Abstract
| Yates |
|---|
| Simulating dust and metal production across different hierarchical scales and epochs |
| In this talk, I will give an overview of the new challenges faced by galaxy evolution simulations in simultaneously modelling metal and dust production across spatial and temporal scales. First, I will use the EAGLE, TNG100, and L-GALAXIES simulations to show how the cosmic metal and dust mass densities observed with DLAs can only be reproduced by enhanced star formation at high z. This brings simulations into tension with cosmic SFR density estimates from IR data, but not with more recent analyses at longer wavelengths (e.g. ALMA, LOFAR). Second, I will zoom-in to galaxy scales, to demonstrate the difficulty simulations have in matching the observed dust-to-metal (DTM) ratio back to z~5. I will show how the various dust production mechanisms modelled must be carefully balanced to match both the DTM and high-z gas-phase O/H estimates from JWST. Third, I will zoom-in to sub-galactic scales, with new results on the Milky Way stellar metallicity profile using APOGEE+Gaia data. We apply a novel technique to correct for the complex age selection function using extended distribution functions and a Bayesian Neural Network. This de-biased profile is then compared to L-GALAXIES, to assess the impact of metal-rich winds, gas flows, binary stars, and other phenomena on the Galaxy's chemical composition. Overall, this talk will highlight the importance of such a multi-scale analysis for simulations wish to truly constrain the key processes driving chemical evolution in the Universe. |