Bulge formation through disc instability — I [GA]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2011.11629


We use simulations to study the growth of a pseudobulge in an isolated thin exponential stellar disc embedded in a static spherical halo. We observe a transition from later to earlier morphological types and an increase in bar prominence for higher disc-to-halo mass ratios, for lower disc-to-halo size ratios, and for lower halo concentrations. We compute bulge-to-total stellar mass ratios $B/T$ by fitting a two-component Sérsic-exponential surface-density distribution. The final $B/T$ is strongly related to the disc’s fractional contribution $f_{\rm d}$ to the total gravitational acceleration at the optical radius. The formula $B/T=0.5\,f_{\rm }^{1.8}$ fits the simulations to an accuracy of $30\%$, is consistent with observational measurements of B/T and f_d as a function of luminosity, and reproduces the observed relation between $B/T$ and stellar mass when incorporated into the GalICS~2.0 semi-analytic model of galaxy formation.

Read this paper on arXiv…

T. Devergne, A. Cattaneo, F. Bournaud, et. al.
Tue, 24 Nov 2020
29/83

Comments: 19 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics