High resolution in z-direction: The simulation of disc-bulge-halo galaxies using the particle-mesh code SUPERBOX

TL;DR

This paper introduces an enhanced version of the SUPERBOX particle-mesh code with improved vertical resolution, enabling detailed simulations of disc heating and galaxy disruption in disc-bulge-halo systems.

Contribution

The paper presents a new version of SUPERBOX with higher z-resolution, allowing more accurate simulations of galaxy interactions and structural evolution.

Findings

Higher vertical resolution improves simulation accuracy.

Disruption of dwarf galaxies within larger systems is effectively modeled.

Disc heating by satellite infall is quantitatively analyzed.

Abstract

SUPERBOX is known as a very efficient particle-mesh code with highly-resolving sub-grids. Nevertheless, the height of a typical galactic disc is small compared to the size of the whole system. Consequently, the numerical resolution in z-direction, i.e. vertically with respect to the plane of the disc, remains poor. Here, we present a new version of SUPERBOX that allows for a considerably higher resolution along z. The improved code is applied to investigate disc heating by the infall of a galaxy satellite. We describe the improvement and communicate our results. As an important application we discuss the disruption of a dwarf galaxy within a disc-bulge-halo galaxy that consists of some 10^6 particles.