Comparing Cosmological Hydrodynamic Simulations with Observations of High-Redshift Galaxy Formation Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Finlator, Kristian Markwart Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 02/10/2021 04:03:36 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195788 COMPARING COSMOLOGICAL HYDRODYNAMIC SIMULATIONS WITH OBSERVATIONS OF HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXY FORMATION by Kristian Markwart Finlator A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2 0 0 9 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dis- sertation prepared by Kristian Markwart Finlator entitled Comparing Cosmolog- ical Hydrodynamic Simulations with Observations of High-Redshift Galaxy For- mationand recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation require- ment for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Date: 28 August 2009 Romeel Dave´ Date: 28 August 2009 Feryal Ozel¨ Date: 28 August 2009 Daniel Eisenstein Date: 28 August 2009 Rodger Thompson Date: 28 August 2009 Dennis Zaritsky Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candi- date's submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. Date: 28 August 2009 Dissertation Director: Romeel Dave´ Date: 28 August 2009 Dissertation Director: Feryal Ozel¨ 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the Univer- sity Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permis- sion, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: Kristian Markwart Finlator 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To the extent that there is any question about whether Good Astronomers are made or born, and to the extent that my tenure at Steward Observatory has brought me one or two steps closer to becoming a Good Astronomer, I am an ar- gument that Good Astronomers are entirely made. The work in this thesis would have been quite out of the question without the support and encouragement of a respectable fraction of Steward as well as the larger Astronomical Community, all of whom deserve some of the credit. The pole position, however, clearly goes to my advisors Romeel Dave´ and Feryal Ozel,¨ who persistently believed in me when they maybe shouldn't have, gave me the space to learn from my mistakes without allowing me to feel like a failure (which graduate students are otherwise so ready to do), and helped me to develop my own style rather than imposing another upon me. I owe them as much as student ever owed teacher, and I can only hope that I will be able to pass on what they have given me. I thank my collaborators Dr. Benjamin D. Oppenheimer and Professors Casey Papovich and Greg Rudnick, from whom I have learned a great deal. I also thank the many other talented individuals who have taken the time to teach me, including in par- ticular Tom Abel, Eric Bell, Moysey Brio, Alison Coil, Michael Cooper, Arjun Dey, Eiichi Egami, Daniel Eisenstein, Don Garnett, Marc Metchnik, John Moustakas, Philip Pinto, Dimitrios Psaltis, Christy Tremonti, Rainer Wehrse, and Ben Weiner. I thank Nick Gnedin for IFRIT and Volker Springel for Gadget-2. I thank the administrative and technical geniuses who keep the wheels of the Steward machine greased, including Erin Carlson, Michelle Cournoyer, Catalina Diaz-Silva, Joy Facio, Jeff Fookson, Scott Gotilla, Greg Hagedon, Carmen Henley, Sharon Jones, Alan Koski, Christina Siqueros, Peter Strittmatter, Susan Warner, and Russ Warner. I also thank Jimmy Ferng and Lucy Carruthers for invaluable assistance in learning to use the campus supercomputers. I thank all of the graduate students whom I known here in Arizona for advice, support, and friendship. I am particularly grateful to Eric Nielsen, Sasha Kuchuk, Robert Dietz, Migo Muller¨ , Jane Rigby, Andrea Leistra, Iva Momcheva, Shane Bussman, Tiffany Bartz, Curtis Cooper, and Catherine Neish for much-needed doses of entertainment (“I don't know if this helps, but Ho-Ho-Ho!”) as well as many memorable hikes, meals, discussions, and trips to ski or to frolic by Lake Patagonia. I thank Kate Brutlag, Aleks and Maggie Diamond-Stanic, Amanda Ford, Megan Reiter, Wayne Schlingman, Suresh Sivanandam, Amy Stutz, Jo- hanna Teske, and Krystal Tyler for many get-togethers and good times. Finally, I thank my undergraduate advisors Michael Strauss, Gill Knapp, and Zeljkoˇ Ivezic´ for setting me on the road to this work by taking the time to teach me what little I was able to learn as an undergraduate. 