A

Infrared luminosity functions and dust mass functions in the EAGLE simulation

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 494, pp. 2912–2924

Abstract

ABSTRACT We present infrared luminosity functions and dust mass functions for the EAGLE cosmological simulation, based on synthetic multiwavelength observations generated with the SKIRT radiative transfer code. In the local Universe, we reproduce the observed infrared luminosity and dust mass functions very well. Some minor discrepancies are encountered, mainly in the high luminosity regime, where the EAGLE-SKIRT luminosity functions mildly but systematically underestimate the observed ones. The agreement between the EAGLE-SKIRT infrared luminosity functions and the observed ones gradually worsens with increasing lookback time. Fitting modified Schechter functions to the EAGLE-SKIRT luminosity and dust mass functions at different redshifts up to z = 1, we find that the evolution is compatible with pure luminosity/mass evolution. The evolution is relatively mild: within this redshift range, we find an evolution of L⋆,250 ∝ (1 + z)1.68, L⋆,TIR ∝ (1 + z)2.51 and M⋆,dust ∝ (1 + z)0.83 for the characteristic luminosity/mass. For the luminosity/mass density we find ε250 ∝ (1 + z)1.62, εTIR ∝ (1 + z)2.35, and ρdust ∝ (1 + z)0.80, respectively. The mild evolution of the dust mass density is in relatively good agreement with observations, but the slow evolution of the infrared luminosity underestimates the observed luminosity evolution significantly. We argue that these differences can be attributed to increasing limitations in the radiative transfer treatment due to increasingly poorer resolution, combined with a slower than observed evolution of the SFR density in the EAGLE simulation and the lack of AGN emission in our EAGLE-SKIRT post-processing recipe.

Authors 9

  1. M. Baes corresponding

    Ghent University

    Affiliation as printed

    Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, B-9000 Gent, Belgium

  2. Ghent University

    Affiliation as printed

    Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, B-9000 Gent, Belgium

  3. Ghent University

    Affiliation as printed

    Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, B-9000 Gent, Belgium

  4. Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

    Affiliation as printed

    Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, NL-2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands

  5. Shanghai Jiao Tong University · Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Astronomy, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China

    Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China

  6. University of Cape Town · Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna · University of the Western Cape · National Institute for Astrophysics

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa

    Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7375, Cape Town, South Africa

    INAF - Istituto di Radioastronomia, via Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna, Italy

  7. Durham University

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute for Computational Cosmology, Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK

  8. Istituto di Radioastronomia di Bologna · University of the Western Cape · National Institute for Astrophysics

    Affiliation as printed

    Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7375, Cape Town, South Africa

    INAF - Istituto di Radioastronomia, via Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna, Italy

  9. Ghent University

    Affiliation as printed

    Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, B-9000 Gent, Belgium

Cited by 22 stored of 22

No patents citing this paper on Lens.org (checked 2026-10-11).

References 183