Non-parametric Morphologies of Galaxies in the EAGLE Simulation

Understand

We study the optical morphology of galaxies in a large-scale hydrodynamic cosmological simulation, the EAGLE simulation.

• Galaxy morphologies were characterized using non-parametric statistics (Gini, $M_{20}$, Concentration and Asymmetry) derived from mock images computed using a 3D radiative transfer technique and post-processed to approximate observational surveys.
• The resulting morphologies were contrasted to observational results from a sample of $\log_{10}(M_{*}/M_\odot) > 10$ galaxies at $z \sim 0.05$ in the GAMA survey.
• We find that the morphologies of EAGLE galaxies reproduce observations, except for asymmetry values which are larger in the simulated galaxies.