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arXiv 0903.1636astro-ph.CO
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椭圆星系的小合并和大小演化

Minor mergers and the size evolution of elliptical galaxies

Thorsten Naab, Peter H. Johansson, Jeremiah P. Ostriker

摘要:

使用高分辨率流体动力学宇宙学模拟的大质量球状星系的形成,我们表明,椭圆星系可以是非常紧凑和大规模的高红移与最近的观察。吸积剥离的恒星物质随着时间的推移而增加系统的大小,而幸存的恒星核心的动力学摩擦则降低了中心浓度。在一个特定的情况下,一个球状星系的最终恒星质量为$1.5 \times 10^{11} M_{\odot}$,我们发现,有效半径$r_e$增加,从$0.7 \pm 0.2 \rm kpc$在z = 3到$r_e = 2.4 \pm 0.4 \rm kpc$在z = 0,伴随着一个数量级的有效密度减少和减少的中心速度色散约20%,在这个时间间隔。一个基于维里定理的简单论证表明,在弱束缚物质(次要合并)的吸积过程中,半径可以随着质量的平方而增加,而不是通常的主要合并的线性增加率。通过较小的合并,紧凑的高红移球状体可以演变成今天的系统,其大小和浓度与观测到的局部椭圆星系相似。这表明,小合并可能是早期类型星系的大小和密度的晚期演化的主要驱动力。

英文摘要:

Using a high resolution hydrodynamical cosmological simulation of the formation of a massive spheroidal galaxy we show that elliptical galaxies can be very compact and massive at high redshift in agreement with recent observations. Accretion of stripped in-falling stellar material increases the size of the system with time and the central concentration is reduced by dynamical friction of the surviving stellar cores. In a specific case of a spheroidal galaxy with a final stellar mass of $1.5 \times 10^{11} M_{\odot}$ we find that the effective radius $r_e$ increases from $0.7 \pm 0.2 \rm kpc$ at z = 3 to $r_e = 2.4 \pm 0.4 \rm kpc$ at z = 0 with a concomitant decrease in the effective density of an order of magnitude and a decrease of the central velocity dispersion by approximately 20% over this time interval. A simple argument based on the virial theorem shows that during the accretion of weakly bound material (minor mergers) the radius can increase as the square of the mass in contrast to the usual linear rate of increase for major mergers. By undergoing minor mergers compact high redshift spheroids can evolve into present-day systems with sizes and concentrations similar to observed local ellipticals. This indicates that minor mergers may be the main driver for the late evolution of sizes and densities of early-type galaxies.

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