LYRA III: The smallest Reionization survivors

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution cosmological simulations to explore the complex reionization survival threshold of dwarf galaxies, revealing an intermediate population that temporarily quenches and then resumes star formation, challenging simple halo mass criteria.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed simulation approach to better understand reionization effects on dwarf galaxies and uncovers a new intermediate population with unique star formation histories.

Findings

Intermediate dwarf galaxies quench then re-ignite star formation.

Halo mass at z=0 is not a reliable survival indicator.

Gas retention and cooling depend on multiple factors including growth history and metallicity.

Abstract

The dividing line between galaxies that are quenched by reionization ("relics") and galaxies that survive reionization (i.e. continue forming stars) is commonly discussed in terms of a halo mass threshold. We probe this threshold in a physically more complete and accurate way than has been possible to date, using five extremely high resolution ($M_\mathrm{target}=4M_\odot$) cosmological zoom-in simulations of dwarf galaxies within the halo mass range $1-4\times10^9M_\odot$. The employed LYRA simulation model features resolved interstellar medium physics and individual, resolved supernova explosions. In our results, we discover an interesting intermediate population of dwarf galaxies close to the threshold mass but which are neither full reionization relics nor full reionization survivors. These galaxies initially quench at the time of reionization but merely remain quiescent for ~500Myr. At $z\approx5$ they recommence star formation in a synchronous way, and remain star-forming until the present day. These results demonstrate that the halo mass at $z=0$ is not a good indicator of survival close to the threshold. While the star formation histories we find are diverse, we show that they are directly related to the ability of a given halo to retain and cool gas. Whereas the latter is most strongly dependent on the mass (or virial temperature) of the host halo at the time of reionization, it also depends on its growth history, the UV background (and its decrease at late times) and the amount of metals retained within the halo.