How to Grow a Healthy Merger Tree

Abstract

We investigate seven Monte Carlo algorithms -- four old and three new -- for constructing merger histories of dark matter halos using the extended Press-Schechter (EPS) formalism based on both the spherical and ellipsoidal collapse models. We compare, side-by-side, the algorithms' abilities at reproducing the analytic EPS conditional (or progenitor) mass function over a broad range of mass and redshift (z=0 to 15). Among the four old algorithms (Lacey & Cole 1993, Kauffmann & White 1993, Somerville & Kolatt 1999, Cole et al 2000), we find that only KW93 produces a progenitor mass function that is consistent with the EPS prediction for all look-back redshifts. The origins of the discrepancies in the other three algorithms are discussed. Our three new algorithms are designed to generate the correct progenitor mass function at each timestep. We show that this is a necessary and sufficient condition for consistency with EPS at any look-back time. We illustrate the differences among the three new algorithms and KW93 by investigating two other conditional statistics: the mass function of the i_{th} most massive progenitors and the mass function for descendants with N_p progenitors.

20 pages, 12 figures, MNRAS in Press

References in corpus (7)

• Generating Dark Matter Halo Merger Trees
• The Excursion Set Theory of Halo Mass Functions, Halo Clustering, and Halo Growth
• The Nearly Universal Merger Rate of Dark Matter Haloes in Lambda-CDM Cosmology
• Merger Rates of Dark-Matter Haloes
• Constructing Merger Trees that Mimic N-Body Simulations
• The statistical properties of LCDM halo formation
• Multi-mass schemes for collisionless N-body simulations

Cited by in corpus (46)

• Galaxy Formation Theory
• The Assembly of Supermassive Black Holes at High Redshifts
• Halo and Subhalo Demographics with Planck Cosmological Parameters: Bolshoi-Planck and MultiDark-Planck Simulations
• Environmental Dependence of Dark Matter Halo Growth I: Halo Merger Rates
• The halo merger rate in the Millennium Simulation and implications for observed galaxy merger fractions
• Semi-analytic forecasts for JWST -- II. physical properties and scaling relations for galaxies at z = 4-10
• Generating Merger Trees for Dark Matter Haloes: A Comparison of Methods
• The formation of massive black holes in z~30 dark matter haloes with large baryonic streaming velocities
• The Formation of the First Massive Black Holes
• SatGen: a semi-analytical satellite galaxy generator -- I. The model and its application to Local-Group satellite statistics
• Semi-analytic forecasts for JWST -- IV. Implications for cosmic reionization and LyC escape fraction
• On the formation of the first quasars
• H_2 Suppression with Shocking Inflows: Testing a Pathway for Supermassive Black Hole Formation
• Arc Statistics
• X-ray emission from high-redshift miniquasars: self-regulating the population of massive black holes through global warming
• Semi-analytic forecasts for JWST -- III. Intrinsic production efficiency of Lyman-continuum radiation
• Semi-analytic forecasts for JWST -- V. AGN luminosity functions and helium reionization at z = 2-7
• The strongest gravitational lenses: I. The statistical impact of cluster mergers
• What Do Dark Matter Properties Tell Us About Their Mass Assembly Histories?
• A high precision semi-analytic mass function
• Comprehensive Assessment of the Too-Big-to-Fail Problem
• Numerical simulations of dwarf galaxy merger trees
• Statistics of Dark Matter Halos from the Excursion Set Approach
• Driving the Growth of the Earliest Supermassive Black Holes with Major Mergers of Host Galaxies
• Are Faint Supernovae Responsible for Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor Stars?
• Universal Merger Histories of Dark-Matter Haloes
• Massive galaxy formation caught in action at z~5 with JWST
• The imprint of the cosmic supermassive black hole growth history on the 21 cm background radiation
• Dark Matter Halos from the Inside Out
• The Universal Specific Merger Rate of Dark Matter Halos
• Merger history trees of dark matter haloes in moving barrier models
• Dark matter halo creation in moving barrier models
• Characterising the Structure of Halo Merger Trees Using a Single Parameter: The Tree Entropy
• A Stochastic Theory of the Hierarchical Clustering I. Halo Mass Function
• Angular Momentum Evolution in Dark Matter Halos
• Stochastic Model of the Spin Distribution of Dark Matter Halos
• A Stochastic Theory of the Hierarchical Clustering II. Halo progenitor mass function and large-scale bias
• Halo Growth and Merger Rates as a Cosmological Test
• Merging Tree Algorithm of Growing Voids in Self Similar and CDM Models
• Cluster Assembly Times as a Cosmological Test
• The Coarse Geometry of Merger Trees in ΛCDM
• Devouring The Centaurus A Satellites: Modeling Dwarf Galaxies with Galacticus
• Probing the mass relation between supermassive black holes and dark matter halos at high redshifts by gravitational wave experiments
• Statistical Properties of Supercluster-Like Filaments from Cosmological Simulations
• Mass function and assembly of dark halos: an approach to inventory isolated overdense regions in random fields
• On the Size Evolution of a Galactic Disk in Hierarchical Merging of Cold Dark Matter Halos