Dark and luminous matter connections

We are exploring galaxy evolution exploiting smooth particle hydrodynamic simulations including chemo-photometric implementation.

From our large grid of simulations of galaxy encounters and mergers starting from triaxial halos of gas and dark matter, we single out those matching the global properties of our targets, in particular, (i) the spectral energy distribution extended over 4 orders of magnitude in wavelength, (ii) the absolute B-band magnitude, and (iii) the optical and UV morphologies, as confirmed by (iv) the luminosity profiles. Moreover, the selected simulation must account for (v) the H I gas mass, (vi) the hot gas X-ray luminosity, and (vii) the available kinematic data. These simulations, anchored a posteriori to the local properties of our targets, are used to give insights into their evolution.

We study the galaxy transformation by looking at the behavior of star formation rate, gas accretion history, total mass growth of different components (baryons, stars, dark matter), and, in particular, the color magnitude diagram NUV-r vs M_r. This is a useful tool to capture a very low level of residual star formation, highlighting the length of different phases leading to quenching and galaxy transformation from the blue cloud to the red sequence.