NIHAO XX: The impact of the star formation threshold on the cusp-core transformation of cold dark matter haloes

Abstract

We use cosmological hydrodynamical galaxy formation simulations from the NIHAO project to investigate the impact of the threshold for star formation on the response of the dark matter (DM) halo to baryonic processes. The fiducial NIHAO threshold, $n=10{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$, results in strong expansion of the DM halo in galaxies with stellar masses in the range $10^{7.5}<M_{star}<10^{9.5}{M}_{\odot }$. We find that lower thresholds such as $n=0.1$ (as employed by the EAGLE/APOSTLE and Illustris/AURIGA projects) do not result in significant halo expansion at any mass scale. Halo expansion driven by supernova feedback requires significant fluctuations in the local gas fraction on sub-dynamical times (i.e., < 50 Myr at galaxy half-light radii), which are themselves caused by variability in the star formation rate. At one per cent of the virial radius, simulations with $n=10$ have gas fractions of $\simeq 0.2$ and variations of $\simeq 0.1$, while $n=0.1$ simulations have order of magnitude lower gas fractions and hence do not expand the halo. The observed DM circular velocities of nearby dwarf galaxies are inconsistent with CDM simulations with $n=0.1$ and $n=1$, but in reasonable agreement with $n=10$. Star formation rates are more variable for higher $n$, lower galaxy masses, and when star formation is measured on shorter time scales. For example, simulations with $n=10$ have up to 0.4 dex higher scatter in specific star formation rates than simulations with $n=0.1$. Thus observationally constraining the sub-grid model for star formation, and hence the nature of DM, should be possible in the near future.

arXiv comment18 pages, 13 figures, accepted to MNRAS

References in corpus (64)

• Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters
• The EAGLE project: Simulating the evolution and assembly of galaxies and their environments
• Introducing the Illustris Project: Simulating the coevolution of dark and visible matter in the Universe
• The Average Star Formation Histories of Galaxies in Dark Matter Halos from z=0-8
• Small-Scale Challenges to the $\Lambda$CDM Paradigm
• The EAGLE simulations of galaxy formation: calibration of subgrid physics and model variations
• Galaxies on FIRE (Feedback In Realistic Environments): Stellar Feedback Explains Cosmologically Inefficient Star Formation
• Galactic star formation and accretion histories from matching galaxies to dark matter haloes
• FIRE-2 Simulations: Physics versus Numerics in Galaxy Formation
• At the heart of the matter: the origin of bulgeless dwarf galaxies and Dark Matter cores
• The Inner Structure of LambdaCDM Halos I: A Numerical Convergence Study
• Cold dark matter haloes in the Planck era: evolution of structural parameters for Einasto and NFW profiles
• Response of dark matter halos to condensation of baryons: cosmological simulations and improved adiabatic contraction model
• Ahf: Amiga's Halo Finder
• How supernova feedback turns dark matter cusps into cores
• Star Formation and Feedback in Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic Simulations--I. Isolated Galaxies
• The Milky Way's Circular Velocity Curve to 60 kpc and an Estimate of the Dark Matter Halo Mass from Kinematics of ~2400 SDSS Blue Horizontal Branch Stars
• SPARC: Mass Models for 175 Disk Galaxies with Spitzer Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curves
• A Catalog of Bulge+Disk Decompositions and Updated Photometry for 1.12 Million Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The APOSTLE simulations: solutions to the Local Group's cosmic puzzles
• The Auriga Project: the properties and formation mechanisms of disc galaxies across cosmic time
• Simulating galactic outflows with thermal supernova feedback
• The dependence of dark matter profiles on the stellar to halo mass ratio: a prediction for cusps vs cores
• The unexpected diversity of dwarf galaxy rotation curves
• A direct dynamical measurement of the Milky Way's disk surface density profile, disk scale length, and dark matter profile at 4 kpc < R < 9 kpc
• The evolution substructure I: a new identification method
• Making Galaxies in a Cosmological Context: The Need for Early Stellar Feedback
• Cusp-core transformations in dwarf galaxies: observational predictions
• EMERGE - An empirical model for the formation of galaxies since $z\sim 10$
• Mass loss from dwarf spheroidal galaxies: the origins of shallow dark matter cores and exponential surface brightness profiles
• NIHAO project I: Reproducing the inefficiency of galaxy formation across cosmic time with a large sample of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations
• Quantifying the heart of darkness with GHALO - a multi-billion particle simulation of our galactic halo
• Dark Halos: The Flattening of the Density Cusp by Dynamical Friction
• Baryon effects on the internal structure of LCDM halos in the EAGLE simulations
• The Impact of Baryonic Physics on the Structure of Dark Matter Halos: the View from the FIRE Cosmological Simulations
• The formation of disc galaxies in high resolution moving-mesh cosmological simulations
• Dark matter cores all the way down
• NIHAO IV: Core creation and destruction in dark matter density profiles across cosmic time
• Gasoline2: A Modern SPH Code
• (Star)bursts of FIRE: observational signatures of bursty star formation in galaxies
• Too Big to Fail in the Local Group
• Bar-driven dark halo evolution: a resolution of the cusp--core controversy
• Dynamical Blueprints for Galaxies
• Modeling the Effects of Star Formation Histories on Halpha and Ultra-Violet Fluxes in Nearby Dwarf Galaxies
• Halo expansion in cosmological hydro simulations: towards a baryonic solution of the cusp/core problem in massive spirals
• The dynamics of isolated Local Group galaxies
• Is there Evidence for Flat Cores in the Halos of Dwarf Galaxies?: The Case of NGC 3109 and NGC 6822
• Non-circular motions and the diversity of dwarf galaxy rotation curves
• NIHAO XV: The environmental impact of the host galaxy on galactic satellite and field dwarf galaxies
• The physical origin of long gas depletion times in galaxies
• Baryon-induced dark matter cores in the EAGLE simulations
• The impact of local stellar radiation on the HI column density distribution
• NIHAO IX: the role of gas inflows and outflows in driving the contraction and expansion of cold dark matter haloes
• No cores in dark matter-dominated dwarf galaxies with bursty star formation histories
• NIHAO XIV: Reproducing the observed diversity of dwarf galaxy rotation curve shapes in LCDM
• The Hierarchical Distribution of the Young Stellar Clusters in Six Local Star Forming Galaxies
• NIHAO X: Reconciling the local galaxy velocity function with Cold Dark Matter via mock HI observations
• NIHAO V: Too big doesn't fail -- reconciling the conflict between LCDM predictions and the circular velocities of nearby field galaxies
• NIHAO XIII: Clumpy discs or clumpy light in high redshift galaxies?
• NIHAO VIII: Circum-galactic medium and outflows - The puzzles of HI and OVI gas distributions
• NIHAO XII: galactic uniformity in a ΛCDM universe
• An observational test for star formation prescriptions in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations
• NIHAO III: The constant disc gas mass conspiracy
• NIHAO XVII: The diversity of dwarf galaxy kinematics and implications for the HI velocity function

