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arXiv 1704.04239astro-ph.GAastro-ph.CO
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星系中长气体耗尽时间的物理起源

The physical origin of long gas depletion times in galaxies

Vadim A. Semenov, Andrey V. Kravtsov, Nickolay Y. Gnedin

摘要:

我们提出了一个模型,解释了为什么星系形成恒星的时间尺度显着长于星际气体演化过程的时间尺度。我们表明,气体演化从非恒星形成的恒星形成的状态在一个相对较短的时间尺度,因此,这种演变的速度并不限制恒星的形成率。相反,恒星形成速率是有限的,因为只有一小部分恒星形成气体在恒星形成区域被反馈和动力学过程分散之前转化为恒星。因此,气体多次循环进入和离开恒星形成状态,这导致星系将气体转化为恒星的时间尺度很长。我们的模型不依赖于平衡的假设,可以用来解释与观测星系的性质和恒星形成和反馈配方的模拟参数的耗尽时间的趋势。特别是,该模型解释了反馈如何在模拟中自我调节恒星形成速率,并使其对局部恒星形成效率不敏感。我们使用孤立的$L_*$大小的星系模拟的结果来说明我们的模型,该模拟再现了分子和原子气体的观察到的肯尼卡特-施密特关系。有趣的是,分子气体的关系在千秒差距尺度上几乎是线性的,尽管在模拟单元中采用了非线性关系。我们讨论了如何从非自相似缩放的气体密度PDF与平均气体表面密度的线性关系出现。

英文摘要:

We present a model that explains why galaxies form stars on a time scale significantly longer than the time scales of processes governing the evolution of interstellar gas. We show that gas evolves from a non-star-forming to a star-forming state on a relatively short time scale and thus the rate of this evolution does not limit the star formation rate. Instead, the star formation rate is limited because only a small fraction of star-forming gas is converted into stars before star-forming regions are dispersed by feedback and dynamical processes. Thus, gas cycles into and out of star-forming state multiple times, which results in a long time scale on which galaxies convert gas into stars. Our model does not rely on the assumption of equilibrium and can be used to interpret trends of depletion times with the properties of observed galaxies and the parameters of star formation and feedback recipes in simulations. In particular, the model explains how feedback self-regulates the star formation rate in simulations and makes it insensitive to the local star formation efficiency. We illustrate our model using the results of an isolated $L_*$-sized galaxy simulation that reproduces the observed Kennicutt-Schmidt relation for both molecular and atomic gas. Interestingly, the relation for molecular gas is almost linear on kiloparsec scales, although a nonlinear relation is adopted in simulation cells. We discuss how a linear relation emerges from non-self-similar scaling of the gas density PDF with the average gas surface density.

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