Breathing in Low-Mass Galaxies: A Study of Episodic Star Formation

We simulate the collapse of isolated dwarf galaxies using SPH + N-body simulations including a physically motivated description of the effects of supernova feedback. As the gas collapses and stars form, the supernova feedback disrupts enough gas to temporarily quench star formation. The gas flows ou...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Astrophysical journal Vol. 667; no. 1; pp. 170 - 175
Main Authors Stinson, G. S, Dalcanton, J. J, Quinn, T, Kaufmann, T, Wadsley, J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chicago, IL IOP Publishing 20.09.2007
University of Chicago Press
Subjects
Astronomy
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Galaxy evolution
galaxies: formation
Star formation
Galaxy formation
Dwarf galaxies
methods: n-body simulations
Digital simulation
N body system
galaxies: dwarf- galaxies: evolution
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ISSN0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI10.1086/520504

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Summary:We simulate the collapse of isolated dwarf galaxies using SPH + N-body simulations including a physically motivated description of the effects of supernova feedback. As the gas collapses and stars form, the supernova feedback disrupts enough gas to temporarily quench star formation. The gas flows outward into a hot halo, where it cools until star formation can continue once more and the cycle repeats. The star formation histories of isolated Local Group dwarf galaxies exhibit similar episodic bursts of star formation. We examine the mass dependence of the stellar velocity dispersions and find that they are no less than half the velocity of the halos measured at the virial radius.
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ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1086/520504