Phase spirals in cosmological simulations of Milky Way-size galaxies

TL;DR

This study identifies phase spirals in the vertical phase space of Milky Way-sized galaxy simulations, revealing their persistence across time and their association with satellite interactions and stellar populations, offering new insights into their origin.

Contribution

First detection of phase spirals in cosmological galaxy simulations, highlighting the roles of multiple perturbers, gas physics, and star formation in their formation and evolution.

Findings

Phase spirals are present across various times and locations in the simulated galaxy.

Younger stellar populations exhibit more prominent phase spirals, consistent with observational data.

Satellite interactions with lower masses can induce significant phase spiral structures.

Abstract

We study the vertical perturbations in the galactic disc of the Milky Way-size high-resolution hydrodynamical cosmological simulation named GARROTXA. We detect phase spirals in the vertical projection $Z- V_{Z}$ of disc's stellar particles for the first time in this type of simulations. Qualitatively similar structures were detected in the recent Gaia data, and their origin is still under study. In our model the spiral-like structures in the phase space are present in a wide range of times and locations across the disc. By accounting for an evolving mix of stellar populations, we observe that, as seen in the data, the phase spirals are better observed in the range of younger-intermediate star particles. We measure the intensity of the spiral with a Fourier decomposition and find that these structures appear stronger near satellite pericenters. Current dynamical models of the phase spiral considering a single perturber required a mass at least of the order of 10$^{10}$ M$_\odot$, but all three of our satellites have masses of the order of $\sim$10$^8$ M$_\odot$. We suggest that there are other mechanisms at play which appear naturally in our model such as the physics of gas, collective effect of multiple perturbers, and a dynamically cold population that is continuously renovated by the star formation Complementing collisionless isolated N-body models with the use of fully-cosmological simulations with enough resolution can provide new insights into the nature/origin of the phase spiral.