Speaker
Robbert Verbeke
(Ghent University)
Description
Dwarf galaxies occupy the faint end of the galaxy mass function and their properties are often regarded as
strong tests for cosmological and galaxy evolution models. Indeed, their shallow gravitational potential makes
them very susceptible to both external and internal processes, such as ram-pressure stripping and supernova
feedback. Using computer simulations, the effects of such processes can be tested (e.g. Mayer et al. 2006,
Governato et al. 2010). To do this, the properties of the simulated galaxies need to be closely compared to a
broad range of observed galaxy properties and scaling relations.
We present the results of N-body/SPH simulations including radiative cooling, star formation, chemical
enrichment, stellar feedback, heating by the cosmic UV background, and feedback from Population III stars
(Verbeke et al. 2015) and show that these compare very well to observed galaxies over the entire dwarf galaxy
regime, unlike simulations without Population III feedback. We therefore conclude that Population III stars
played a crucial role in the evolution of (dwarf) galaxies.
Furthermore, we stress the importance of the way simulations are analyzed. The more in line these mock
observations are with real observational techniques, the more reliable the comparison. Obtaining for example
the rotational velocity from HI kinematics and metallicities from RGB stars (Kirby et al. 2013) are thus very
important and can greatly affect the interpretation of the simulations.
As a recent result, we use these realistic simulated dwarf galaxies and investigate different mechanisms to
trigger a starburst in them. We then compare whether these simulations have similar properties as observed
blue compact dwarfs, for example in terms of compactness, similar to what was done in Verbeke et al. 2014.
Primary author
Robbert Verbeke
(Ghent University)
Co-authors
Mr
Bert Vandenbroucke
(Ghent University)
Prof.
Sven De Rijcke
(Ghent University)
