Paper detail

Formation of Disk Galaxies: On the Angular Momentum Problem, the Tully-Fisher Relation and Magnetohydrodynamics

Two ways of possibly solving the angular momentum problem plaguing cold dark matter (CDM) ab initio simulations of disk galaxy formation are discussed: 1) Stellar feedback processes and 2) Warm dark matter (WDM) rather than CDM. In relation to the chemical evolution of disk galaxies our simulations indicate that in case 1) the first generation of disk stars formed in disk galaxies like the Milky Way should have an abundance about two dex below solar, in fairly good agreement with the lowest observed abundance of the metal-weak tail of the Galactic thick disk. For the second case no such statements can be made without further assumptions about the star-formation history of the galaxies. We find that the I-band Tully-Fisher relation can be matched by WDM disk galaxy formation simulations provided (M/L_I) is about 0.8 for disk galaxies, which Sommer-Larsen & Dolgov (1999) argue is a reasonable value. Finally it is discussed how the magnetic field strengths observed in galactic disks can be obtained through disk galaxy formation, as an alternative to the conventional dynamo hypothesis.