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Bars are a key factor in the long-term evolution of spiral galaxies, in their unique role in redistributing angular momentum and transporting gas and stars on large scales. The Eris-suite simulations are cosmological zoom-in, N-body, smoothed-particle hydrodynamic simulations built to follow the formation and evolution of a Milky Way-sized galaxy across the build-up of the large scale structure. Here we analyse and describe the outcome of two particular simulations taken from the Eris suite – ErisBH and Eris2k – which mainly differ in the prescriptions employed for gas cooling, star formation, and feedback from supernovae and black holes. Our study shows that the enhanced effective feedback in Eris2k, due to the collective effect of the different micro-physics implementations, results in a galaxy which is less massive than its ErisBH counterpart till z ∼ 1. However, when the stellar content is large enough so that global dynamical instabilities can be triggered, the galaxy in Eris2k develops a stronger and more extended bar with respect to ErisBH. We demonstrate that he structural properties and time evolution of the two bars are very different. Our results highlight the importance of accurate sub-grid prescriptions in cosmological zoom-in simulations of the process of galaxy formation and evolution, and the possible use of a statistical sample of barred galaxies to assess the strength of the stellar feedback.

It has been proposed that close interactions with satellite galaxies can significantly perturb the morphology of the main galaxy. However, the dynamics of an already formed bar following the interaction with the external environment has not been studied in detail in a fully cosmological context. In this work, analysing the cosmological zoom-in simulation Eris2k, we study the effects that a very unequal-mass flyby crossing the stellar disc has on the stability of the pre-existing bar. We characterize the evolution of the bar strength and length showing that the perturbation exerted by the flyby shuffles the orbits of stars for less than one Gyr. After this time, the bar shows a remarkable resilience, reforming with properties comparable to those it had before the interaction. Our work shows that close unequal-mass encounters, the most frequent interactions occurring during the evolution of cosmic structures, have (i) an overall minor impact on the global evolution of the bar in the long term, still (ii) the effect is destructive, and (iii) a very weak interaction is sufficient to dismantle a strong bar leading to its "apparent death". As a consequence, due to the non-negligible duration of the bar-less period, a fraction of observed spiral galaxies classified as non-barred could be prone to bar formation.

We study the effect of sub-grid physics, galaxy mass, structural parameters and resolution on the fragmentation of gas-rich galaxy discs into massive star-forming clumps. The initial conditions are set up with the aid of the ARGO cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. Blast-wave feedback does not suppress fragmentation, but reduces both the number of clumps and the duration of the unstable phase. Once formed, bound clumps cannot be destroyed by our feedback model. Widespread fragmentation is promoted by high gas fractions and low halo concentrations. Yet giant clumps M>108 M⊙ lasting several hundred Myr are rare and mainly produced by clump-clump mergers. They occur in massive discs with maximum rotational velocities Vmax>250kms−1 at z∼2, at the high-mass end of the observed galaxy population at those redshifts. The typical gaseous and stellar masses of clumps in all runs are in the range ∼107-108 M⊙ for galaxies with disc mass in the range 1010-8×1010 M⊙. Clumps sizes are usually in the range 100-400pc, in agreement with recent clump observations in lensed high-z galaxies. We argue that many of the giant clumps identified in observations are not due to in situ fragmentation, or are the result of blending of smaller structures owing to insufficient resolution. Using an analytical model describing local collapse inside spiral arms, we can predict the characteristic gaseous masses of clumps at the onset of fragmentation (∼3-5×107 M⊙) quite accurately, while the conventional Toomre mass overestimates them. Due to their moderate masses, clumps which migrate to the centre have marginal effect on bulge growth

United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (HST GO-13768), United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (AST-1517226), United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (HST-AR-12836), United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (HST-AR-13888), United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (HST-AR-13896)

