Cold Dark Matter Substructure and Galactic Disks I: Morphological Signatures of Hierarchical SatelliteAccretion
We conduct a series of high-resolution, fully self-consistent dissipation less N-body simulations to investigate the cumulative effect of substructure mergers onto thin disk galaxies in the context of the {Lambda}CDM paradigm of structure formation. Our simulation campaign is based on a hybrid approach combining cosmological simulations and controlled numerical experiments. Substructure mass functions, orbital distributions, internal structures, and accretion times are culled directly from cosmological simulations of galaxy-sized cold dark matter (CDM) halos. We demonstrate that accretions of massive subhalos onto the central regions of host halos, where the galactic disk resides, since z {approx} 1 should be common occurrences. In contrast, extremely few satellites in present-day CDM halos are likely to have a significant impact on the disk structure. This is due to the fact that massive subhalos with small orbital pericenters that are most capable of strongly perturbing the disk become either tidally disrupted or suffer substantial mass loss prior to z = 0. One host halo merger history is subsequently used to seed controlled N-body experiments of repeated satellite impacts on an initially-thin Milky Way-type disk galaxy. These simulations track the effects of six dark matter substructures, with initial masses in the range {approx} (0.7-2) x 10{sup 10} M{sub {circle_dot}} ({approx} 20-60% of the disk mass), crossing the disk in the past {approx} 8 Gyr. We show that these accretion events produce several distinctive observational signatures in the stellar disk including: a long-lived, low-surface brightness, ring-like feature in the outskirts; a significant flare; a central bar; and faint filamentary structures that (spuriously) resemble tidal streams in configuration space. The final distribution of disk stars exhibits a complex vertical structure that is well-described by a standard 'thin-thick' disk decomposition, where the 'thick' disk component has emerged primarily as a result of the interaction with the most massive subhalo. We conclude that satellite-disk encounters of the kind expected in {Lambda}CDM models can induce morphological features in galactic disks that are similar to those being discovered in the Milky Way, M31, and in other nearby and distant disk galaxies. These results highlight the significant role of CDM substructure in setting the structure of disk galaxies and driving galaxy evolution. Upcoming galactic structure surveys and astrometric satellites may be able to distinguish between competing cosmological models by testing whether the detailed structure of galactic disks is as excited as predicted by the CDM paradigm.
- Research Organization:
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- OSTI ID:
- 920598
- Report Number(s):
- SLAC-PUB-13027; ASJOAB; arXiv:0708.1949; TRN: US200818%%109
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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