Introducing the illustris project: Simulating the coevolution of dark and visible matter in the universe
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Authors
Vogelsberger, M
Genel, S
Springel, V
Torrey, P
Xu, D
Snyder, G
Nelson, D
Hernquist, L
Publication Date
2014-10-21Journal Title
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
ISSN
1365-2966
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Volume
444
Issue
2
Pages
1518-1547
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
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Vogelsberger, M., Genel, S., Springel, V., Torrey, P., Sijacki, D., Xu, D., Snyder, G., et al. (2014). Introducing the illustris project: Simulating the coevolution of dark and visible matter in the universe. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 444 (2), 1518-1547. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1536
Abstract
We introduce the Illustris Project, a series of large-scale hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation. The highest resolution simulation, Illustris-1, covers a volume of (106.5 Mpc)<sup>3</sup>, has a dark mass resolution of 6.26 × 10<sup>6</sup>M⊙, and an initial baryonic matter mass resolution of 1.26 × 10<sup>6</sup>M⊙. At z = 0 gravitational forces are softened on scales of 710 pc, and the smallest hydrodynamical gas cells have an extent of 48 pc. We follow the dynamical evolution of 2 × 1820<sup>3</sup> resolution elements and in addition passively evolve 1820<sup>3</sup> Monte Carlo tracer particles reaching a total particle count of more than 18 billion. The galaxy formation model includes: Primordial and metal-line cooling with self-shielding corrections, stellar evolution, stellar feedback, gas recycling, chemical enrichment, supermassive black hole growth, and feedback from active galactic nuclei. Here we describe the simulation suite, and contrast basic predictions of our model for the present-day galaxy population with observations of the local universe. At z = 0 our simulation volume contains about 40 000 well-resolved galaxies covering a diverse range of morphologies and colours including early-type, late-type and irregular galaxies. The simulation reproduces reasonably well the cosmic star formation rate density, the galaxy luminosity function, and baryon conversion efficiency at z = 0. It also qualitatively captures the impact of galaxy environment on the red fractions of galaxies. The internal velocity structure of selected well-resolved disc galaxies obeys the stellar and baryonic Tully-Fisher relation together with flat circular velocity curves. In the well-resolved regime, the simulation reproduces the observed mix of early-type and late-type galaxies. Our model predicts a halo mass dependent impact of baryonic effects on the halo mass function and the masses of haloes caused by feedback from supernova and active galactic nuclei.
Sponsorship
STFC (ST/L000725/1)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1536
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/301521
Rights
Publisher's own licence