Emergence and cosmic evolution of the Kennicutt- Schmidt relation driven by interstellar turbulence
Author
Kraljic, K.Renaud, F.
Dubois, Y.
Pichon, C.
Agertz, O.
Andersson, E.
Devriendt, J.
Freundlich, J.
Kaviraj, S.
Kimm, T.
Martin, G.
Peirani, S.
Segovia, Otero, Á.
Volonteri, M.
Yi, S.K.
Affiliation
Steward Observatory, University of ArizonaIssue Date
2024-01-31
Metadata
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EDP SciencesCitation
A&A 682, A50 (2024)Journal
Astronomy and AstrophysicsRights
© The Authors 2024. Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
The scaling relations between the gas content and star formation rate of galaxies provide useful insights into the processes governing their formation and evolution. We investigated the emergence and the physical drivers of the global Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) relation at 0:25 ≤ z ≤ 4 in the cosmological hydrodynamic simulation NewHorizon, capturing the evolution of a few hundred galaxies with a resolution down to 34 pc. The details of this relation vary strongly with the stellar mass of galaxies and the redshift. A power-law relation ΣSFR / Σa gas with a ≈ 1:4, like that found empirically, emerges at z ≈ 2..3 for the more massive half of the galaxy population. However, no such convergence is found in the lower-mass galaxies, for which the relation gets shallower with decreasing redshift. At galactic scales, the star formation activity correlates with the level of turbulence of the interstellar medium, quantified by the Mach number, rather than with the gas fraction (neutral or molecular), confirming the conclusions found in previous works. With decreasing redshift, the number of outliers with short depletion times diminishes, reducing the scatter of the KS relation, while the overall population of galaxies shifts toward low densities. Our results, from parsec-scale star formation models calibrated with local Universe physics, demonstrate that the cosmological evolution of the environmental (e.g., mergers) and internal conditions (e.g., gas fractions) conspire to shape the KS relation. This is an illustration of how the interplay of global and local processes leaves a detectable imprint on galactic-scale observables and scaling relations. © The Authors 2024.Note
Open access articleISSN
0004-6361Version
Final Published Versionae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1051/0004-6361/202347917
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as © The Authors 2024. Open Access article, published by EDP Sciences, under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.