Formation of Isolated Dwarf Galaxies with Feedback

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations to explore how feedback processes and cosmic UV background influence the formation and properties of dwarf spheroidal galaxies, matching observed characteristics.

Contribution

It demonstrates that feedback and UV background effects, moderated by gravitational potential depth, can naturally produce dwarf galaxies with observed luminosities, metallicities, and sizes.

Findings

Simulations reproduce observed dwarf galaxy properties.

Feedback and UV background influence gas expulsion and star formation.

Dwarf spheroidals form near a halo mass threshold of ~10^9 solar masses.

Abstract

We present results of high resolution hydrodynamical simulations of the formation and evolution of dwarf galaxies. Our simulations start from cosmological initial conditions at high redshift. They include metal-dependent cooling, star formation, feedback from type II and type Ia supernovae and UV background radiation, with physical recipes identical to those applied in a previous study of Milky Way type galaxies. We find that a combination of feedback and the cosmic UV background results in the formation of galaxies with properties similar to the Local Group dwarf spheroidals, and that their effect is strongly moderated by the depth of the gravitational potential. Taking this into account, our models naturally reproduce the observed luminosities and metallicities. The final objects have halo masses between 2.3x10^8 and 1.1x10^9 solar masses, mean velocity dispersions between 6.5 and 9.7 kms-1, stellar masses ranging from 5x10^5 to 1.2x10^7 solar masses, median metallicities between [Fe/H] = -1.8 and -1.1, and half-light radii of the order of 200 to 300 pc, all comparable with Local Group dwarf spheroidals. Our simulations also indicate that the dwarf spheroidal galaxies observed today lie near a halo mass threshold around 10^9 solar masses, in agreement with stellar kinematic data, where supernova feedback not only suffices to completely expel the interstellar medium and leave the residual gas-free, but where the combination of feedback, UV radiation and self-shielding establishes a dichotomy of age distributions similar to that observed in the Milky Way and M31 satellites.