High and low S\'ersic index bulges in Milky Way- and M31-like galaxies: origin and connection to the bar with TNG50

TL;DR

This study uses the TNG50 simulation to analyze the origins of high- and low-Sersic index bulges in Milky Way- and M31-like galaxies, examining the roles of environment, mergers, and bars in shaping bulge properties.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of bulge formation mechanisms in simulated galaxies, highlighting the influence of mergers and bars on bulge profiles and their connection to ex-situ star fractions.

Findings

High-Sersic bulges have higher ex-situ star fractions.

Bars are less common in high-Sersic bulges, especially with high ex-situ fractions.

No correlation between environment and bulge Sersic index.

Abstract

We study bulge formation in MW/M31-like galaxies in a $\Lambda$-cold dark matter scenario, focusing on the origin of high- and low-Sersic index bulges. For this purpose we use TNG50, a simulation of the IllustrisTNG project that combines a resolution of $\sim 8 \times 10^4 M_{\odot}$ in stellar particles with a cosmological volume 52 cMpc in extent. We parametrize bulge surface brightness profiles by the S\'ersic index and the bulge-to-total (B/T) ratio obtained from two-component photometric decompositions. In our sample of 287 MW/M31-like simulated galaxies, $17.1\%$ of photometric bulges exhibit high-S\'ersic indices and $82.9\%$ show low-S\'ersic indices. We study the impact that the environment, mergers and bars have in shaping the surface brightness profiles. We explore two different definitions for local environment and find no correlation between bulge properties and the environment where they reside. Simulated galaxies with higher S\'ersic indices show, on average, a higher fraction of ex-situ stars in their kinematically selected bulges. For this bulge population the last significant merger (total mass ratio $m_{\rm sat}/m_{\rm host} > 0.1$) occurs, on average, at later times. However, a substantial fraction of low-S\'ersic index bulges also experience a late significant merger. We find that bars play an important role in the development of the different types of photometric bulges. We show that the fraction of simulated galaxies with strong bars is smaller for the high- than for the low-S\'ersic index population, reaching differences of $20\%$ at $z > 1$. Simulated galaxies with high fractions of ex-situ stars in the bulge do not develop strong bars. Conversely, simulated galaxies with long-lived strong bars have bulges with ex-situ fractions, $f_{\rm ex-situ} < 0.2$.