The Evolution of Magellanic-like Galaxy Pairs and The Production of Magellanic Stream Analogues in Simulations with Tides, Ram Pressure, and Stellar Feedback

TL;DR

This paper uses chemodynamical simulations to study the formation of Magellanic Stream analogues through interactions, feedback, and environmental effects, revealing complex structures and chemical compositions consistent with observations.

Contribution

It introduces detailed simulations of Magellanic-like dwarf galaxy pairs including feedback, tides, and ram pressure, showing how streams form and evolve in a realistic environment.

Findings

A Magellanic Stream analogue is naturally produced by feedback and tidal stretching.

The leading arm of the stream persists despite ram pressure effects.

The stream exhibits complex chemical structure with lower metallicity than the dwarfs.

Abstract

We present a series of chemodynamical simulations of Magellanic-like systems consisting of two interacting, equal-mass dwarf galaxies orbiting a massive host galaxy, including feedback and star formation, tides, and ram pressure. We study the star formation and chemical enrichment history of the dwarfs, and the production of a Magellanic Stream analogue. The dwarfs interact with each other through tidal forces, distorting their morphologies and triggering star formation. A stream is naturally produced as outflows, induced by feedback and interactions, are stretched by tidal forces. Counter to some recent simulations, we find that the leading arm persists even in the presence of ram pressure from the host galaxy. Interactions between the dwarfs and the host galaxies produce multiple kinematic components in the stream, as observed. A combination of ongoing star-formation and entrained low-metallicity gas causes the stream to have a complex chemical structure, with an average metallicity that is generally lower than that of the dwarfs.