Connections between galaxy properties and halo formation time in the cosmic web

TL;DR

This study links galaxy properties to their dark matter subhaloes and the cosmic web environment, revealing how formation time and galaxy characteristics depend on large-scale structure and subhalo mass.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the relationship between subhalo formation time, galaxy properties, and cosmic web environment using SDSS data and ELUCID simulation.

Findings

Satellite subhaloes are older than central subhaloes at fixed mass.

Galaxy stellar-to-subhalo mass ratio correlates with subhalo formation redshift.

Environmental dependence of galaxy properties varies with subhalo mass.

Abstract

By linking galaxies in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to subhaloes in the ELUCID simulation, we investigate the relation between subhalo formation time and the galaxy properties, and the dependence of galaxy properties on the cosmic web environment. We find that central and satellite subhaloes have different formation time, where satellite subhaloes are older than central subhaloes at fixed mass. At fixed mass, the galaxy stellar-to-subhalo mass ratio is a good proxy of the subhalo formation time, and increases with the subhalo formation redshifts, especially for massive galaxies. The subhalo formation time is dependent on the cosmic web environment. For central subhaloes, there is a characteristic subhalo mass of $\sim 10^{12} \msun$, below which subhaloes in knots are older than subhaloes of the same mass in filaments, sheets, or voids, while above which it reverses. The cosmic web environmental dependence of stellar-to-subhalo mass ratio is similar to that of the subhalo formation time. For centrals, there is a characteristic subhalo mass of $\sim 10^{12} \msun$, below which the stellar-to-subhalo mass ratio is higher in knots than in filaments, sheets and voids, above which it reverses. Galaxies in knots have redder colors below $10^{12} \msun$, while above $10^{12} \msun$, the environmental dependence vanishes. Satellite fraction is strongly dependent on the cosmic web environment, and decreases from knots to filaments to sheets to voids, especially for low-mass galaxies.