nIFTy cosmology: comparison of galaxy formation models

Knebe, A.; Pearce, F.R.; Thomas, P.A.; Benson, A.; Blaizot, J.; Bower, R.; Carretero, J.; Castander, F.J.; Cattaneo, A.; Cora, S.A.; Croton, D.J.; Cui, W.; Cunnama, D.; De Lucia, G.; Devriendt, J.E.; Elahi, P.J.; Font, A.; Fontanot, F.; Garcia-Bellido, J.; Gargiulo, I.D.; Gonzalez-Perez, V.; Helly, J.; Henriques, B.; Hirschmann, M.; Lee, J.; Mamon, G.A.; Monaco, P.; Onions, J.; Padilla, N.D.; Power, C.; Pujol, A.; Skibba, R.A.; Somerville, R.S.; Srisawat, C.; Vega-Martínez, C.A.; Yi, S.K.

doi:10.1093/mnras/stv1149

nIFTy cosmology: comparison of galaxy formation models

Knebe, A.; Pearce, F.R.; Thomas, P.A.; Benson, A.; Blaizot, J.; Bower, R.; Carretero, J.; Castander, F.J.; Cattaneo, A.; Cora, S.A.; Croton, D.J.; Cui, W.; Cunnama, D.; De Lucia, G.; Devriendt, J.E.; Elahi, P.J.; Font, A.; Fontanot, F.; Garcia-Bellido, J.; Gargiulo, I.D.; Gonzalez-Perez, V.; Helly, J.; Henriques, B.; Hirschmann, M.; Lee, J.; Mamon, G.A.; Monaco, P.; Onions, J.; Padilla, N.D.; Power, C.; Pujol, A.; Skibba, R.A.; Somerville, R.S.; Srisawat, C.; Vega-Martínez, C.A.; Yi, S.K.

Authors

A. Knebe

F.R. Pearce

P.A. Thomas

A. Benson

J. Blaizot

R. Bower

J. Carretero

F.J. Castander

A. Cattaneo

S.A. Cora

D.J. Croton

W. Cui

D. Cunnama

G. De Lucia

J.E. Devriendt

P.J. Elahi

A. Font

F. Fontanot

J. Garcia-Bellido

I.D. Gargiulo

V. Gonzalez-Perez

J. Helly

B. Henriques

M. Hirschmann

J. Lee

G.A. Mamon

P. Monaco

J. Onions

N.D. Padilla

C. Power

A. Pujol

R.A. Skibba

R.S. Somerville

C. Srisawat

C.A. Vega-Martínez

S.K. Yi

Abstract

We present a comparison of 14 galaxy formation models: 12 different semi-analytical models and 2 halo occupation distribution models for galaxy formation based upon the same cosmological simulation and merger tree information derived from it. The participating codes have proven to be very successful in their own right but they have all been calibrated independently using various observational data sets, stellar models, and merger trees. In this paper, we apply them without recalibration and this leads to a wide variety of predictions for the stellar mass function, specific star formation rates, stellar-to-halo mass ratios, and the abundance of orphan galaxies. The scatter is much larger than seen in previous comparison studies primarily because the codes have been used outside of their native environment within which they are well tested and calibrated. The purpose of the ‘nIFTy comparison of galaxy formation models’ is to bring together as many different galaxy formation modellers as possible and to investigate a common approach to model calibration. This paper provides a unified description for all participating models and presents the initial, uncalibrated comparison as a baseline for our future studies where we will develop a common calibration framework and address the extent to which that reduces the scatter in the model predictions seen here.

Citation

Knebe, A., Pearce, F., Thomas, P., Benson, A., Blaizot, J., Bower, R., …Yi, S. (2015). nIFTy cosmology: comparison of galaxy formation models. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 451(4), 4029-4059. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv1149

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	May 18, 2015
Online Publication Date	Jun 30, 2015
Publication Date	Aug 21, 2015
Deposit Date	Feb 23, 2016
Publicly Available Date	Mar 24, 2016
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN	0035-8711
Electronic ISSN	1365-2966
Publisher	Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	451
Issue	4
Pages	4029-4059
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv1149

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This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2015 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.