Characterizing gravitational instability in turbulent multi-component galactic discs

Abstract

Gravitational instabilities play an important role in galaxy evolution and in shaping the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is observed to be highly turbulent, meaning that observables like the gas surface density and velocity dispersion depend on the size of the region over which they are measured. In this work we investigate, using simulations of Milky Way-like disc galaxies with a resolution of $\sim 9$ pc, the nature of turbulence in the ISM and how this affects the gravitational stability of galaxies. By accounting for the measured average turbulent scalings of the density and velocity fields in the stability analysis, we can more robustly characterize the average level of stability of the galaxies as a function of scale, and in a straightforward manner identify scales prone to fragmentation. Furthermore, we find that the stability of a disc with feedback-driven turbulence can be well described by a "Toomre-like" $Q$ stability criterion on all scales, whereas the classical $Q$ can formally lose its meaning on small scales if violent disc instabilities occur in models lacking pressure support from stellar feedback.

11 pages, 5 figures, submitted to MNRAS

References in corpus (67)

• The Structure of Cold Dark Matter Halos
• Theory of Star Formation
• Modeling feedback from stars and black holes in galaxy mergers
• Cosmological Hydrodynamics with Adaptive Mesh Refinement: a new high resolution code called RAMSES
• The Star Formation Efficiency in Nearby Galaxies: Measuring Where Gas Forms Stars Effectively
• Control of star formation by supersonic turbulence
• THINGS: The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey
• Interstellar Turbulence I: Observations and Processes
• The SINS survey: SINFONI Integral Field Spectroscopy of z ~ 2 Star-forming Galaxies
• High molecular gas fractions in normal massive star forming galaxies in the young Universe
• Comparing the statistics of interstellar turbulence in simulations and observations: Solenoidal versus compressive turbulence forcing
• The Star Formation Rate of Turbulent Magnetized Clouds: Comparing Theory, Simulations, and Observations
• The SINS survey of z~2 galaxy kinematics: properties of the giant star forming clumps
• Re-examining Larson's Scaling Relationships in Galactic Molecular Clouds
• The Statistics of Supersonic Isothermal Turbulence
• The Resolved Properties of Extragalactic Giant Molecular Clouds
• Towards a complete accounting of energy and momentum from stellar feedback in galaxy formation simulations
• The Star Formation Rate of Supersonic MHD Turbulence
• Energy Input and Mass Redistribution by Supernovae in the Interstellar Medium
• Velocity Modification of HI Power Spectrum
• Physical Properties and Galactic Distribution of Molecular Clouds identified in the Galactic Ring Survey
• What is Driving the HI Velocity Dispersion?
• On the universality of supersonic turbulence
• The Structure of the Interstellar Medium of Star Forming Galaxies
• Star Formation in Disk Galaxies. I. Formation and Evolution of Giant Molecular Clouds via Gravitational Instability and Cloud Collisions
• The AGORA High-Resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project
• Kinemetry of SINS High-Redshift Star-Forming Galaxies: Distinguishing Rotating Disks from Major Mergers
• The ISM in distant star-forming galaxies: Turbulent pressure, fragmentation and cloud scaling relations in a dense gas disk at z=2.3
• Gravity or Turbulence? The velocity dispersion-size relation
• Bulge and Clump Evolution in Hubble Ultra Deep Field Clump Clusters, Chains and Spiral Galaxies
• ISM properties in hydrodynamic galaxy simulations: Turbulence cascades, cloud formation, role of gravity and feedback
• Disk formation and the origin of clumpy galaxies at high redshift
• Supersonic turbulence in the ISM: stellar extinction determinations as probes of the structure and dynamics of dark clouds
• A sub-parsec resolution simulation of the Milky Way: Global structure of the ISM and properties of molecular clouds
• A Fractal Analysis of the HI Emission from the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Local Axisymmetric Instability Criterion in the Thin, Rotating, Multicomponent Disk
• A simple multigrid scheme for solving the Poisson equation with arbitrary domain boundaries
• Unstable disks at high redshift: Evidence for smooth accretion in galaxy formation
• The Mass-Size Relation from Clouds to Cores. II. Solar Neighborhood Clouds
• The effective stability parameter for two-component galactic discs: Is 1/Q ~ 1/Q_stars + 1/Q_gas ?
• The Two States of Star Forming Clouds
• A simple and accurate approximation for the Q stability parameter in multi-component and realistically thick discs
• Large scale galactic turbulence: can self-gravity drive the observed HI velocity dispersions?
• Physical Properties of Giant Molecular Clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• A high-dispersion molecular gas component in nearby galaxies
• Is the Scaling of Supersonic Turbulence Universal?
• An Excursion-Set Model for the Structure of GMCs and the ISM
• Angular Momentum Transfer and Lack of Fragmentation in Self-Gravitating Accretion Flows
• A supersonic turbulence origin of Larson's laws
• A Toomre-like stability criterion for the clumpy and turbulent interstellar medium
• Scaling Relations of Compressible MHD Turbulence
• Do Giant Molecular Clouds Care About the Galactic Structure?
• Discreteness Effects in Lambda Cold Dark Matter Simulations: A Wavelet-Statistical View
• Dust and gas power-spectrum in M33 (HERM33ES)
• Power spectrum of HI intensity fluctuations in DDO 210
• Larson's scaling laws, and the gravitational instability of clumpy discs at high redshift
• Turbulent Disks are Never Stable: Fragmentation and Turbulence-Promoted Planet Formation
• The fractal dimension of star-forming regions at different spatial scales in M33
• A Two-Component Power Law Covering Nearly Four Orders of Magnitude in the Power Spectrum of Spitzer Far-Infrared Emission from the Large Magellanic Cloud
• HI Power Spectra and the Turbulent ISM of Dwarf Irregular Galaxies
• The Scale Height of NGC 1058 Measured from its HI Power Spectrum
• HI power spectrum of the spiral galaxy NGC628
• The effect of ISM turbulence on the gravitational instability of galactic discs
• A Simple Perspective on the Mass-Area Relationship in Molecular Clouds
• A Catalog of HI Clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Probing interstellar turbulence in spiral galaxies using HI power spectrum analysis
• Turbulence measurements from HI absorption spectra

