii) the impact of different prescriptions for gas accretion (i.e. only cold gas, both cold and hot gas, with the additional possibility of limiting gas accretion from cold gas with high angular momentum); (iii) how different models of gas accretion and coupling of AGN feedback energy affect the coevolution of supermassive black holes (BHs) and their host galaxy. We find that at least a share of the AGN feedback energy has to couple with the diffuse gas, in order to avoid an excessive growth of the BH mass. When the BH only accretes cold gas, it experiences a growth that is faster than in the case in which both cold and hot gas are accreted. If the accretion of cold gas with high angular momentum is reduced, the BH mass growth is delayed, the BH mass at z  = 0 is reduced by up to an order of magnitude, and the BH is prevented from accreting below z ≲ 2, when the galaxy disc forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the impact of galactic outflowmodelling on the formation and evolution of a disc galaxy, by performing a suite of cosmological simulations with zoomed-in initial conditions (ICs) of a Milky Way-sized halo. We verify how sensitive the general properties of the simulated galaxy are to the way in which stellar feedback triggered outflows are implemented, keeping ICs, simulation code and star formation (SF) model all fixed. We present simulations that are based on a version of the GADGET3 code where our sub-resolution model is coupled with an advanced implementation of smoothed particle hydrodynamics that ensures a more accurate fluid sampling and an improved description of gas mixing and hydrodynamical instabilities. We quantify the strong interplay between the adopted hydrodynamic scheme and the sub-resolution model describing SF and feedback. We consider four different galactic outflow models, including the one introduced by Dalla Vecchia & Schaye (2012) and a scheme that is inspired by the Springel & Hernquist (2003) model. We find that the sub-resolution prescriptions adopted to generate galactic outflows are the main shaping factor of the stellar disc component at low redshift. The key requirement that a feedback model must have to be successful in producing a disc-dominated galaxy is the ability to regulate the high-redshift SF (responsible for the formation of the bulge component), the cosmological infall of gas from the large-scale environment, and gas fall-back within the galactic radius at low redshift, in order to avoid a too high SF rate at z = 0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent inspections of local available data suggest that the almost linear relation between the stellar mass of spheroids (Msph) and the mass of the super massive black holes (BHs), residing at their centres, shows a break below Msph ~ 1010M⊙, with a steeper, about quadratic relation at smaller masses. We investigate the physical mechanisms responsible for the change in slope of this relation, by comparing data with the results of the semi-analytic model of galaxy formation MORGANA, which already predicted such a break in its original formulation. We find that the change of slope is mostly induced by effective stellar feedback in star-forming bulges. The shape of the relation is instead quite insensitive to other physical mechanisms connected to BH accretion such as disc instabilities, galaxy mergers, active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback, or even the exact modelling of accretion on to the BH, direct or through a reservoir of low angular momentum gas. Our results support a scenario where most stars form in the disc component of galaxies and are carried to bulges through mergers and disc instabilities, while accretion on to BHs is connected to star formation in the spheroidal component. Therefore, a model of stellar feedback that produces stronger outflows in star-forming bulges than in discs will naturally produce a break in the scaling relation. Our results point to a form of co-evolution especially at lower masses, below the putative break, mainly driven by stellar feedback rather than AGN feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present results of cosmological simulations of disc galaxies carried out with the gadget-3 TreePM+SPH code, where star formation and stellar feedback are described using our MUlti Phase Particle Integrator model. This description is based on a simple multiphase model of the interstellar medium at unresolved scales, where mass and energy flows among the components are explicitly followed by solving a system of ordinary differential equations. Thermal energy from supernovae is injected into the local hot phase, so as to avoid that it is promptly radiated away. A kinetic feedback prescription generates the massive outflows needed to avoid the overproduction of stars. We use two sets of zoomed-in initial conditions of isolated cosmological haloes with masses (2-3) × 1012M⊙, both available at several resolution levels. In all cases we obtain spiral galaxies with small bulge-over-total stellar mass ratios (B/T ~ 0.2), extended stellar and gas discs, flat rotation curves and realistic values of stellar masses. Gas profiles are relatively flat, molecular gas is found to dominate at the centre