Bars in hydrodynamical cosmological simulations

TL;DR

This paper investigates the formation and properties of galactic bars in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, comparing them with idealized models and observations to understand their natural emergence in a ΛCDM universe.

Contribution

It demonstrates that realistic galactic bars can form naturally in cosmological simulations, enabling more comprehensive studies of their formation and evolution.

Findings

Bars form in simulated Milky Way-mass galaxies with varying strengths and lengths.

Simulation results generally agree with observations and idealized models.

Galactic evolution influences bar properties and formation processes.

Abstract

We study the properties of two bars formed in fully cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of the formation of Milky Way-mass galaxies. In one case, the bar formed in a system with disc, bulge and halo components and is relatively strong and long, as could be expected for a system where the spheroid strongly influences the evolution. The second bar is less strong, shorter, and formed in a galaxy with no significant bulge component. We study the strength and length of the bars, the stellar density profiles along and across the bars and the velocity fields in the bar region. We compare them with the results of dynamical (idealised) simulations and with observations, and find, in general, a good agreement, although we detect some important differences as well. Our results show that more or less realistic bars can form naturally in a $\Lambda$CDM cosmology, and open up the possibility to study the bar formation process in a more consistent way than previously done, since the host galaxies grow, accrete matter and significantly evolve during the formation and evolution of the bar.