Cited by in corpus (43)

• EDGE: the mass-metallicity relation as a critical test of galaxy formation physics
• Morphologies of ~190,000 Galaxies at z=0-10 Revealed with HST Legacy Data II. Evolution of Clumpy Galaxies
• The distribution of atomic hydrogen in EAGLE galaxies: morphologies, profiles, and HI holes
• The impact of stellar feedback on the structure, size and morphology of galaxies in Milky Way size dark matter haloes
• The Star Formation Rate in the Gravoturbulent Interstellar Medium
• Non-linear violent disc instability with high Toomre's Q in high-redshift clumpy disc galaxies
• How galaxies form stars: the connection between local and global star formation in galaxy simulations
• How Galactic Environment affects the Dynamical State of Molecular Clouds and their Star Formation Efficiency
• Mass Transport and Turbulence in Gravitationally Unstable Disk Galaxies II: The Effects of Star Formation Feedback
• VINTERGATAN II: the history of the Milky Way told by its mergers
• The impact of stellar feedback on the density and velocity structure of the interstellar medium
• Mass Transport and Turbulence in Gravitationally Unstable Disk Galaxies. I: The Case of Pure Self-Gravity
• What powers the starburst activity of NGC 1068? Star-driven gravitational instabilities caught in the act
• VINTERGATAN III: how to reset the metallicity of the Milky Way
• What drives gravitational instability in nearby star-forming spirals? The impact of CO and HI velocity dispersions
• From lenticulars to blue compact dwarfs: the stellar mass fraction is regulated by disc gravitational instability
• UV absorption lines and their potential for tracing the Lyman continuum escape fraction
• A fundamental test for stellar feedback recipes in galaxy simulations
• Physical properties and scaling relations of molecular clouds: the effect of stellar feedback
• Star formation and ISM morphology in tidally induced spiral structures
• How runaway stars boost galactic outflows
• On the Observed Diversity of Star Formation Efficiencies in Giant Molecular Clouds
• Young and turbulent: the early life of massive galaxy progenitors
• GASKAP-HI Pilot Survey Science I: ASKAP Zoom Observations of HI Emission in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• From giant clumps to clouds I: the impact of gas fraction evolution on the stability of galactic discs
• From giant clumps to clouds -- III. The connection between star formation and turbulence in the ISM
• From giant clumps to clouds -- II. The emergence of thick disc kinematics from the conditions of star formation in high redshift gas rich galaxies
• Faraday rotation signatures of fluctuation dynamos in young galaxies
• Galaxy Outflows Without Supernovae
• The SATIN project I: Turbulent multi-phase ISM in Milky Way simulations with SNe feedback from stellar clusters
• Testing Hydrodynamics Schemes in Galaxy Disc Simulations
• From giant clumps to clouds IV: extreme star-forming clumps on top of universal cloud scaling relations in gas-rich galaxies
• Molecular Clouds as Gravitational Instabilities in Rotating Disks: A Modified Stability Criterion
• WISDOM Project XII. Clump properties and turbulence regulated by clump-clump collisions in the dwarf galaxy NGC404
• Theoretical modelling of two-component molecular discs in spiral galaxies
• The Anatomy of a Star-Forming Galaxy II: the role of FUV heating via dust
• UV-Bright Star-Forming Clumps and Their Host Galaxies in UVCANDELS at 0.5 $\le$ z $\le$ 1
• Physical Properties and Scaling Relations of Molecular Clouds: the Impact of Star Formation
• Stability of galaxies across morphological sequence
• A Tale of Two Clump Masses: A New Way to Study Clump Formation in Simulations
• On the Viability of Determining Galaxy Properties from Observations I: Star Formation Rates and Kinematics
• How does dark matter stabilize disc galaxies?
• The cosmic journey of dust grains -- from nucleation to planetary system