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Clumpy star-forming regions as the origin of the peculiar morphology of high-redshift galaxies

Nature volume 392, pages 253–256 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

Many high-redshift galaxies have peculiar morphologies and photometric properties1,2,3,4,5. It is not clear whether these peculiarities originate in galaxy–galaxy interactions (or mergers) or are intrinsic to the galaxies, a natural consequence of the star formation process in primeval systems. Here I report the results of numerical simulations of protogalaxy evolution, which show that the gas-rich disk of a young galaxy becomes gravitationally unstable and fragments into massive clumps of sub-galactic size. Most of the stars are formed in these discrete clumps, thereby providing a natural explanation for the peculiar morphology of high-redshift galaxies. The dynamical evolution of these young systems is dominated by the clumps and ultimately leads to structures resembling present-day galaxies, with a spheroidal bulge and an exponential disk. I interpret the differences between the Hubble types of galaxies as resulting from different timescales of disk formation. Finally, the model provides a causal link between the emergence of quasar activity and the dynamical evolution of the host galaxy.

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Figure 1: Morphological evolution of a young galaxy model.
Figure 2: Time variation of star formation rate.
Figure 3: Distribution of the age for the stars contained in the bulge region.
Figure 4: Growth of the disk component having an exponentially decreasing surface density profile.
Figure 5: Merger history of the five prominent clumps identified at t = 9 (top panel)and the mass accretion onto individual clumps (bottom panel).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from The Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan.

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  1. Astronomical Institute, Tohoku University, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-77, Japan

    Masafumi Noguchi

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  1. Masafumi Noguchi
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Correspondence to Masafumi Noguchi.

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Noguchi, M. Clumpy star-forming regions as the origin of the peculiar morphology of high-redshift galaxies. Nature 392, 253–256 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/32596

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