Using the Eris zoom-in cosmological simulation of assembly of a Milky Way analogue, we study the chemical enrichment of stars due to accretion of metal-enriched gas from the interstellar medium (ISM) during the Galaxy's development. We consider metal-poor and old stars in the Galactic halo and bulge through the use of stellar orbits, gas density and metallicity distributions in Eris. Assuming spherically symmetric Bondi–Hoyle accretion, we find that halo and bulge stars accrete metals at the rate of about $10^{−24}$ and $10^{−22} M\odot yr^{−1}$, respectively, at redshifts $z \lesssim 3$, but this accretion rate increases roughly a hundred-fold to about $10^{−20} M\odot yr^{−1}$ at higher redshifts due to increased gas density. Bulge and halo stars accrete similar amounts of metals at high redshifts when kinematically distinct bulge and halo have not yet developed, and both sets of stars encounter a similar metal distribution in the ISM. Accretion alone can enrich main-sequence stars up to [Fe/H] $\sim$ −2 in extreme cases, with the median enrichment level due to accretion of about [Fe/H] $\sim$ −6 to −5. Because accretion mostly takes place at high redshifts, it is $\alpha$-enriched to [$\alpha$/Fe] $\sim$ 0.5. We find that accretive metal enrichment is sufficient to affect the predicted metallicity distribution function of halo stars at [Fe/H] < −5. This can hinder attempts to infer natal chemical environment of metal-poor stars from their observed enrichment. Peculiar enrichment patterns such as those predicted to arise from pair-instability supernovae could help in disentangling the natal and accreted metal content of stars.

We investigate the angular momentum evolution of four disk galaxies residing in Milky-Way–sized halos formed in cosmological zoom-in simulations with various sub-grid physics and merging histories. We decompose these galaxies, kinematically and photometrically, into their disk and bulge components. The simulated galaxies and their components lie on the observed sequences in the j *–M * diagram, relating the specific angular momentum and mass of the stellar component. We find that galaxies in low-density environments follow the relation ${j}_{* }\,\propto \,{M}_{* }^{\alpha }$ past major mergers, with $\alpha \sim 0.6$ in the case of strong feedback, when bulge-to-disk ratios are relatively constant, and $\alpha \sim 1.4$ in the other cases, when secular processes operate on shorter timescales. We compute the retention factors (i.e., the ratio of the specific angular momenta of stars and dark matter) for both disks and bulges and show that they vary relatively slowly after averaging over numerous but brief fluctuations. For disks, the retention factors are usually close to unity, while for bulges, they are a few times smaller. Our simulations therefore indicate that galaxies and their halos grow in a quasi-homologous way.

We investigate the simultaneous triggering of active galactic nuclei (AGN) in merging galaxies, using a large suite of high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations. We compute dual-AGN observability time-scales using bolometric, X-ray and Eddington-ratio thresholds, confirming that dual activity from supermassive black holes (BHs) is generally higher at late pericentric passages, before a merger remnant has formed, especially at high luminosities. For typical minor and major mergers, dual activity lasts ∼20–70 and ∼100–160 Myr, respectively. We also explore the effects of X-ray obscuration from gas, finding that the dual-AGN time decreases at most by a factor of ∼2, and of contamination from star formation. Using projected separations and velocity differences rather than three-dimensional quantities can decrease the dual-AGN time-scales by up to ∼4, and we apply filters that mimic current observational-resolution limitations. In agreement with observations, we find that for a sample of major and minor mergers hosting at least one AGN, the fraction harbouring dual AGN is ∼20–30 and ∼1–10 per cent, respectively. We quantify the effects of merger mass ratio (0.1 to 1), geometry (coplanar, prograde and retrograde, and inclined), disc gas fraction and BH properties, finding that the mass ratio is the most important factor, with the difference between minor and major mergers varying between factors of a few to orders of magnitude, depending on the luminosity and filter used. We also find that a shallow imaging survey will require very high angular resolution whereas a deep imaging survey will be less resolution-dependent.

