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Title: Non-linear violent disc instability with high Toomre's Q in high-redshift clumpy disc galaxies

Journal Article · · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. The Hebrew Univ., Jerusalem (Israel)
  2. Centro de Astrobiologia (CSIC-INTA), Madrid (Spain); Univ. Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid (Spain)
  3. CEA/DSM-CNRS-Univ. Paris Diderot, Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
  4. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)

We utilize zoom-in cosmological simulations to study the nature of violent disc instability in clumpy galaxies at high redshift, z = 1–5. Our simulated galaxies are not in the ideal state assumed in Toomre instability, of linear fluctuations in an isolated, uniform, rotating disc. There, instability is characterized by a Q parameter below unity, and lower when the disc is thick. Instead, the high-redshift discs are highly perturbed. Over long periods they consist of non-linear perturbations, compact massive clumps and extended structures, with new clumps forming in interclump regions. This is while the galaxy is subject to frequent external perturbances. We compute the local, two-component Q parameter for gas and stars, smoothed on a ~1 kpc scale to capture clumps of 108-9 M. The Q < 1 regions are confined to collapsed clumps due to the high surface density there, while the interclump regions show Q significantly higher than unity. Tracing the clumps back to their relatively smooth Lagrangian patches, we find that Q prior to clump formation typically ranges from unity to a few. This is unlike the expectations from standard Toomre instability. We discuss possible mechanisms for high-Q clump formation, e.g. rapid turbulence decay leading to small clumps that grow by mergers, non-axisymmetric instability, or clump formation induced by non-linear perturbations in the disc. Alternatively, the high-Q non-linear VDI may be stimulated by the external perturbations such as mergers and counter-rotating streams. In conclusion, the high Q may represent excessive compressive modes of turbulence, possibly induced by tidal interactions.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
OSTI ID:
1542105
Journal Information:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 456, Issue 2; ISSN 0035-8711
Publisher:
Royal Astronomical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 78 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Planck ’s dusty GEMS: V. Molecular wind and clump stability in a strongly lensed star-forming galaxy at z = 2.2 journal November 2018
A unified model for the maximum mass scales of molecular clouds, stellar clusters and high-redshift clumps journal March 2017
What drives gravitational instability in nearby star-forming spirals? The impact of CO and H i velocity dispersions journal April 2017
Diversity of the Lyman continuum escape fractions of high-z galaxies and its origins journal January 2018
A unified model for galactic discs: star formation, turbulence driving, and mass transport journal April 2018
The imprint of clump formation at high redshift – I. A disc α-abundance dichotomy journal January 2019
Towards a radially resolved semi-analytic model for the evolution of disc galaxies tuned with machine learning journal June 2019
Time-average properties of z ∼ 0.6 major mergers: mergers significantly scatter high-z scaling relations journal June 2019
Clumpy galaxies in cosmological simulations: the effect of ISM model journal July 2019
A contribution of star-forming clumps and accreting satellites to the mass assembly of z ∼ 2 galaxies journal August 2019
Studying the physical properties of tidal features – I. Extracting morphological substructure in CANDELS observations and VELA simulations journal March 2019
Structure and stability of high-redshift galaxies in cosmological simulations journal March 2019
Clumpy Galaxies in CANDELS. II. Physical Properties of UV-bright Clumps at 0.5 ≤ z < 3 journal January 2018
Two Thresholds for Globular Cluster Formation and the Common Occurrence of Massive Clusters in the Early Universe journal December 2018
Distinguishing Mergers and Disks in High-redshift Observations of Galaxy Kinematics journal March 2019
Size Scaling of Clump Instabilities in Turbulent, Feedback-regulated Disks journal April 2019
The Evolution and Origin of Ionized Gas Velocity Dispersion from z ∼ 2.6 to z ∼ 0.6 with KMOS 3D journal July 2019
A Noncorotating Gas Component in an Extreme Starburst at z = 4.3 journal February 2020
What drives gravitational instability in nearby star-forming spirals? The impact of CO and HI velocity dispersions text January 2017
A unified model for the maximum mass-scales of molecular clouds, stellar clusters, and high-redshift clumps text January 2017
A Unified Model for Galactic Discs: Star Formation, Turbulence Driving, and Mass Transport text January 2017
Towards a radially-resolved semi-analytic model for the evolution of disc galaxies tuned with machine learning text January 2018
Distinguishing Mergers and Disks in High Redshift Observations of Galaxy Kinematics text January 2019
Size-scaling of clump instabilities in turbulent, feedback regulated disks text January 2019
Clumpy galaxies in cosmological simulations: The effect of ISM model text January 2019
A contribution of star-forming clumps and accreting satellites to the mass assembly of z ~ 2 galaxies text January 2019
A non-corotating gas component in an extreme starburst at z=4.3 text January 2020

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