Giant Clumps in Simulated High-z Galaxies: Properties, Evolution and Dependence on Feedback

Understand

We study the evolution of giant clumps in high-z disc galaxies using AMR cosmological simulations at redshifts z=6-1.

• Our sample consists of 34 galaxies, of halo masses 10^{11}-10^{12}M_s at z=2, run with and without radiation pressure (RP) feedback from young stars.
• While RP has little effect on the sizes and global stability of discs, it reduces the amount of star-forming gas by a factor of ~2, leading to a decrease in stellar mass by a similar factor by z~2.
• Both samples undergo violent disc instability (VDI) and form giant clumps of masses 10^7-10^9M_s at a similar rate, though RP significantly reduces the number of long-lived clumps.