Quenching massive galaxies across cosmic time with the semi-analytic model SHARK v2.0

TL;DR

This paper presents SHARK v2.0, an advanced semi-analytic galaxy formation model that incorporates new physics to better simulate galaxy quenching and structural properties across cosmic time.

Contribution

The paper introduces several new physical models and improvements in SHARK v2.0, including angular momentum exchange, AGN feedback modes, black hole spin tracking, and environmental effects, with automatic parameter optimization.

Findings

More realistic size-mass relation with disk-to-bulge transition

Better reproduction of observed SFR and specific SFR relations at z=0

Higher number density of massive-quiescent galaxies consistent with JWST data

Abstract

We introduce version 2.0 of the SHARK semi-analytic model of galaxy formation after many improvements to the physics included. The most significant being: (i) a model describing the exchange of angular momentum (AM) between the interstellar medium and stars; (ii) a new active galactic nuclei feedback model which has two modes, a wind and a jet mode, with the jet mode tied to the jet energy production; (iii) a model tracking the development of black hole (BH) spins; (iv) more sophisticated modelling of environmental effects on satellite galaxies; and (v) automatic parameter exploration using Particle Swarm Optimisation. We focus on two timely research topics: the structural properties of galaxies and the quenching of massive galaxies. For the former, SHARK v2.0 is capable of producing a more realistic stellar size-mass relation with a plateau marking the transition from disk- to bulge-dominated galaxies, and scaling relations between specific AM and mass that agree well with observations. For the quenching of massive galaxies, SHARK v2.0 produces massive galaxies that are more quenched than the previous version, reproducing well the observed relations between star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass, and specific SFR and BH mass at $z=0$. SHARK v2.0 produces a number density of massive-quiescent galaxies >1dex higher than the previous version, in good agreement with JWST observations at $z\le 5$; predicts a stellar mass function of passive galaxies in reasonably good agreement with observations at $0.5<z<5$; and environmental quenching to already be effective at $z=5$.