Disk galaxy formation and evolution: models up to intermediate redshifts

Abstract

Making use of a seminumerical method we develop a scenario of disk galaxy formation and evolution in the framework of inflationary cold dark matter (CDM) cosmologies. Within the virializing dark matter halos, disks in centrifugal equilibrium are built-up and their galactic evolution is followed through an approach which considers the gravitational interactions among the galaxy components, the turbulence and energy balance of the ISM, the star formation (SF) process due to disk gravitational instabilities, the stellar evolution and the secular formation of a bulge. We find that the main properties and correlations of disk galaxies are determined by the mass, the hierarchical mass aggregation history and the primordial angular momentum. The models follow the same trends across the Hubble sequence than the observed galaxies. The predicted TF relation is in good agreement with the observations except for the standart CDM. While the slope of this relation remains almost constant up to intermediate redshifts, its zero-point decreases in the H-band and slightly increases in the B-band. A maximum in the SF rate for most of the models is attained at $z\sim 1.5-2.5$.