Speaker

David Attard

University of Sussex

Abstract

The Local Group (LG) is the best observed patch of the Universe, making it the ideal test bed for our galaxy formation models. In our current project we use zoom simulations to study the effects of Cosmic Reionization on the formation and evolution of the LG and other nearby structures, in both high- and low-density environments, and especially its effects on the local satellite galaxy population. This is carried out by resimulating the original HESTIA suite simulation using Ramses-RT, which is a radiation-hydrodynamics (RHD) extension of the RAMSES code. We run two dark-matter only simulations, with an effective resolution of 4096^3 and 16384^3 in the zoom region, respectively in a 100/h Mpc per side box. We also run two hydrodynamical (HD) zoom simulations and two RHD zoom simulations to allow for comparison. All the latter four simulations were run in a 100/h Mpc box with an effective resolution of 4096^3 in the zoom region consisting of 5/h Mpc sphere. For each of the HD and RHD simulations we run one simulation with a kinetic supernovae feedback model and one assuming a mechanical feedback model. Using these simulations, we aim to obtain an explanation for the diverse star formation histories in LG dwarfs as well as obtaining a better understanding of the timing of reionization in different environments.

Scientific theme

Reionization, Satellite Galaxies