TY  - GEN
Y1  - 2024///
UR  - https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/35225/
KW  - galaxies
KW  -  cosmological simulations
KW  -  Milky Way
AV  - public
ID  - heidok35225
N2  - In this thesis, I study key facets of Milky Way- and Andromeda-like (MW/M31-like) galaxies? formation, evolution and structure in the cosmological context. To this aim, I use TNG50, the highest resolution run of the cutting-edge state-of-the-art IllustrisTNG suite of cosmological mangeto-hydrodynamical simulations. TNG50 simulates 198 MW/M31 analogs, in an unprecedented blend of high numerical resolution and sample size. I study the impact of major mergers on galaxy stellar disks, revealing that a significant fraction of the analyzed galaxies undergo a recent major merger (in the last 5 billion years) and are still disky at z = 0. Among these galaxies, for two-thirds of the cases, the merger destroys the disk, but a new one is able to form until z = 0. In the remaining galaxies, the disk survives the merger. I analyze and quantify stellar disk flaring, i.e., the increase of vertical stellar disk height with galactocentric distance, showing a great diversity of types and values across the galaxies of the sample. But it is a complex phenomenon, difficult to predict for an individual galaxy according to its z = 0 global structural properties or merger history. Finally, I also investigate the presence of very metal-poor stars in the stellar disks and other morphological components ofMW-like galaxies, yielding valuable insights into their origin and development: according to TNG50, there is a non-negligible fraction of these stars that populate the disk, and that are also very old, challenging therefore the notion that the stellar halo is the oldest component of the MW. Therefore, this thesis leverages the power of numerical tools like TNG50 to uncover pivotal aspects of the evolution and structure of MW/M31-like galaxies as well as their formation, providing valuable insights that should
be tested with future observational studies.
TI  - Milky Way and M31 analogues: insights from the cosmological simulation TNG50
A1  - Sotillo Ramos, Diego
CY  - Heidelberg
ER  -