The Effect of Galaxy Interactions on Starbursts in Milky Way-Mass Galaxies in FIRE Simulations
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2024
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| _version_ | 1866915022254374912 |
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| author | Li, Fei Rahman, Mubdi Murray, Norman Kereš, Dušan Wetzel, Andrew Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André Hopkins, Philip F. Moreno, Jorge |
| author_facet | Li, Fei Rahman, Mubdi Murray, Norman Kereš, Dušan Wetzel, Andrew Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André Hopkins, Philip F. Moreno, Jorge |
| contents | Simulations and observations suggest that galaxy interactions may enhance the star formation rate (SFR) in merging galaxies. One proposed mechanism is the torque exerted on the gas and stars in the larger galaxy by the smaller galaxy. We analyze the interaction torques and star formation activity on six galaxies from the FIRE-2 simulation suite with masses comparable to the Milky Way galaxy at redshift $z=0$. We trace the halos from $z = 3.6$ to $z=0$, calculating the torque exerted by the nearby galaxies on the gas in the central galaxy. We calculate the correlation between the torque and the SFR across the simulations for various mass ratios. For near-equal-stellar-mass-ratio interactions in the galaxy sample, occurring between $z=1.2-3.6$, there is a positive and statistically significant correlation between the torque from nearby galaxies on the gas of the central galaxies and the SFR. For all other samples, no statistically significant correlation is found between the torque and the SFR. Our analysis shows that some, but not all, major interactions cause starbursts in the simulated Milky Way-mass galaxies, and that most starbursts are not caused by galaxy interactions. The transition from `bursty' at high redshift ($z\gtrsim1$) to `steady' star-formation state at later times is independent of the interaction history of the galaxies, and most of the interactions do not leave significant imprints on the overall trend of the star formation history of the galaxies. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_10373 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The Effect of Galaxy Interactions on Starbursts in Milky Way-Mass Galaxies in FIRE Simulations Li, Fei Rahman, Mubdi Murray, Norman Kereš, Dušan Wetzel, Andrew Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André Hopkins, Philip F. Moreno, Jorge Astrophysics of Galaxies Simulations and observations suggest that galaxy interactions may enhance the star formation rate (SFR) in merging galaxies. One proposed mechanism is the torque exerted on the gas and stars in the larger galaxy by the smaller galaxy. We analyze the interaction torques and star formation activity on six galaxies from the FIRE-2 simulation suite with masses comparable to the Milky Way galaxy at redshift $z=0$. We trace the halos from $z = 3.6$ to $z=0$, calculating the torque exerted by the nearby galaxies on the gas in the central galaxy. We calculate the correlation between the torque and the SFR across the simulations for various mass ratios. For near-equal-stellar-mass-ratio interactions in the galaxy sample, occurring between $z=1.2-3.6$, there is a positive and statistically significant correlation between the torque from nearby galaxies on the gas of the central galaxies and the SFR. For all other samples, no statistically significant correlation is found between the torque and the SFR. Our analysis shows that some, but not all, major interactions cause starbursts in the simulated Milky Way-mass galaxies, and that most starbursts are not caused by galaxy interactions. The transition from `bursty' at high redshift ($z\gtrsim1$) to `steady' star-formation state at later times is independent of the interaction history of the galaxies, and most of the interactions do not leave significant imprints on the overall trend of the star formation history of the galaxies. |
| title | The Effect of Galaxy Interactions on Starbursts in Milky Way-Mass Galaxies in FIRE Simulations |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.10373 |