Simulation study proposes that weakly rotating, gas-rich cosmic wallflowers at high redshift are natural proto-globular cluster candidates based on kinematics and densities.
Formation of Massive Galaxies at High Redshift: Cold Streams, Clumpy Disks and Compact Spheroids
8 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.
abstract
We present a simple theoretical framework for massive galaxies at high redshift, where the main assembly and star formation occurred, and report on the first cosmological simulations that reveal clumpy disks consistent with our analysis. The evolution is governed by the interplay between smooth and clumpy cold streams, disk instability, and bulge formation. Intense, relatively smooth streams maintain an unstable dense gas-rich disk. Instability with high turbulence and giant clumps, each a few percent of the disk mass, is self-regulated by gravitational interactions within the disk. The clumps migrate into a bulge in ~10 dynamical times, or ~0.5Gyr. The cosmological streams replenish the draining disk and prolong the clumpy phase to several Gigayears in a steady state, with comparable masses in disk, bulge, and dark matter within the disk radius. The clumps form stars in dense subclumps following the overall accretion rate, ~100 Msun/yr, and each clump converts into stars in ~0.5 Gyr. While the clumps coalesce dissipatively to a compact bulge, the star-forming disk is extended because the incoming streams keep the outer disk dense and susceptible to instability and because of angular momentum transport. Passive spheroid-dominated galaxies form when the streams are more clumpy: the external clumps merge into a massive bulge and stir up disk turbulence that stabilize the disk and suppress in situ clump and star formation. We predict a bimodality in galaxy type by z~3, involving giant-clump star-forming disks and spheroid-dominated galaxies of suppressed star formation. After z~1, the disks tend to be stabilized by the dominant stellar disks and bulges. Most of the high-z massive disks are likely to end up as today's early-type galaxies.
fields
astro-ph.GA 8years
2026 8verdicts
UNVERDICTED 8representative citing papers
In 37 massive ETGs, the IMF becomes less bottom-heavy with radius, with average α_IMF falling from 2.16 to 1.74 and IMF gradients dominating M/L variations over stellar population effects.
New JWST data on 23 galaxies at 0.5<z<1.7 show median dark matter fraction of 0.63 at effective radius with 0.2 dex scatter, and a mix of rising, flat, and falling rotation curves.
In TNG50, compact dwarf satellites (log M_star 8.4-9.2) form via DM-rich gas inflows in low-merger environments, tidal stripping for DM-poor cases, and ram-pressure starbursts for some metal-rich ones.
Low-mass filament galaxies in TNG50 exhibit smaller asymmetric cold gas discs due to cosmic web tidal fields causing altered accretion or starvation and late-time stripping, while integrated stellar and halo properties remain similar to field counterparts after mass and environment controls.
Proposes 80 hours of VESPER observations on ELT to obtain spatially resolved data on fueling, feedback, and quenching processes in the cores of five clusters at 1.5<z<1.7 and five protoclusters at 2<z<2.5.
JWST observations show larger average rest-UV than rest-optical sizes in z=1.5-3 galaxies, supporting inside-out disk formation after dust correction.
SKA-mid AA4 will enable deep, spatially resolved HI imaging over hundreds of square degrees at column densities down to 10^18 cm^{-2} to study environmental gas processes from isolated galaxies to clusters.
citing papers explorer
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Too shy to spin? Cosmic wallflowers as proto-globular clusters
Simulation study proposes that weakly rotating, gas-rich cosmic wallflowers at high redshift are natural proto-globular cluster candidates based on kinematics and densities.
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The MASSIVE SURVEY XXI: Local Variations in the Stellar Initial Mass Function of MASSIVE Early-Type Galaxies
In 37 massive ETGs, the IMF becomes less bottom-heavy with radius, with average α_IMF falling from 2.16 to 1.74 and IMF gradients dominating M/L variations over stellar population effects.
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MSA-3D: Rotation Curves and Dark Matter Fractions at z~0.5-1.7 with JWST/NIRSpec
New JWST data on 23 galaxies at 0.5<z<1.7 show median dark matter fraction of 0.63 at effective radius with 0.2 dex scatter, and a mix of rising, flat, and falling rotation curves.
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Satellite compaction pathways: environmental drivers shaping dwarf galaxy corpulence in the TNG50 simulation
In TNG50, compact dwarf satellites (log M_star 8.4-9.2) form via DM-rich gas inflows in low-merger environments, tidal stripping for DM-poor cases, and ram-pressure starbursts for some metal-rich ones.
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Cosmic web stripping and starvation of low-mass filament galaxies in TNG50
Low-mass filament galaxies in TNG50 exhibit smaller asymmetric cold gas discs due to cosmic web tidal fields causing altered accretion or starvation and late-time stripping, while integrated stellar and halo properties remain similar to field counterparts after mass and environment controls.
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Fueling and feedback mechanisms at the nodes of the cosmic web
Proposes 80 hours of VESPER observations on ELT to obtain spatially resolved data on fueling, feedback, and quenching processes in the cores of five clusters at 1.5<z<1.7 and five protoclusters at 2<z<2.5.
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Quantifying the inside-out formation of disk galaxies at $1.5 \le z \le 3.0$
JWST observations show larger average rest-UV than rest-optical sizes in z=1.5-3 galaxies, supporting inside-out disk formation after dust correction.
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Resolved HI and Environmental Dynamics
SKA-mid AA4 will enable deep, spatially resolved HI imaging over hundreds of square degrees at column densities down to 10^18 cm^{-2} to study environmental gas processes from isolated galaxies to clusters.