Breaking Down the $\textsf{CosmoGEMS}$: Toward Modeling and Understanding Globular Cluster Stellar Streams in a Fully Cosmological Context

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Panithanpaisal, Nondh, Sanderson, Robyn E., Rodriguez, Carl L., Starkenburg, Tjitske, Pearson, Sarah, Bonaca, Ana, Hopkins, Philip F., Cook, Brian T., Arora, Arpit, Weatherford, Newlin C.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Panithanpaisal, Nondh
Sanderson, Robyn E.
Rodriguez, Carl L.
Starkenburg, Tjitske
Pearson, Sarah
Bonaca, Ana
Hopkins, Philip F.
Cook, Brian T.
Arora, Arpit
Weatherford, Newlin C.
author_facet Panithanpaisal, Nondh
Sanderson, Robyn E.
Rodriguez, Carl L.
Starkenburg, Tjitske
Pearson, Sarah
Bonaca, Ana
Hopkins, Philip F.
Cook, Brian T.
Arora, Arpit
Weatherford, Newlin C.
contents Next-generation surveys are expected to uncover thousands of globular cluster (GC) stellar streams, motivating the need for a theoretical framework that produces realistic GC streams in a fully cosmological, Milky Way-like environment. We present $\textsf{CosmoGEMS}$, a star-by-star cosmological GC stream framework that self-consistently links small-scale cluster physics with large-scale Galactic dynamics. The initial phase-space positions of stream stars are informed by post-processed GC populations within the FIRE cosmological simulation. Escaped stars are orbit-integrated from their time of escape to the present day in a time-evolving Galactic potential extracted from the same simulation using a basis function expansion. We explore two example streams on different orbits. One forms a long, thin stream with a velocity dispersion consistent with Milky Way GC streams. However, it exhibits a clump and orbital-phase-dependent misalignments due to the evolving potential. The other stream develops both a thin component and a diffuse, shell-like structure, similar to features observed in streams like Jhelum. These results highlight the power of fully cosmological models in producing realistic stream morphologies and kinematics. Unlike idealized simulations, our models naturally incorporate time-dependent changes in the progenitor's orbit, including orbital plane evolution, which significantly affects stream structure. This challenges common assumptions in stream-finding algorithms and interpretation. $\textsf{CosmoGEMS}$ provides a key step toward connecting future stellar stream observations with the physics of globular cluster evolution and hierarchical galaxy formation in a cosmological context.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_03599
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Breaking Down the $\textsf{CosmoGEMS}$: Toward Modeling and Understanding Globular Cluster Stellar Streams in a Fully Cosmological Context
Panithanpaisal, Nondh
Sanderson, Robyn E.
Rodriguez, Carl L.
Starkenburg, Tjitske
Pearson, Sarah
Bonaca, Ana
Hopkins, Philip F.
Cook, Brian T.
Arora, Arpit
Weatherford, Newlin C.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Next-generation surveys are expected to uncover thousands of globular cluster (GC) stellar streams, motivating the need for a theoretical framework that produces realistic GC streams in a fully cosmological, Milky Way-like environment. We present $\textsf{CosmoGEMS}$, a star-by-star cosmological GC stream framework that self-consistently links small-scale cluster physics with large-scale Galactic dynamics. The initial phase-space positions of stream stars are informed by post-processed GC populations within the FIRE cosmological simulation. Escaped stars are orbit-integrated from their time of escape to the present day in a time-evolving Galactic potential extracted from the same simulation using a basis function expansion. We explore two example streams on different orbits. One forms a long, thin stream with a velocity dispersion consistent with Milky Way GC streams. However, it exhibits a clump and orbital-phase-dependent misalignments due to the evolving potential. The other stream develops both a thin component and a diffuse, shell-like structure, similar to features observed in streams like Jhelum. These results highlight the power of fully cosmological models in producing realistic stream morphologies and kinematics. Unlike idealized simulations, our models naturally incorporate time-dependent changes in the progenitor's orbit, including orbital plane evolution, which significantly affects stream structure. This challenges common assumptions in stream-finding algorithms and interpretation. $\textsf{CosmoGEMS}$ provides a key step toward connecting future stellar stream observations with the physics of globular cluster evolution and hierarchical galaxy formation in a cosmological context.
title Breaking Down the $\textsf{CosmoGEMS}$: Toward Modeling and Understanding Globular Cluster Stellar Streams in a Fully Cosmological Context
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.03599