Cosmological Simulations with Scale-Free Initial Conditions II: Radiative Cooling

Details Cosmological Simulations with Scale-Free Initial Conditions II: Radiative Cooling Cosmological Simulations with Scale-Free Initial Conditions II: Radiative Cooling

1998-05-07

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9805097v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

27 pages, 15 figures, uses AASTEX 4.0 style. Abridged abstract

Scientific paper

The growth of structure from scale-free initial conditions is one of the most important tests of cosmological simulation methods, providing a realistically complex problem in which numerical results can be compared to rigorous analytic scaling laws. Previous studies of this problem have incorporated gravitational dynamics and adiabatic gas dynamics, but radiative cooling, an essential element of the physics of galaxy formation, normally violates the conditions necessary for self-similar evolution. We show that for any specified value of the initial power spectrum index n [where P(k)~k^n], there is a family of power-law cooling functions that preserves self-similarity by ensuring that the cooling time in an object of the characteristic mass M_* is a fixed fraction t_C of the Hubble time. We perform hydrodynamic numerical simulations with an Einstein-de Sitter cosmology, a baryon fraction of 5%, Gaussian initial conditions, two different power spectrum indices, and four values of t_C for each index, ranging from no cooling to strong cooling. We restrict the numerical simulations to two dimensions in order to allow exploration of a wide parameter space with adequate dynamic range. In all cases, the simulations are remarkably successful at reproducing the analytically predicted scalings of the mass function of dissipated objects and the gas temperature distributions and cooled gas fractions in collapsed systems. While similar success with 3-D simulations must still be demonstrated, our results have encouraging implications for numerical studies of galaxy formation, indicating that simulations with resolution comparable to that in many current studies can accurately follow the collapse and dissipation of baryons into the dense, cold systems where star formation is likely to occur.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Cosmological Simulations with Scale-Free Initial Conditions II: Radiative Cooling does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Cosmological Simulations with Scale-Free Initial Conditions II: Radiative Cooling, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Cosmological Simulations with Scale-Free Initial Conditions II: Radiative Cooling will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-202250