While the Virgo cluster is the nearest galaxy cluster and therefore the best observed one, little is known about its formation history. In this paper, a set of cosmological simulations that resemble the Local Universe is used to shed the first light on this mystery. The initial conditions for these simulations are constrained with galaxy peculiar velocities of the second catalogue of the Cosmicflows project using algorithms developed within the Constrained Local UniversE Simulation project. Boxes of 500 h-1 Mpc on a side are set to run a series of dark matter only constrained simulations. In each simulation, a unique dark matter halo can be reliably identified as Virgo's counterpart. The properties of these Virgo haloes are in agreement at a 10-20 per cent level with the global properties of the observed Virgo cluster. Their zero-velocity masses agree at 1σ with the observational mass estimate. In all the simulations, the matter falls on to the Virgo objects along a preferential direction that corresponds to the observational filament and the slowest direction of collapse. A study of the mass accretion history of the Virgo candidates reveals the most likely formation history of the Virgo cluster, namely a quiet accretion over the last 7 Gyr.
Carlesi, E., Hoffman, Y., Sorce, J. G., Gottlöber, S., Yepes, G., Courtois, H., Tully, R. B., 2016, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
, 460, 1 , L5 Published: July 2016
Determining the precise value of the tangential component of the velocity of M31 is a non-trivial astrophysical issue that relies on complicated modelling. This has recently lead to conflicting estimates, obtained by several groups that used different methodologies and assumptions. This Letter addresses the issue by computing a Bayesian posterior distribution function of this quantity, in order to measure the compatibility of those estimates with Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM). This is achieved using an ensemble of Local Group (LG) look-alikes collected from a set of constrained simulations (CSs) of the local Universe, and a standard unconstrained ΛCDM. The latter allows us to build a control sample of LG-like pairs and to single out the influence of the environment in our results. We find that neither estimate is at odds with ΛCDM; however, whereas CSs favour higher values of vtan, the reverse is true for estimates based on LG samples gathered from unconstrained simulations, overlooking the environmental element.
Carlesi, E., Sorce, J. G., Hoffman, Y., Gottlöber, S., Yepes, G., Libeskind, N. I., Pilipenko, S. V., Knebe, A., Courtois, H., Tully, R. B., Steinmetz, M., 2016, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
, 458, 1 , 900 Published: May 2016
Near-field cosmology is practised by studying the Local Group (LG) and its neighbourhood. This paper describes a framework for simulating the `near field' on the computer. Assuming the Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model as a prior and applying the Bayesian tools of the Wiener filter and constrained realizations of Gaussian fields to the Cosmicflows-2 (CF2) survey of peculiar velocities, constrained simulations of our cosmic environment are performed. The aim of these simulations is to reproduce the LG and its local environment. Our main result is that the LG is likely a robust outcome of the ΛCDMscenario when subjected to the constraint derived from CF2 data, emerging in an environment akin to the observed one. Three levels of criteria are used to define the simulated LGs. At the base level, pairs of haloes must obey specific isolation, mass and separation criteria. At the second level, the orbital angular momentum and energy are constrained, and on the third one the phase of the orbit is constrained. Out of the 300 constrained simulations, 146 LGs obey the first set of criteria, 51 the second and 6 the third. The robustness of our LG `factory' enables the construction of a large ensemble of simulated LGs. Suitable candidates for high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of the LG can be drawn from this ensemble, which can be used to perform comprehensive studies of the formation of the LG.
Pahwa, I., Libeskind, N. I., Tempel, E., Hoffman, Y., Tully, R. B., Courtois, H. M., Gottlöber, S., Steinmetz, M., Sorce, J. G., 2016, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
, 457, 1 , 695 Published: March 2016
Tidal torque theory suggests that galaxies gain angular momentum in the linear stage of structure formation. Such a theory predicts alignments between the spin of haloes and tidal shear field. However, non-linear evolution and angular momentum acquisition may alter this prediction significantly. In this paper, we use a reconstruction of the cosmic shear field from observed peculiar velocities combined with spin axes extracted from galaxies within 115 Mpc (∼8000 km s-1) from 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) catalogue to test whether or not galaxies appear aligned with principal axes of shear field. Although linear reconstructions of the tidal field have looked at similar issues, this is the first such study to examine galaxy alignments with velocity shear field. Ellipticals in the 2MRS sample show a statistically significant alignment with two of the principal axes of the shear field. In general, elliptical galaxies have their short axis aligned with the axis of greatest compression and perpendicular to the axis of slowest compression. Spiral galaxies show no signal. Such an alignment is significantly strengthened when considering only those galaxies that are used in velocity field reconstruction. When examining such a subsample, a weak alignment with the axis of greatest compression emerges for spiral galaxies as well. This result indicates that although velocity field reconstructions still rely on fairly noisy and sparse data, the underlying alignment with shear field is strong enough to be visible even when small numbers of galaxies are considered - especially if those galaxies are used as constraints in the reconstruction.
Benítez-Llambay, A., Navarro, J. F., Abadi, M. G., Gottlöber, S., Yepes, G., Hoffman, Y., Steinmetz, M., 2016, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
, 456, 2 , 1185 Published: February 2016
We use a cosmological simulation of the formation of the Local Group to explore the origin of age and metallicity gradients in dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We find that a number of simulated dwarfs form `outside-in', with an old, metal-poor population that surrounds a younger, more concentrated metal-rich component, reminiscent of dwarf spheroidals like Sculptor or Sextans. We focus on a few examples where stars form in two populations distinct in age in order to elucidate the origin of these gradients. The spatial distributions of the two components reflect their diverse origin; the old stellar component is assembled through mergers, but the young population forms largely in situ. The older component results from a first episode of star formation that begins early but is quickly shut off by the combined effects of stellar feedback and reionization. The younger component forms when a late accretion event adds gas and reignites star formation. The effect of mergers is to disperse the old stellar population, increasing their radius and decreasing their central density relative to the young population. We argue that dwarf-dwarf mergers offer a plausible scenario for the formation of systems with multiple distinct populations and, more generally, for the origin of age and metallicity gradients in dwarf spheroidals.
