A unified model for age-velocity dispersion relations in Local Group galaxies: Disentangling ISM turbulence and latent dynamical heating

TL;DR

This study models the age-velocity dispersion relations in Local Group galaxies, revealing that stars are born with dispersions linked to the gas turbulence at formation and that dynamical heating varies with galaxy mass.

Contribution

It introduces an empirical model connecting star formation histories to ISM turbulence and dynamical heating, improving understanding of galaxy evolution mechanisms.

Findings

Stars are born with velocity dispersions similar to the gas turbulence at formation.

Lower mass galaxies' AVRs are explained by ISM turbulence without fine tuning.

Higher mass galaxies require additional dynamical heating processes like minor mergers.

Abstract

We analyze age-velocity dispersion relations (AVRs) from kinematics of individual stars in eight Local Group galaxies ranging in mass from Carina ($M_{*} \sim 10^{6}$) to M31 ($M_{*} \sim 10^{11}$). Observationally the $\sigma$ vs. stellar age trends can be interpreted as dynamical heating of the stars by GMCs, bars/spiral arms, or merging subhalos; alternatively the stars could have simply been born out of a more turbulent ISM at high redshift and retain that larger velocity dispersion till present day - consistent with recent IFU studies. To ascertain the dominant mechanism and better understand the impact of instabilities and feedback, we develop models based on observed SFHs of these Local Group galaxies in order to create an evolutionary formalism which describes the ISM velocity dispersion due to a galaxy's evolving gas fraction. These empirical models relax the common assumption that the stars are born from gas which has constant velocity dispersion at all redshifts. Using only the observed SFHs as input, the ISM velocity dispersion and a mid-plane scattering model fits the observed AVRs of low mass galaxies without fine tuning. Higher mass galaxies above $M_{vir} > 10^{11}$ need a larger contribution from latent dynamical heating processes (for example minor mergers), in excess of the ISM model. Using the SFHs we also find that supernovae feedback does not appear to be a dominant driver of the gas velocity dispersion compared to gravitational instabilities - at least for dispersions $\sigma \gtrsim 25$ km/s. Together our results point to stars being born with a velocity dispersion close to that of the gas at the time of their formation, with latent dynamical heating operating with a galaxy mass-dependent efficiency. These semi-empirical relations may help constrain the efficiency of feedback and its impact on the physics of disk settling in galaxy formation simulations.