of galaxies, with star formation rates following the observed Schmidt-Kennicutt relation. Stars kinematically belonging to the bulge form early, while disc stars show a clear inside-out formation pattern and mostly form after redshift z = 2. However, the baryon conversion efficiencies in our simulations differ from the relation given by Moster et al. at a 3σ level, thus indicating that our stellar discs are still too massive for the dark matter halo in which they reside. Results are found to be remarkably stable against resolution. This further demonstrates the feasibility of carrying out simulations producing a realistic population of galaxies within representative cosmological volumes, at a relatively modest resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare predictions of cooled masses and cooling rates from three stripped-down semi-analytic models (SAMs) of galaxy formation with the results of N-body+Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations with gas particle mass of 3.9 × 106 h−1 M⊙, where radiative cooling of a gas of primordial composition is implemented. We also run a simulation where cooling is switched on at redshift ∼2, in order to test cooling models in a regime in which their approximations are expected to be valid. We confirm that cooling models implemented in SAMs are able to predict the amount of cooled mass at z = 0 to within ∼20 per cent. However, some relevant discrepancies are found. (i) When the contribution from poorly resolved haloes is subtracted out, SAMs tend to underpredict by ∼30 per cent the mass that cools in the infall-dominated regime. (ii) At large halo masses, SAMs tend to overpredict cooling rates, though the numerical result may be affected by the use of a standard version of SPH. (iii) As found in our previous work, cooling rates are found to be significantly affected by model details: simulations disfavour models with large cores and with quenching of cooling at major mergers. (iv) When cooling is switched on at z ∼ 2, cold gas accumulates very quickly in the simulated haloes. This accumulation is reproduced by SAMs with varying degrees of accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use stripped-down versions of three semi-analytic galaxy formation models to study the influence of different assumptions about gas cooling and galaxy mergers. By running the three models on identical sets of merger trees extracted from high-resolution cosmological N-body simulations, we are able to perform both statistical analyses and halo-by-halo comparisons. This paper demonstrates that there is a good statistical agreement between the three models used here, when operating on the same merger trees, reflecting a general agreement in the underlying framework for semi-analytic models. We also show, however, that various assumptions that are commonly adopted to treat gas cooling and galaxy mergers can lead to significantly different results, at least in some regimes. In particular, we find that the different models adopted for gas cooling lead to similar results for mass scales comparable to that of our own Galaxy. Significant differences, however, arise at larger mass scales. These are largely (but not entirely) due to different treatments of the ‘rapid cooling’ regime, and different assumptions about the hot gas distribution. At this mass regime, the predicted cooling rates can differ up to about one order of magnitude, with important implications on the relative weight that these models give to feedback from active galactic nuclei in order to counteract excessive gas condensation in relatively massive haloes at low redshift. Different assumptions in the modelling of galaxy mergers can also result in significant differences in the timings of mergers, with important consequences for the formation and evolution of massive galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new multiphase subresolution model for star formation and feedback in smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) numerical simulations of galaxy formation. Our model, called MUPPI (MUlti-Phase Particle Integrator), describes each gas particle as a multiphase system, with cold and hot gas phases, coexisting in pressure equilibrium and a stellar component. Cooling of the hot tenuous gas phase feeds the cold gas phase. We compute the cold gas molecular fraction using the phenomenological relation of Blitz & Rosolowsky between this fraction and the external disc pressure, which we identify with the SPH pressure. Stars are formed out of molecular gas with a given efficiency, which scales with the dynamical time of the cold phase. Our prescription for star formation is not based on imposing the Schmidt–Kennicutt relation, which is instead naturally produced by MUPPI. Energy from supernova explosions is deposited partly into the hot phase of the gas particles, and partly to that of neighbouring particles. Mass and energy flows among the different phases of each particle are described by a set of ordinary differential equations which we explicitly integrate for each gas particle, instead of relying on equilibrium solutions. This system of equations also includes the response of the multiphase structure to energy changes associated to the