5 DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my mother and father, who never discouraged my odd questions; to my sister and brother, whose unwavering love is all the more important because they know so well when to listen to me and when to ignore me; to the memory of my grandfather and my uncles Ron and Friedrich-Wilhelm; and to Moire, with all of my love. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES . 9 LIST OF TABLES . 22 ABSTRACT . 23 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 25 1.1 Motivation . 25 1.2 Background . 28 1.3 Outline . 33 CHAPTER 2 CONSTRAINING HIGH-Z GALAXIES USING SIMULATIONS : : : 39 2.1 Introduction . 40 2.2 Methodology of SPOC . 45 2.2.1 SED Fitting . 45 2.2.2 The SPOC Equation . 47 2.2.3 Systematic Uncertainties in Using Simulated Galaxies . 49 2.3 Models . 52 2.3.1 Simulations . 52 2.3.2 One-Parameter Star Formation Histories . 56 2.4 Performance of SPOC . 58 2.4.1 Self-Consistency Test . 58 2.4.2 Comparison With One-Parameter Models . 64 2.4.3 Numerical Resolution . 67 2.5 Test Case: Abell 2218 KESR . 71 2.5.1 Modeling Uncertainties: Outflows and Dust . 73 2.5.2 Comparison to One-parameter SFHs . 77 2.5.3 The Importance of Rest-Frame Optical Data . 81 2.6 A Sample of Reionization-Epoch Galaxies . 83 2.7 Conclusions . 95 CHAPTER 3 THE ORIGIN OF THE GALAXY MASS-METALLICITY RELATION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR GALACTIC OUTFLOWS : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 104 3.1 Introduction . 105 3.2 Simulations . 112 3.2.1 Simulations and Sample Definition . 112 3.2.2 Scales in the Wind Models . 115 3.3 The M¤ ¡ Zg relation at z = 2 . 118 3.3.1 Gas-phase Metallicities . 118 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS — Continued 3.3.2 Stellar Metallicities . 122 3.3.3 The IGM Metallicity . 125 3.4 Analytical Model for the MZR . 126 3.4.1 Equations of Evolution . 127 3.4.2 Gas Accretion History . 128 3.4.3 Star Formation Rates . 132 3.5 The Effects of Winds . 137 3.5.1 Mass Loading . 137 3.5.2 Star Formation Efficiency . 141 3.5.3 Metal Retention . 148 3.5.4 Suppression of M¤ and Zg . 149 3.6 Evolution of the MZR . 156 3.6.1 Evolution of M¤ ¡ Zg . 156 3.6.2 Evolution of Effective Yields . 159 3.6.3 Analytic Model MZR Evolution . 166 3.7 Understanding the Mass-Metallicity Relation . 168 3.7.1 Implications of the Model . 169 3.7.2 Normalization and Scaling Without Outflows . 170 3.7.3 Normalization and Scaling With Outflows . 174 3.7.4 Normalization and Scaling: The Equilibrium Metallicity . 175 3.7.5 Scatter . 179 3.8 Summary . 182 3.9 Afterthought: Observational Selection Effects . 192 CHAPTER 4 A NEW MOMENT METHOD FOR CONTINUUM RADIATIVE TRANS- FER IN COSMOLOGICAL REIONIZATION : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 194 4.1 Introduction . 195 4.2 Solving the Radiative Transfer Equation . 199 4.2.1 The Moments of the Radiative Transfer Equation . 199 4.2.2 Solving the Radiation Transfer Equation . 203 4.3 Computing the Eddington Factors . 205 4.3.1 Long Characteristics . 206 4.3.2 Comparison of Techniques . 208 4.3.3 Optimizing the Long-Characteristics Calculation . 215 4.3.4 Computational Scaling . 226 4.4 Solving for the Non-Equilibrium Ionization States . 230 4.5 Putting it All Together . 235 4.6 Tests . 237 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS — Continued 4.6.1 Stromgr¨ en Spheres . 237 4.6.2 Shadowing . 240 4.7 Cosmological Application . 243 4.8 Summary . 250 CHAPTER 5 THE LATE REIONIZATION OF FILAMENTS : : : : : : : : : : : : 253 5.1 Introduction . 254 5.2 Simulations . 257 5.2.1 Cosmological Simulation . 257 5.2.2 Radiative Transfer Calculations . 263 5.3 The Early Reionization of Voids . 266 5.3.1 The Volume-Averaged Neutral Fraction . 266 5.3.2 The Ratio of Ionized Fractions . 271 5.3.3 The Mean Free Path of Ionizing Photons . 275 5.4 Comparison to Observational Constraints . 278 5.4.1 The Integrated Optical Depth to Electron Scattering . 280 5.4.2 The Hydrogen Ionization Rate at z = 6 . 282 5.5 Discussion .