Environmental effects on Low Surface Brightness Galaxies in the IllustrisTNG simulation

TL;DR

This study uses the IllustrisTNG simulation to analyze how local and large-scale environments influence the properties and distribution of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies, revealing their dependence on halo characteristics and local interactions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed characterization of LSBGs' environments across multiple scales, highlighting the role of local interactions over large-scale structure in their evolution.

Findings

LSBGs reside in halos with higher spin parameters.

LSBGs are more spherical and aligned with dark matter angular momentum.

Environmental density influences LSBG morphology and dynamics.

Abstract

Employing the TNG100 run of the IllustrisTNG project, we characterize the environment of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies (LSBGs) across varying scales, from their associated dark matter halos to their distribution within the broader cosmic structure. We find no significant differences in the halo concentration index $c_{200}$ between LSBGs and their High Surface Brightness (HSBGs) counterparts, with LSBGs residing in halos with higher spin parameter $\lambda$ and slightly more spherical shapes than HSBGs. LSBGs show a stronger alignment between the dark and stellar angular momentum vectors than their high surface brightness counterparts. The relative abundance of LSBGs within groups and clusters displays a central deficit, hinting at potential destruction upon reaching these core regions. Studying the density field, we find a preference for rotation-dominated LSBGs to reside in low-density environments, while dispersion-dominated LSBGs thrive in high-density regions where galaxy interactions govern their evolution, an observation corroborated by our analysis of the two-point correlation function $\xi (r)$. Our examination of the cosmic web reveals no significant differences in the distance to the closest large-scale structure, barring a few exceptions. This suggests a limited impact of large-scale spatial distribution on mechanisms driving LSBG evolution. All together, we conclude that the halo vicinity and local environment at the scale of galaxy clusters, where mechanisms such as galaxy mergers and tidal stripping, as well as stellar and gas accretion take place, is the most likely environment that favour the emergence of LSBGs with different morphologies, mostly driven by the presence or absence of important local interaction phenomena.