Temporal Self-Organization in Galaxy Formation

Abstract

We report on the discovery of a relation between the number of star formation (SF) peaks per unit time, ${\nu }_{\mathrm{peak}}$, and the size of the temporal smoothing window function, $\Delta t$, used to define the peaks: ${\nu }_{\mathrm{peak}}\propto \Delta t^{1-\varphi }$ ($\varphi \sim 1.618$). This relation holds over the range of $\Delta t=10$ to $1000$Myr that can be reliably computed, using a large sample of galaxies obtained from a state-of-the-art cosmological hydrodynamic simulation. This means that the temporal distribution of SF peaks in galaxies as a population is fractal with a Hausdorff fractal dimension equal to $\varphi -1$. This finding reveals, for the first time, that the superficially chaotic process of galaxy formation is underlined by a temporal self-organization up to at least one gigayear. It is tempting to suggest that, given the known existence of spatial fractals (such as the power-law two-point function of galaxies), there is a joint spatio-temporal self-organization in galaxy formation. From an observational perspective, it will be urgent to devise diagnostics to probe SF histories of galaxies with good temporal resolution to facilitate a test of this prediction. If confirmed, it would provide unambiguous evidence for a new picture of galaxy formation that is interaction driven, cooperative and coherent in and between time and space. Unravelling its origin may hold the key to understanding galaxy formation.

10 pages, 4 figures, ApJ Letters in press, comments always welcome

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• SLUG - Stochastically Lighting Up Galaxies. II: Quantifying the Effects of Stochasticity on Star Formation Rate Indicators
• Order out of Randomness : Self-Organization Processes in Astrophysics