The diverse physical origins of stars in the dynamically hot bulge: CALIFA versus IllustrisTNG
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: We compare the internal stellar structures of central galaxies in the TNG50 and TNG100 simulations and field galaxies in the CALIFA survey. The luminosity fractions of the dynamically cold, warm, and hot components in both TNG50 and TNG100 galaxies exhibit general consistency with those observed in CALIFA galaxies. For example, they all exhibit a minimum luminosity fraction ( f hot ~ 0.18) of the dynamically hot component in galaxies with stellar masses of M * ~ 1–2 × 10 10 M ⊙ , and the morphology of each orbital component in the TNG50 and TNG100 galaxies closely resembles that found in the CALIFA galaxies. We therefore used the simulations to quantify the physical origins of the different components, focusing on the dynamically hot component in TNG50. We identify three primary regimes and thus physical processes: (1) in low-mass galaxies ( M * ≲ 10 10 M ⊙ ) that have not experienced major mergers, stars are born with a wide range of circularity distributions and have remained relatively unchanged until the present day. Consequently, hot stars in such galaxies at redshift z = 0 are predominantly born hot. (2) In higher-mass galaxies ( M * ≳ 10 10 M ⊙ ) lacking major mergers, most stars are initially born cold but are subsequently heated through secular evolution. (3) In galaxies across the entire mass range, mergers, if they occurred, significantly increased the hot orbital fraction. As a result, the dynamically hot bulge within R e of present-day galaxies does not indicate their past merger histories; instead, the hot stars in the outer regions are mostly heated or accreted by mergers, thus indicating galaxy merger history. Massive galaxies are initially born with cold, rotationally supported structures, consistent with recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) regarding high-redshift galaxies.
Source: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Authors: Le Zhang, Ling Zhu, Annalisa Pillepich, Min Du, Fangzhou Jiang, Jesús Falcón-Barroso
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,865
Awards: G1728361358, G5514221321, G7902800854
OpenAlex ID: W4409759056