Schaye, J, Crain, RA, Bower, RG, Furlong, M, Schaller, M, Theuns, T, Dalla Vecchia, C, Frenk, CS, McCarthy, IG, Helly, JC, Jenkins, A, Rosas-Guevara, YM, White, SDM, Baes, M, Booth, CM, Camps, P, Navarro, JF, Qu, Y, Rahmati, A, Sawala, T et al, Thomas, PA and Trayford, J
(2015)
The EAGLE project: simulating the evolution and assembly of galaxies and their environments.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 446 (1).
pp. 521-554.
ISSN 0035-8711
Abstract
We introduce the Virgo Consortium's EAGLE project, a suite of hydrodynamical simulations that follow the formation of galaxies and supermassive black holes in cosmologically representative volumes of a standard �CDM universe. We discuss the limitations of such simulations in light of their finite resolution and poorly constrained subgrid physics, and how these affect their predictive power. One major improvement is our treatment of feedback from massive stars and AGN in which thermal energy is injected into the gas without the need to turn o� cooling or decouple hydrodynamical forces, allowing winds to develop without predetermined speed or mass loading factors. Because the feedback efficiencies cannot be predicted from �first principles, we calibrate them to the present-day galaxy stellar mass function and the amplitude of the galaxy central black hole mass relation, also taking galaxy sizes into account. The observed galaxy stellar mass function is reproduced to <�0:2 dex over the full resolved mass range, 108 < M�=M�<�1011, a level of agreement close to that attained by semi-analytic models, and unprecedented for hydrodynamical simulations. We compare our results to a representative set of low-redshift observables not considered in the calibration, and find good agreement with the observed galaxy special star formation rates, passive fractions, Tully-Fisher relation, total stellar luminosities
of galaxy clusters, and column density distributions of intergalactic Civ and Ovi. While the mass-metallicity relations for gas and stars are consistent with observations
for M�>�109M� (M�>�1010M� at intermediate resolution), they are insufficiently steep at lower masses. For the reference model the gas fractions and temperatures
are too high for clusters of galaxies, but for galaxy groups these discrepancies can be resolved by adopting a higher heating temperature in the subgrid prescription for
AGN feedback. The EAGLE simulation suite, which also includes physics variations and higher-resolution zoomed-in volumes described elsewhere, constitutes a valuable
new resource for studies of galaxy formation.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Additional Information: |
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2015 The Authors 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 Universitty Press |
| Related URLs: |
|
| Date Deposited: |
24 Mar 2015 12:32 |
| Last Modified: |
04 Sep 2021 14:33 |
| DOI or ID number: |
10.1093/mnras/stu2058 |
| URI: |
https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/812 |
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The EAGLE project: simulating the evolution and assembly of galaxies and their environments. (deposited 24 Mar 2015 12:32)
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