Mass-Discrepancy Acceleration Relation: A Natural Outcome of Galaxy Formation in Cold Dark Matter Halos

Ludlow, A.D.; Benítez-Llambay, A.; Schaller, M.; Theuns, T.; Frenk, C.S.; Bower, R.; Schaye, J.; Crain, R.A.; Navarro, J.F.; Fattahi, A.; Oman, K.A.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.118.161103

Mass-Discrepancy Acceleration Relation: A Natural Outcome of Galaxy Formation in Cold Dark Matter Halos

Ludlow, A.D.; Benítez-Llambay, A.; Schaller, M.; Theuns, T.; Frenk, C.S.; Bower, R.; Schaye, J.; Crain, R.A.; Navarro, J.F.; Fattahi, A.; Oman, K.A.

Authors

A.D. Ludlow

A. Benítez-Llambay

M. Schaller

Professor Tom Theuns tom.theuns@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Professor Carlos Frenk c.s.frenk@durham.ac.uk
Professor

R. Bower

J. Schaye

R.A. Crain

J.F. Navarro

A. Fattahi

K.A. Oman

Abstract

We analyze the total and baryonic acceleration profiles of a set of well-resolved galaxies identified in the eagle suite of hydrodynamic simulations. Our runs start from the same initial conditions but adopt different prescriptions for unresolved stellar and active galactic nuclei feedback, resulting in diverse populations of galaxies by the present day. Some of them reproduce observed galaxy scaling relations, while others do not. However, regardless of the feedback implementation, all of our galaxies follow closely a simple relationship between the total and baryonic acceleration profiles, consistent with recent observations of rotationally supported galaxies. The relation has small scatter: Different feedback implementations—which produce different galaxy populations—mainly shift galaxies along the relation rather than perpendicular to it. Furthermore, galaxies exhibit a characteristic acceleration g † , above which baryons dominate the mass budget, as observed. These observations, consistent with simple modified Newtonian dynamics, can be accommodated within the standard cold dark matter paradigm.

Citation

Ludlow, A., Benítez-Llambay, A., Schaller, M., Theuns, T., Frenk, C., Bower, R., …Oman, K. (2017). Mass-Discrepancy Acceleration Relation: A Natural Outcome of Galaxy Formation in Cold Dark Matter Halos. Physical Review Letters, 118(16), Article 161103. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.118.161103

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Oct 24, 2016
Online Publication Date	Apr 21, 2017
Publication Date	Apr 21, 2017
Deposit Date	Jul 18, 2017
Publicly Available Date	Jul 18, 2017
Journal	Physical Review Letters
Print ISSN	0031-9007
Electronic ISSN	1079-7114
Publisher	American Physical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	118
Issue	16
Article Number	161103
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.118.161103

Files

Published Journal Article (682 Kb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
Reprinted with permission from the American Physical Society: Ludlow A. D., Benítez-Llambay A., Schaller M., Theuns T., Frenk C. S., Bower R., Schaye J., Crain R. A. Navarro J. F., Fattahi A. & Oman K. A. (2017). Mass-Discrepancy Acceleration Relation: A Natural Outcome of Galaxy Formation in Cold Dark Matter Halos. Physical Review Letters 118(16): 161103 © 2017 by the American Physical Society. Readers may view, browse, and/or download material for temporary copying purposes only, provided these uses are for noncommercial personal purposes. Except as provided by law, this material may not be further reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, adapted, performed, displayed, published, or sold in whole or part, without prior written permission from the American Physical Society.