Galaxy Formation as a Cosmological Tool. I: The Galaxy Merger History as a Measure of Cosmological Parameters

Abstract

As galaxy formation and evolution over long cosmic time-scales depends to a large degree on the structure of the universe, the assembly history of galaxies is potentially a powerful approach for learning about the universe itself. In this paper we examine the merger history of dark matter halos based on the Extended Press-Schechter formalism as a function of cosmological parameters, redshift and halo mass. We calculate how major halo mergers are influenced by changes in the cosmological values of ${\Omega }_{\mathrm{m}}$, ${\Omega }_{\Lambda }$, ${\sigma }_8$, the dark matter particle temperature (warm vs. cold dark matter), and the value of a constant and evolving equation of state parameter $w(z)$. We find that the merger fraction at a given halo mass varies by up to a factor of three for halos forming under the assumption of Cold Dark Matter, within different underling cosmological parameters. We find that the current measurements of the merger history, as measured through observed galaxy pairs as well as through structure, are in agreement with the concordance cosmology with the current best fit giving $1-{\Omega }_{\mathrm{m}}={\Omega }_{\mathrm{\Lambda }}=0.84_{-0.17}^{+0.16}$. To obtain a more accurate constraint competitive with recently measured cosmological parameters from Planck and WMAP requires a measured merger accuracy of $\delta f_{\mathrm{m}}\sim 0.01$, implying surveys with an accurately measured merger history over 2 - 20 deg${}^2$, which will be feasible with the next generation of imaging and spectroscopic surveys such as Euclid and LSST.

MNRAS, accepted for publication, 22 pages

References in corpus (13)

• SNLS3: Constraints on Dark Energy Combining the Supernova Legacy Survey Three Year Data with Other Probes
• Galaxy Merger Morphologies and Time-Scales from Simulations of Equal-Mass Gas-Rich Disc Mergers
• The halo mass function from the dark ages through the present day
• The Nearly Universal Merger Rate of Dark Matter Haloes in Lambda-CDM Cosmology
• The Redshift Evolution of Wet, Dry, and Mixed Galaxy Mergers from Close Galaxy Pairs in the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey
• The Structures of Distant Galaxies I: Galaxy Structures and the Merger Rate to z~3 in the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field
• The Structures of Distant Galaxies - III: The Merger History of over 20,000 Massive Galaxies at z < 1.2
• The recycling of gas and metals in galaxy formation: predictions of a dynamical feedback model
• The Properties and Evolution of a K-band Selected Sample of Massive Galaxies at z~0.4 - 2 in the Palomar/DEEP2 Survey
• A Surprisingly High Pair Fraction for Extremely Massive Galaxies at z ~ 3 in the GOODS NICMOS Survey
• A Comparison of Galaxy Merger History Observations and Predictions from Semi-Analytic Models
• Clustering properties of galaxies selected in stellar mass: Breaking down the link between luminous and dark matter in massive galaxies from z=0 to z=2
• The Effects of Interactions on the Structure and Morphology of Elliptical/Lenticular galaxies in Pairs

Cited by in corpus (22)

• A consistent measure of the merger histories of massive galaxies using close-pair statistics I: Major mergers at $z<3.5$
• Galaxy Merger Rates up to z $\sim$ 3 using a Bayesian Deep Learning Model $-$ A Major-Merger classifier using IllustrisTNG Simulation data
• Galaxy morphological classification in deep-wide surveys via unsupervised machine learning
• The Host-Galaxy Properties of Type 1 Versus Type 2 Active Galactic Nuclei
• Major mergers are not significant drivers of star formation or morphological transformation around the epoch of peak cosmic star formation
• Tracing galaxy populations through cosmic time: A critical test of methods for connecting the same galaxies between different redshifts at $z<3$
• Extremely massive disc galaxies in the nearby Universe form through gas-rich minor mergers
• The morphological mix of dwarf galaxies in the nearby Universe
• Galaxy merger challenge: A comparison study between machine learning-based detection methods
• Uncovering Tidal Treasures: Automated Classification of Faint Tidal Features in DECaLS Data
• Clues on Arp 142: The Spiral-Elliptical merger
• The PSF Smoothing Effect on Concentration-Related Parameters of High Redshift Galaxies in HST and JWST
• Toward a stellar population catalog in the Kilo Degree Survey: the impact of stellar recipes on stellar masses and star formation rates
• A Ringed Dwarf LINER 1 Galaxy Hosting an Intermediate-mass Black Hole with Large-scale Rotation-like Hα Emission
• Dark from light (DfL): Inferring halo properties from luminous tracers with machine learning trained on cosmological simulations. I. Method, proof of concept & preliminary testing
• CASCO: Cosmological and AStrophysical parameters from Cosmological simulations and Observations -- II. Constraining cosmology and astrophysical processes with early- and late-type galaxies
• An effective model for the tidal disruption of satellites undergoing minor mergers with axisymmetric primaries
• Nearby dwarf galaxies with extreme star formation rates: a window into dwarf-galaxy evolution in the early Universe
• Evaluating the Accuracy of Non-parametric Galaxy Morphological Indicator Measurements in the CSST Imaging Survey
• VST-SMASH: VST Survey of Mass Assembly and Structural Hierarchy I. Survey presentation and deep photometry of IC 5332: tracing the mass assembly in the challenging faintest-end regime
• Galaxy Mergers in a Fractal Cosmology
• Size-Mass Relation Shows Its Colours: Contrasting Physical Imprints of Galaxy Evolution in Rest-Frame UV and Optical