Evolution of starburst galaxies in the Illustris simulation

Wilkinson, C. L.; Pimbblet, K. A.; Stott, J. P.; Few, C. G.; Gibson, B. K.

Abstract

© 2018 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal Astronomical Society. There is a consensus in the literature that starburst galaxies are triggered by interaction events. However, it remains an open question as to what extent both merging and nonmerging interactions have in triggering starbursts. In this study, we make use of the Illustris simulation to test how different triggeringmechanisms can affect starburst events.We examine the star formation rate, colour, and environment of starburst galaxies to determine if this could be why we witness a bimodality in post-starburst populations within observational studies. Further, we briefly test the extent of quenching due to active galactic nuclei feedback. From Illustris, we select 196 starburst galaxies at z = 0.15 and split them into post-merger and pre-merger/harassment-driven starburst samples. We find that 55 % of this sample have not undergone a merger in the past 2 Gyr. Both of our samples are located in low-density environments within the filament regions of the cosmic web; however, we find that premerger/ harassment-driven starbursts are in higher-density environments than post-mergerdriven starbursts. We also find that pre-merger/harassment starbursts are redder than postmerger starbursts; this could be driven by environmental effects. Both, however, produce nuclear starbursts of comparable strengths.

Citation

Wilkinson, C. L., Pimbblet, K. A., Stott, J. P., Few, C. G., & Gibson, B. K. (2018). Evolution of starburst galaxies in the Illustris simulation. Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 479(1), 758-767. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty1493

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 29, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jun 7, 2018
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Oct 5, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 8, 2018
• Print ISSN: 0035-8711
• Electronic ISSN: 1365-2966
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 479
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 758-767
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty1493
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/889301
• Publisher URL: http://www.research.lancs.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/evolution-of-starburst-galaxies-in-the-illustris-simulation(2928c26a-cd86-4f41-b86b-aef2d0ee4245).html
• Contract Date: Oct 2, 2018