Cited by in corpus (51)

• On the origin of the chemical bimodality of disk stars: A tale of merger and migration
• EDGE: the mass-metallicity relation as a critical test of galaxy formation physics
• A dark matter profile to model diverse feedback-induced core sizes of $\Lambda$CDM haloes
• Formation of ultra-diffuse galaxies in the field and in galaxy groups
• The Formation of Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies in the RomulusC Galaxy Cluster Simulation
• Baryonic clues to the puzzling diversity of dwarf galaxy rotation curves
• Galaxy Formation with BECDM -- II. Cosmic Filaments and First Galaxies
• No cores in dark matter-dominated dwarf galaxies with bursty star formation histories
• Quantifying scatter in galaxy formation at the lowest masses
• Going, going, gone dark: Quantifying the scatter in the faintest dwarf galaxies
• NIHAO-UHD: The properties of MW-like stellar disks in high resolution cosmological simulations
• SatGen: a semi-analytical satellite galaxy generator -- I. The model and its application to Local-Group satellite statistics
• Ultra-diffuse galaxies in the Auriga simulations
• Inside Out and Upside-Down: The Roles of Gas Cooling and Dynamical Heating in Shaping the Stellar Age-Velocity Relation
• The bursty origin of the Milky Way thick disc
• Dependency of halo concentration on mass, redshift and fossilness in Magneticum hydrodynamic simulations
• Numerical convergence of hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation: the abundance and internal structure of galaxies and their cold dark matter haloes
• A Predicted Correlation Between Age Gradient and Star Formation History in FIRE Dwarf Galaxies
• The challenge of simultaneously matching the observed diversity of chemical abundance patterns in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations
• NIHAO -- XXV. Convergence in the cusp-core transformation of cold dark matter haloes at high star formation thresholds
• The diversity of rotation curves of simulated galaxies with cusps and cores
• A Critical Assessment of Solutions to the Galaxy Diversity Problem
• SDSS--IV MaNGA : The Inner Density Slopes of nearby galaxies
• The impact of early massive mergers on the chemical evolution of Milky Way-like galaxies: insights from NIHAO-UHD simulations
• Molecular hydrogen in IllustrisTNG galaxies: carefully comparing signatures of environment with local CO & SFR data
• Soliton Formation and the Core-Halo Mass Relation: An Eigenstate Perspective
• The Core-Cusp Problem Revisited: ULDM vs. CDM
• A first estimate of the Milky Way dark matter halo spin
• Dark-matter-deficient galaxies in hydrodynamical simulations
• Dark Matter Density Profiles in Dwarf Galaxies: Linking Jeans Modeling Systematics and Observation
• SH$\alpha$DE: Survey description and mass-kinematics scaling relations for dwarf galaxies
• Subsonic accretion and dynamical friction for a black hole moving through a self-interacting scalar dark matter cloud
• The cusp-core problem in gas-poor dwarf spheroidal galaxies
• Real and counterfeit cores: how feedback expands halos and disrupts tracers of inner gravitational potential in dwarf galaxies
• EDGE: Dark matter core creation depends on the timing of star formation
• The diversity of spiral galaxies explained
• Testable predictions of outside-in age gradients in dwarf galaxies of all types
• Constraining Self-interacting Scalar Field Dark Matter From the Black Hole Shadow of the Event Horizon Telescope
• Accretion of Self-interacting Scalar Field Dark Matter Onto a Reissner-Nordström Black Hole
• Can tides explain the low dark matter density in Fornax?
• Estimating the dark matter velocity anisotropy to the cluster edge
• Using Artificial Intelligence and real galaxy images to constrain parameters in galaxy formation simulations
• Fingerprint matching of beyond-WIMP dark matter: neural network approach
• Fundamental properties of the dark and the luminous matter from Low Surface Brightness discs
• Stellar Profile Independent Determination of the Dark Matter Distribution of the Fornax Local Group Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy
• Quantitatively rating galaxy simulations against real observations with anomaly detection
• Metamorphosis of dwarf halo density profile under dark matter decays
• Bridging Simulations and Observations: New Insights into Galaxy Formation Simulations via Out-of-Distribution Detection and Bayesian Model Comparison
• Turning Points in the Age-Metallicity Relations -- Created by Late Satellite Infall and Enhanced by Radial Migration
• The Impact of Star Formation Histories on the Inner Dark Matter Density Slopes of Galaxies
• LYRA II: Cosmological dwarf galaxy formation with inhomogeneous Population III enrichment