Formation of elongated galaxies with low masses at high redshift

Daniel Ceverino*, Joel Primack, Avishai Dekel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

47 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report the identification of elongated (triaxial or prolate) galaxies in cosmological simulations at z ≃ 2. These are preferentially low-mass galaxies (M* ≤ 109.5 M⊙), residing in dark matter (DM) haloes with strongly elongated inner parts, a common feature of high-redshift DM haloes in the {n-ary logical and} cold dark matter cosmology. Feedback slows formation of stars at the centres of these haloes, so that a dominant and prolate DM distribution gives rise to galaxies elongated along the DM major axis. As galaxies grow in stellar mass, stars dominate the total mass within the galaxy half-mass radius, making stars and DM rounder and more oblate. A large population of elongated galaxies produces a very asymmetric distribution of projected axis ratios, as observed in high-z galaxy surveys. This indicates that themajority of the galaxies at high redshifts are not discs or spheroids but rather galaxies with elongated morphologies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)408-413
Number of pages6
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume453
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 24 Jul 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 The Authors.

Keywords

  • Galaxies: evolution
  • Galaxies: formation

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