Implementing Molecular Hydrogen in Hydrodynamic Simulations of Galaxy Formation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a non-equilibrium H2 tracking method in hydrodynamic galaxy simulations, linking H2 abundance to star formation, and demonstrates its impact on galaxy properties and ISM structure.

Contribution

It presents the first cosmological simulation with non-equilibrium H2 and efficient SN feedback, showing improved realism in galaxy evolution modeling.

Findings

Increased cold gas and clumpier ISM in simulated galaxies.

Better agreement with observed galaxy scaling relations.

Galaxies are bluer with more extended star formation regions.

Abstract

Motivated by the observed connection between molecular hydrogen (H2) and star formation, we present a method for tracking the non-equilibrium abundance and cooling processes of H2 and H2-based star formation in Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic simulations. The local abundances of H2 are calculated by integrating over the hydrogen chemical network. This calculation includes the gas-phase and dust grain formation of H2, shielding of HI and H2, and photodissociation of H2 by Lyman-Werner radiation from nearby stellar populations. Because this model does not assume equilibrium abundances, it is particularly well suited for simulations that model low-metallicity environments, such as dwarf galaxies and the early Universe. We further introduce an explicit link between star formation and local H2 abundance. This link limits star formation to "star-forming regions," represented by areas with abundant H2. With this implementation, we determine the effect of H2 on star formation in a cosmological simulation of a dwarf galaxy. This simulation is the first cosmological simulation with non-equilibrium H2 abundances to be integrated to a redshift of zero or to include efficient SN feedback. We find that our simulations are consistent with the observed Tully-Fisher, global Kennicutt-Schmidt, and resolved Kennicutt-Schmidt relations. We find that the inclusion of shielding of both the atomic and molecular hydrogen and, to a lesser extent, the additional cooling from H2 at temperatures between 200 and 5000 K increases the amount of cold gas in the galaxies. The changes to the ISM result in an increased amount of cold, dense gas in the disk of the galaxy and the formation of a clumpier interstellar media (ISM). The explicit link between star formation and H2 and the clumpier ISM results in a bluer galaxy with a greater spatial distribution of star formation at a redshift of zero. (abridged)