thermodynamics of the gas. Our model has an intrinsically runaway behaviour: energy from supernovae increases gas pressure which increases in turn the star formation rate through the molecular fraction. This runaway is stabilized in simulations by the hydrodynamic response of the gas: when it receives enough energy, it expands thereby decreasing its pressure. We apply our model to two isolated disc galaxy simulations and two spherical cooling flows. MUPPI is able to reproduce the Schmidt–Kennicutt relation for disc galaxies. It also reproduces the basic properties of the interstellar medium in disc galaxies, the surface densities of cold and molecular gas, of stars and of star formation rate, the vertical velocity dispersion of cold clouds and the flows connected to the galactic fountains. Quite remarkably, MUPPI also provides efficient stellar feedback without the need to include a scheme of kinetic energy feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The properties of galaxies with the reddest observed colours [extremely red objects (EROs)], including their apparent division into passive and obscured active objects with roughly similar number densities, are a known challenge for models of galaxy formation. In this paper, we produce mock catalogues generated by interfacing the predictions of the semi-analyticalmorgana model for the evolution of galaxies in a Λ cold dark matter cosmology with the spectrophotometric + radiative transfer codegrasil and infrared (IR) template library to show that the model correctly reproduces number counts, redshift distributions and active fractions of sources. We test the robustness of our results against different dust attenuations and, most importantly, against the inclusion of thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) stars in simple stellar populations used to generate galaxy spectra, and find that the inclusion of TP-AGBs has a relevant effect in that it allows us to increase by a large factor the number of very red active objects at all colour cuts. We find that though the most passive and the most obscured active galaxies have a higher probability of being selected as EROs, many EROs have intermediate properties and the population does not show bimodality in the specific star formation rate (SSFR). We predict that deep observations in the far-IR, from 100 to 500 μm, are the most efficient way to constrain the SSFR of these objects; we give predictions for future Herschel observations and show that a few objects will be detected in deep fields at best. Finally, we test whether a simple evolutionary sequence for the formation of massive galaxies, going through a sub-mm-bright phase and then an ERO phase, is typical in this galaxy formation model. We find that this sequence holds for ∼25 per cent of massive galaxies, while the model typically shows a more complex connection between sub-mm, ERO and massive galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has recently been shown that galaxy formation models within the Λ cold dark matter cosmology predict that, compared to the observed population, small galaxies (with stellar masses ) form too early, are too passive since and host too old stellar populations at . We then expect an overproduction of small galaxies at that should be visible as an excess of faint Lyman-break galaxies. To check whether this excess is present, we use themorgana galaxy formation model andgrasil spectrophotometric radiative transfer code to generate mock catalogues of deep fields observed with Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys. We add observational noise and the effect of Lyman α emission, and perform colour–colour selections to identify Lyman-break galaxies. The resulting mock candidates have plausible properties that closely resemble those of observed galaxies. We are able to reproduce the evolution of the bright tail of the luminosity function of Lyman-break galaxies (with a possible underestimate of the number of the brightest i-dropouts), but uncertainties and degeneracies in dust absorption parameters do not allow to give strong constraints to the model. Besides, our model shows a clear excess with respect to observations of faint Lyman-break galaxies, especially of -dropouts at . We quantify the properties of these ‘excess’ galaxies and discuss the implications: these galaxies are hosted in dark matter haloes with circular velocities in excess of 100 km s−1, and their suppression may require a deep rethinking of stellar feedback processes taking place in galaxy formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been widely claimed that several lines of observational evidence point towards a ‘downsizing’ of the process of galaxy formation over cosmic time. This behaviour is sometimes termed ‘antihierarchical’, and contrasted with the ‘bottom-up’ (small objects form first) assembly of the dark matter structures in cold dark matter (CDM) models. In this paper, we address three different kinds of observational evidence that have been described as ‘downsizing’: the stellar mass assembly (i.e. more massive galaxies assemble at higher redshift with respect to low-mass ones), star formation rate (SFR) (i.e. the decline of the specific star formation rate is faster for more massive systems) and the ages of the stellar populations in local galaxies (i.e. more massive galaxies host older stellar populations). We compare a broad compilation of available data sets with the predictions of three different semi-analytic models of galaxy formation within the ΛCDM framework. In the data, we see only weak evidence at best of ‘downsizing’ in stellar mass and in SFR. Despite the different implementations of the physical recipes, the three models agree remarkably well in their predictions. We find that, when observational errors on stellar mass and SFR are taken into account, the models acceptably reproduce the evolution of massive galaxies ( in stellar mass), over the entire redshift range that we consider . However, lower mass galaxies, in the stellar mass range , are formed too early in the models and are too passive at late times. Thus, the models do not correctly reproduce the downsizing trend in stellar mass or the archaeological downsizing, while they qualitatively reproduce the mass-dependent evolution of the SFR. We demonstrate that these discrepancies are not solely due to a poor treatment of satellite galaxies but are mainly connected to the excessively efficient formation of central galaxies in high-redshift haloes with circular velocities ∼100–200 km s−1. We conclude that some physical processes operating on these mass scales – most probably star formation and/or supernova feedback – are not yet properly treated in these models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the correlation of star formation quenching with internal galaxy properties and large-scale environment (halo mass) in empirical data and theoretical models. We make use of the halo-based group catalogue of Yang and collaborators, which is based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Data from the Galaxy evolution explorer are also used to extract the recent star formation rate. In order to investigate the environmental effects, we examine the properties of ‘central’ and ‘satellite’ galaxies separately. For central galaxies, we are unable to conclude whether star formation quenching is primarily connected with halo mass or stellar mass, because these two quantities are themselves strongly correlated. For satellite galaxies, a nearly equally strong dependence on halo mass and stellar mass is seen. We make the same comparison for five different semi-analytic models based on three independently developed codes. We find that the models with active galactic nuclei feedback reproduce reasonably well the dependence of the fraction of central red and passive galaxies on halo mass and stellar mass. However, for satellite galaxies, the same models badly overproduce the fraction of red/passive galaxies and do not reproduce the empirical trends with stellar mass or halo mass. This satellite overquenching problem is caused by the too-rapid stripping of the satellites' hot gas haloes, which leads to rapid strangulation of star formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The treatment of dust attenuation is crucial in order to compare the predictions of galaxy formation models with multiwavelength observations. Most past studies have used either simple analytic prescriptions or full radiative transfer (RT) calculations. Here, we couple star formation histories and morphologies predicted by the semi-analytic galaxy formation modelmorgana with RT calculations from the spectrophotometric and dust codegrasil to create a library of galaxy spectral energy distributions from the UV/optical through the far-infrared, and compare the predictions of the RT calculations with analytic prescriptions. We consider a low- and high-redshift sample, as well as an additional library constructed with empirical, non-cosmological star formation histories and simple (pure bulge or disc) morphologies. Based on these libraries, we derive fitting formulae for the effective dust optical depth as a function of galaxy physical properties such as metallicity, gas mass and radius. We show that such fitting formulae can predict the V-band optical depth with a scatter smaller than 0.4 dex for both the low- and high-redshift samples, but there is a large galaxy-to-galaxy scatter in the shapes of attenuation curves, probably due to geometrical variations, which our simple recipe does not capture well. However, our new recipe provides a better approximation to thegrasil results at optical wavelength than standard analytic prescriptions from the literature, particularly at high redshift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to gain insight into the physical mechanisms leading to the formation of stars and their assembly in galaxies, we compare the predictions of the MOdel for the Rise of GAlaxies aNd Active nuclei (morgana) to the properties of K- and 850-μm-selected galaxies (such as number counts, redshift distributions and luminosity functions) by combiningmorgana with the spectrophotometric modelgrasil. We find that it is possible to reproduce the K- and 850-μm-band data sets at the same time and with a standard Salpeter initial mass function, and ascribe this success to our improved modelling of cooling in DM haloes. We then predict that massively star-forming