We present novel 3D multi-scale SPH simulations of gas-rich galaxy mergers between the most massive galaxies at $z \sim 8 - 10$, designed to scrutinize the direct collapse formation scenario for massive black hole seeds proposed in \citet{mayer+10}. The simulations achieve a resolution of 0.1 pc, and include both metallicity-dependent optically-thin cooling and a model for thermal balance at high optical depth. We consider different formulations of the SPH hydrodynamical equations, including thermal and metal diffusion. When the two merging galaxy cores collide, gas infall produces a compact, optically thick nuclear disk with densities exceeding $10^{-10}$ g cm$^3$. The disk rapidly accretes higher angular momentum gas from its surroundings reaching $\sim 5$ pc and a mass of $\gtrsim 10^9$ $M_{\odot}$ in only a few $10^4$ yr. Outside $\gtrsim 2$ pc it fragments into massive clumps. Instead, supersonic turbulence prevents fragmentation in the inner parsec region, which remains warm ($\sim 3000-6000$ K) and develops strong non-axisymmetric modes that cause prominent radial gas inflows ($> 10^4$ $M_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$), forming an ultra-dense massive disky core. Angular momentum transport by non-axisymmetric modes should continue below our spatial resolution limit, quickly turning the disky core into a supermassive protostar which can collapse directly into a massive black hole of mass $10^8-10^9$ $M_{\odot}$ via the relativistic radial instability. Such a "cold direct collapse"' explains naturally the early emergence of high-z QSOs. Its telltale signature would be a burst of gravitational waves in the frequency range $10^{-4} - 10^{-1}$ Hz, possibly detectable by the planned eLISA interferometer.

We use high resolution Hydro$+$N-Body cosmological simulations to compare the assembly and evolution of a small field dwarf (stellar mass ~ 10$^{6-7}$ M$\odot$, total mass 10$^{10}$ M$\odot$ in $\Lambda$ dominated CDM and 2keV WDM cosmologies. We find that star formation (SF) in the WDM model is reduced and delayed by 1-2 Gyr relative to the CDM model, independently of the details of SF and feedback. Independent of the DM model, but proportionally to the SF efficiency, gas outflows lower the central mass density through `dynamical heating', such that all realizations have circular velocities $<$ 20kms at 500$~$pc, in agreement with local kinematic constraints. As a result of dynamical heating, older stars are less centrally concentrated than younger stars, similar to stellar population gradients observed in nearby dwarf galaxies. Introducing an important diagnostic of SF and feedback models, we translate our simulations into artificial color-magnitude diagrams and star formation histories in order to directly compare to available observations. The simulated galaxies formed most of their stars in many $\sim$10 Myr long bursts. The CDM galaxy has a global SFH, HI abundance and Fe/H and alpha-elements distribution well matched to current observations of dwarf galaxies. These results highlight the importance of directly including `baryon physics' in simulations when 1) comparing predictions of galaxy formation models with the kinematics and number density of local dwarf galaxies and 2) differentiating between CDM and non-standard models with different DM or power spectra.

We study the effect of sub-grid physics, galaxy mass, structural parameters and resolution on the fragmentation of gas-rich galaxy discs into massive star-forming clumps. The initial conditions are set up with the aid of the ARGO cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. Blast-wave feedback does not suppress fragmentation, but reduces both the number of clumps and the duration of the unstable phase. Once formed, bound clumps cannot be destroyed by our feedback model. Widespread fragmentation is promoted by high gas fractions and low halo concentrations. Yet giant clumps M > 108 M⊙ lasting several hundred Myr are rare and mainly produced by clump-clump mergers. They occur in massive discs with maximum rotational velocities Vmax > 250 km s-1 at z ˜ 2, at the high-mass end of the observed galaxy population at those redshifts. The typical gaseous and stellar masses of clumps in all runs are in the range ˜107-108 M⊙ for galaxies with disc mass in the range 1010-8 × 1010 M⊙. Clumps sizes are usually in the range 100-400 pc, in agreement with recent clump observations in lensed high-z galaxies. We argue that many of the giant clumps identified in observations are not due to in situ fragmentation, or are the result of blending of smaller structures owing to insufficient resolution. Using an analytical model describing local collapse inside spiral arms, we can predict the characteristic gaseous masses of clumps at the onset of fragmentation (˜3-5 × 107 M⊙) quite accurately, while the conventional Toomre mass overestimates them. Due to their moderate masses, clumps which migrate to the centre have marginal effect on bulge growth.