Description
Recent years have seen significant improvements in computational codes and hardware, incorporating novel physics and strategies to statistically explore and understand galaxy formation and evolution. A recent addition to this landscape is the COLIBRE (COLd ISM gas and Better REsolution) suite of simulations, built on the open source SWIFT simulation code. The suite of simulations includes the full multi-phase ISM with non-equilibrium (H+He) chemistry and an active dust model. It includes new prescriptions for star formation, stellar feedback, and SMBH seeding, growth, dynamics, and feedback.
The dust model in COLIBRE tracks the evolution of carbonaceous and silicate grains in large and small grains, through stellar seeding, grain growth in dense gas clouds, sputtering, shattering, coagulation, etc. It acts as catalysts for gas cooling, as they are self-consistently coupled to the chemical network within the simulation.
In this talk, I will present the predictions from the model, focusing on key observational dust relations such as the evolution of the galaxy dust mass, dust-to-gas ratio, dust-to-metal ratio and the dust mass function. The predictions align well with the observations in the low-redshift (z<=2) regime, though tensions arise in the high-redshift Universe. These tensions can be mitigated by considering the presence of hot dust in the early Universe. I will also explore the distribution of dust in the various gas phases as well as in the circumgalactic medium. I will further investigate the evolution of grain size distribution in the galaxies, self-consistently building the dust attenuation curve, providing a framework for its evolution.
