Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Galaxy Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-12-06
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Galaxy Astrophysics
16 pages, 6 figures. ApJ submitted, comments welcome. Code available at http://www.ucolick.org/~jforbes/gidget.html
Scientific paper
Observations of disk galaxies at z~2 have demonstrated that turbulence driven by gravitational instability can dominate the energetics of the disk. We present a 1D simulation code, which we have made publicly available, that economically evolves these galaxies from z~2 to z~0 on a single CPU in a matter of minutes, tracking column density, metallicity, and velocity dispersions of gaseous and multiple stellar components. We include an H$_2$ regulated star formation law and the effects of stellar heating by transient spiral structure. We use this code to demonstrate a possible explanation for the existence of a thin and thick disk stellar population and the age-velocity dispersion correlation of stars in the solar neighborhood: the high velocity dispersion of gas in disks at z~2 decreases along with the cosmological accretion rate, while at lower redshift, the dynamically colder gas forms the low velocity dispersion stars of the thin disk.
Burkert Andreas
Forbes John
Krumholz Mark R.
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