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Testing model predictions of the cold dark matter cosmology for the sizes, colours, morphologies and luminosities of galaxies with the SDSS

González, J.E.; Lacey, C.G.; Baugh, C.M.; Frenk, C.S.; Benson, A.J.

Testing model predictions of the cold dark matter cosmology for the sizes, colours, morphologies and luminosities of galaxies with the SDSS Thumbnail


Authors

J.E. González

A.J. Benson



Abstract

The huge size and uniformity of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) make possible an exacting test of current models of galaxy formation. We compare the predictions of the GALFORM semi-analytical galaxy formation model for the luminosities, morphologies, colours and scalelengths of local galaxies. GALFORM models the luminosity and size of the disc and bulge components of a galaxy, and so we can compute quantities which can be compared directly with SDSS observations, such as the Petrosian magnitude and the Sérsic index. We test the predictions of two published models set in the cold dark matter cosmology: the Baugh et al. model, which assumes a top-heavy initial mass function (IMF) in starbursts and superwind feedback, and the Bower et al. model, which uses active galactic nucleus feedback and a standard IMF. The Bower et al. model better reproduces the overall shape of the luminosity function, the morphology–luminosity relation and the colour bimodality observed in the SDSS data, but gives a poor match to the size–luminosity relation. The Baugh et al. model successfully predicts the size–luminosity relation for late-type galaxies. Both models fail to reproduce the sizes of bright early-type galaxies. These problems highlight the need to understand better both the role of feedback processes in determining galaxy sizes, in particular the treatment of the angular momentum of gas reheated by supernovae, and the sizes of the stellar spheroids formed by galaxy mergers and disc instabilities.

Citation

González, J., Lacey, C., Baugh, C., Frenk, C., & Benson, A. (2009). Testing model predictions of the cold dark matter cosmology for the sizes, colours, morphologies and luminosities of galaxies with the SDSS. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 397(3), 1254-1274. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15057.x

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Aug 11, 2009
Deposit Date Jan 27, 2012
Publicly Available Date Jan 29, 2015
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 397
Issue 3
Pages 1254-1274
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.15057.x
Keywords Methods: numerical, Galaxies: evolution, Galaxies: formation.
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1489216

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2009 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.






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