The impact of quenching on galaxy profiles in the Simba simulation

Sarah Appleby*, Romeel Davé, Katarina Kraljic, Daniel Anglés-Alcázar, Desika Narayanan

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We study specific star formation rate (sSFR) and gas profiles of star-forming (SF) and green valley (GV) galaxies in the simba cosmological hydrodynamic simulation. SF galaxy half-light radii (Rhalf) at z = 0 and their evolution (∝(1 + z)−0.78) agree with observations. Passive galaxy Rhalf agree with observations at high redshift, but by z = 0 are too large, owing to numerical heating. We compare simbaz = 0 sSFR radial profiles for SF and GV galaxies to observations. simba shows strong central depressions in star formation rate (SFR), sSFR, and gas fraction in GV galaxies and massive SF systems, qualitatively as observed, owing to black hole X-ray feedback, which pushes central gas outwards. Turning off X-ray feedback leads to centrally peaked sSFR profiles as in other simulations. In conflict with observations, simba yields GV galaxies with strongly dropping sSFR profiles beyond ≳Rhalf, regardless of active galactic nucleus feedback. The central depression owes to lowering molecular gas content; the drop in the outskirts owes to reduced star formation efficiency. simba’s satellites have higher central sSFR and lower outskirts sSFR than centrals, in qualitative agreement with observations. At z = 2, simba does not show central depressions in massive SF galaxies, suggesting simba’s X-ray feedback should be more active at high-z. High-resolution tests indicate central sSFR suppression is not sensitive to numerical resolution. Reproducing the central sSFR depression in z = 0 GV galaxies represents a unique success of simba. The remaining discrepancies highlight the importance of SFR and gas profiles in constraining quenching mechanisms.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6053-6071
Number of pages19
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume494
Issue number4
Early online date30 Apr 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2020

Keywords

  • astro-ph.GA

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