Asymmetric Drift of Andromeda Analogs in the IllustrisTNG Simulation

TL;DR

This study uses the IllustrisTNG simulation to analyze how the asymmetric drift in Andromeda-like galaxies varies with stellar age and merger history, aligning simulation results with observations of M31.

Contribution

It demonstrates the correlation between stellar age, merger history, and asymmetric drift in galaxy analogs, linking simulation data with observational findings for M31.

Findings

Asymmetric drift increases with stellar age.

Recent 4:1 mergers influence the asymmetric drift.

Simulation results align with observed AD in M31.

Abstract

We analyze the kinematics as a function of stellar age for Andromeda (M31) mass analogs from the IllustrisTNG cosmological simulation. We divide the star particles into four age groups: less than 1 Gyr, 1 to 5 Gyr, 5 to 10 Gyr, and greater 10 Gyr, and compare the kinematics of these groups to that of the neutral gas cells. We calculate rotation curves for the stellar and gaseous components of each analog from 2 kpc to 20 kpc from the center of mass. We find that the lag, or asymmetric drift (AD), between the gas rotation curve and the stellar rotation curve on average increases with stellar age. This finding is consistent with observational measurements of AD in the disk of the Andromeda galaxy. When the M31 analogs are separated into groups based on merger history, we find that there is a difference in the AD of the analogs that have had a 4:1 merger the last 4 Gyr, 8 Gyr, or 12 Gyr compared to analogs that have not experienced a 4:1 merger in the same time frame. The subset of analogs that have had a 4:1 merger within the last 4 Gyr are also similar to AD measurements of stars in the disk of M31, providing evidence that M31 may in fact have recently merged with a galaxy nearly one fourth of its mass. Further work using high resolution zoom in simulations is required to explore the contribution of internal heating to AD.