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Lagos, CDP, Theuns, T, Schaye, J, Furlong, M, Bower, RG, Schaller, M, Crain, RA, Trayford, JW and Matthee, J (2016) The fundamental plane of star formation in galaxies revealed by the EAGLE hydrodynamical simulations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 459 (3). pp. 2632-2650. ISSN 0035-8711
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Abstract
We investigate correlations between different physical properties of star-forming galaxies in the "Evolution and Assembly of GaLaxies and their Environments" (EAGLE) cosmological hydrodynamical simulation suite over the redshift range $0\le z\le 4.5$. A principal component analysis reveals that neutral gas fraction ($f_{\rm gas, neutral}$), stellar mass ($M_{\rm stellar}$) and star formation rate (SFR) account for most of the variance seen in the population, with galaxies tracing a two-dimensional, nearly flat, surface in the three-dimensional space of $f_{\rm gas, neutral}-M_{\rm stellar}-\rm SFR$ with little scatter. The location of this plane varies little with redshift, whereas galaxies themselves move along the plane as their $f_{\rm gas, neutral}$ and SFR drop with redshift. The positions of galaxies along the plane are highly correlated with gas metallicity. The metallicity can therefore be robustly predicted from $f_{\rm gas, neutral}$, or from the $M_{\rm stellar}$ and SFR. We argue that the appearance of this "fundamental plane of star formation" is a consequence of self-regulation, with the plane's curvature set by the dependence of the SFR on gas density and metallicity. We analyse a large compilation of observations spanning the redshift range $0\lesssim \rm z\lesssim 2.5$, and find that such a plane is also present in the data. The properties of the observed fundamental plane of star formation are in good agreement with EAGLE's predictions.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2016 R.A. Crain et al. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | 0201 Astronomical And Space Sciences |
| Subjects: | Q Science > QB Astronomy |
| Divisions: | Astrophysics Research Institute |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
| Related URLs: | |
| Date Deposited: | 25 May 2016 11:18 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Aug 2022 14:24 |
| DOI or ID number: | 10.1093/mnras/stw717 |
| URI: | https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/3670 |
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