Cosmological evolution of metallicity correlation functions from the Auriga simulations

Li, Zefeng; Grand, Robert J J; Wisnioski, Emily; Mendel, J Trevor; Krumholz, Mark R; Ting, Yuan-Sen; Pakmor, Ruediger; Gómez, Facundo A; Marinacci, Federico; Ciucă, Ioana

Abstract

We study the cosmological evolution of the two-point correlation functions of galactic gas-phase metal distributions using the 28 simulated galaxies from the Auriga Project. Using mock observations of the z = 0 snapshots to mimic our past work, we show that the correlation functions of the simulated mock observations are well matched to the correlation functions measured from local galaxy surveys. This comparison suggests that the simulations capture the processes important for determining metal correlation lengths, the key parameter in metallicity correlation functions. We investigate the evolution of metallicity correlations over cosmic time using the true simulation data, showing that individual galaxies undergo no significant systematic evolution in their metal correlation functions from z ∼ 3 to today. In addition, the fluctuations in metal correlation length are correlated with but lag ahead fluctuations in star formation rate. This suggests that re-arrangement of metals within galaxies occurs at a higher cadence than star formation activity, and is more sensitive to the changes of environment, such as galaxy mergers, gas inflows/outflows, and fly-bys.

Citation

Li, Z., Grand, R. J. J., Wisnioski, E., Mendel, J. T., Krumholz, M. R., Ting, Y., …Ciucă, I. (2024). Cosmological evolution of metallicity correlation functions from the Auriga simulations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 528(4), 7103-7114. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae480

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 13, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Feb 20, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-03
• Deposit Date: Mar 12, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 12, 2024
• 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: 528
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 7103-7114
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae480
• Keywords: Space and Planetary Science; Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2326493