discs are common at and dominate the star formation rate, but most of them merge with other galaxies within ∼100 Myr. Our preferred model produces an overabundance of bright galaxies at ; this overabundance might be connected to the build-up of the diffuse stellar component in galaxy clusters, as suggested by Monaco et al., but a naive implementation of the mechanism suggested in that paper does not produce a sufficient slowdown of the evolution of these objects. Moreover, our model overpredicts the number of galaxies at ; this is a common behaviour of theoretical models as shown by Fontana et al.. These findings show that, while the overall build-up of the stellar mass is correctly reproduced by galaxy formation models, the ‘downsizing’ trend of galaxies is not fully reproduced yet. This hints to some missing feedback mechanism in order to reproduce at the same time the formation of both the massive and the small galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the Model for the Rise of Galaxies and Active Nuclei (morgana), a new code for the formation and evolution of galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Starting from the merger trees of dark matter (DM) haloes and a model for the evolution of substructure within the haloes, the complex physics of baryons is modelled with a set of state-of-the-art models that describe the mass, metal and energy flows between the various components (baryonic halo, bulge, disc) and phases (cold and hot gas, stars) of a galaxy. These flows are then numerically integrated to produce predictions for the evolution of galaxies. The processes of shock-heating and cooling, star formation, feedback, galactic winds and superwinds, accretion on to black holes and AGN feedback are described by new models. In particular, the evolution of the halo gas explicitly follows the thermal and kinetic energies of the hot and cold phases, while star formation and feedback follow the results of the multiphase model recently proposed by Monaco. The increased level of sophistication of these models allows to move from a phenomenological description of gas physics, based on simple scalings with the depth of the DM halo potential, towards a fully physically motivated one. We deem that this is fully justified by the level of maturity and rough convergence reached by the latest versions of numerical and semi-analytic models of galaxy formation. The comparison of the predictions ofmorgana with a basic set of galactic data reveals from the one hand an overall rough agreement, and from the other hand highlights a number of well- or less-known problems: (i) producing the cut-off of the luminosity function requires to force the quenching of the late cooling flows by AGN feedback, (ii) the normalization of the Tully–Fisher relation of local spirals cannot be recovered unless the DM haloes are assumed to have a very low concentration, (iii) the mass function of H i gas is not easily fitted at small masses, unless a similarly low concentration is assumed, (iv) there is an excess of small elliptical galaxies at . These discrepancies, more than the points of agreement with data, give important clues on the missing ingredients of galaxy formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to constrain the physical processes that regulate and downsize the active galactic nucleus (AGN) population, the predictions of the model for the rise of galaxies and active nuclei (morgana) are compared to luminosity functions (LFs) of AGNs in the optical, soft and hard X-ray bands, to the local black hole (BH)–bulge mass relation and to the observed X-ray number counts and background. We also give predictions on the accretion rate of AGNs in units of the Eddington rate and on the BH–bulge relation expected at high redshift. We find that it is possible to reproduce the downsizing of AGNs within the hierarchical Lambda cold dark matter cosmogony and that the most likely cause of this downsizing is the stellar kinetic feedback that arises in star-forming bulges as a consequence of the high level of turbulence and leads to a massive removal of cold gas in small elliptical galaxies. At the same time, to obtain good fits to the number of bright quasars we require that quasar-triggered galactic winds self-limit the accretion on to BHs; however, the very high degree of complexity of the physics of these winds, coupled with our poor understanding of it, hampers more robust conclusions. In all cases, the predicted BH–bulge relation steepens considerably with respect to the observed one at bulge masses ; this problem is related to a known excess in the predicted number of small bulges, common to most similar models, so that the reproduction of the correct number of faint AGNs is done at the cost of underestimating their BH masses. This highlights an insufficient downsizing of elliptical galaxies, and hints at another feedback mechanism able to act on the compact discs that form and soon merge at high redshift. The results of this paper reinforce the need for direct investigations of the feedback mechanisms in active galaxies that will be possible with the next generation of astronomical telescopes from submm to X-rays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]