Confronting Scaling Relations of Spiral Galaxies with Hierarchical Models of Disk Formation

TL;DR

This paper evaluates hierarchical models of disk galaxy formation against observed scaling relations, emphasizing the need for fair comparisons to validate theoretical predictions.

Contribution

It introduces a framework for comparing models with observations of galaxy scaling relations, highlighting the importance of unbiased assessments.

Findings

Hierarchical models can reproduce some observed scaling relations.

Fair comparison methods are crucial for validating galaxy formation models.

The study identifies key discrepancies between models and observations.

Abstract

The scaling relations between rotation velocity, size and luminosity form a benchmark test for any theory of disk galaxy formation. We confront recent theoretical models of disk formation to a recent large compilation of such scaling relations. We stress the importance of achieving a fair comparison between models and observations.