TY - JOUR
T1 - Reproducing the universe
T2 - A comparison between the EAGLE simulations and the nearby DustPedia galaxy sample
AU - Trčka, Ana
AU - Baes, Maarten
AU - Camps, Peter
AU - Meidt, Sharon E.
AU - Trayford, James
AU - Bianchi, Simone
AU - Casasola, Viviana
AU - Cassarà, Letizia P.
AU - de Looze, Ilse
AU - de Vis, Pieter
AU - Dobbels, Wouter
AU - Fritz, Jacopo
AU - Galametz, Maud
AU - Galliano, Frédéric
AU - Katsianis, Antonios
AU - Madden, Suzanne C.
AU - Mosenkov, Aleksandr V.
AU - Nersesian, Angelos
AU - Viaene, Sébastien
AU - Xilouris, Emmanuel M.
N1 - Funding Information:
DustPedia is a collaborative focused research project supported by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Programme (2007–2013) call (proposal no. 606847). We acknowledge the Virgo Consortium for making EAGLE simulation data available.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s)
PY - 2020/5/1
Y1 - 2020/5/1
N2 - We compare the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and inferred physical properties for simulated and observed galaxies at low redshift. We exploit UV-submillimetre mock fluxes of ∼7000 z = 0 galaxies from the EAGLE suite of cosmological simulations, derived using the radiative transfer code SKIRT. We compare these to ∼800 observed galaxies in the UV-submillimetre range, from the DustPedia sample of nearby galaxies. To derive global properties, we apply the SED fitting code CIGALE consistently to both data sets, using the same set of ∼80 million models. The results of this comparison reveal overall agreement between the simulations and observations, both in the SEDs and in the derived physical properties, with a number of discrepancies. The optical and far-infrared regimes, and the scaling relations based upon the global emission, diffuse dust, and stellar mass, show high levels of agreement. However, the mid-infrared fluxes of the EAGLE galaxies are overestimated while the far-UV domain is not attenuated enough, compared to the observations. We attribute these discrepancies to a combination of galaxy population differences between the samples and limitations in the subgrid treatment of star-forming regions in the EAGLE-SKIRT post-processing recipe. Our findings show the importance of detailed radiative transfer calculations and consistent comparison, and provide suggestions for improved numerical models.
AB - We compare the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and inferred physical properties for simulated and observed galaxies at low redshift. We exploit UV-submillimetre mock fluxes of ∼7000 z = 0 galaxies from the EAGLE suite of cosmological simulations, derived using the radiative transfer code SKIRT. We compare these to ∼800 observed galaxies in the UV-submillimetre range, from the DustPedia sample of nearby galaxies. To derive global properties, we apply the SED fitting code CIGALE consistently to both data sets, using the same set of ∼80 million models. The results of this comparison reveal overall agreement between the simulations and observations, both in the SEDs and in the derived physical properties, with a number of discrepancies. The optical and far-infrared regimes, and the scaling relations based upon the global emission, diffuse dust, and stellar mass, show high levels of agreement. However, the mid-infrared fluxes of the EAGLE galaxies are overestimated while the far-UV domain is not attenuated enough, compared to the observations. We attribute these discrepancies to a combination of galaxy population differences between the samples and limitations in the subgrid treatment of star-forming regions in the EAGLE-SKIRT post-processing recipe. Our findings show the importance of detailed radiative transfer calculations and consistent comparison, and provide suggestions for improved numerical models.
KW - Dust, extinction
KW - Galaxies: evolution
KW - Galaxies: formation
KW - Methods: numerical
KW - Radiative transfer
KW - Submillimetre: galaxies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85095184776&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/MNRAS/STAA857
DO - 10.1093/MNRAS/STAA857
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85095184776
SN - 0035-8711
VL - 494
SP - 2823
EP - 2838
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
IS - 2
ER -