Dark MaGICC: the effect of Dark Energy on galaxy formation. Cosmology does matter

We present the Dark MaGICC project, which aims to investigate the effect of Dark Energy (DE) modeling on galaxy formation via hydrodynamical cosmological simulations. Dark MaGICC includes four dynamical Dark Energy scenarios with time varying equations of state, one with a self-interacting Ratra-Peebles model. In each scenario we simulate three galaxies with high resolution using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). The baryonic physics model is the same used in the Making Galaxies in a Cosmological Context (MaGICC) project, and we varied only the background cosmology. We find that the Dark Energy parameterization has a surprisingly important impact on galaxy evolution and on structural properties of galaxies at z=0, in striking contrast with predictions from pure Nbody simulations. The different background evolutions can (depending on the behavior of the DE equation of state) either enhance or quench star formation with respect to a LCDM model, at a level similar to the variation of the stellar feedback parameterization, with strong effects on the final galaxy rotation curves. While overall stellar feedback is still the driving force in shaping galaxies, we show that the effect of the Dark Energy parameterization plays a larger role than previously thought, especially at lower redshifts. For this reason, the influence of Dark Energy parametrization on galaxy formation must be taken into account, especially in the era of precision cosmology.
Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures