HESTIA-2
Standing on the shoulders of the previous HESTIA project by CLUES collaboration, I lead the new generation of zoom-in simulations for the Local Group - HESTIA-2. We use a broader range of initial conditions constrained by the data from CosmicFlow-2 and -4 catalogues. Here, we also use the state-of-the-art SWIFT code, giving us excellent computational efficiency while dealing with the large 147cMpc box and dense zoom-in region. For the highest resolution runs, we target the mass of star particles to be ~1000 solar masses.
click to watch the Local Volume evolution, the sound is optional
The key scientific questions we address in the HESTIA-2 project are the following.
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The role of the Local Volume environment on Milky Way and M31 analogues and the population of their satellites
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Tracing the formation of galactic discs at high redshift
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Assembly history and composition of galactic stellar haloes
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Stellar discs chemo-dynamics
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Mock observations for large-spectroscopic surveys and Gaia
In the HESTIA-2 project, we prioritise a synergy between self-consistent galaxy formation simulations and chemical abundance information data arriving from the Milky Way Mapper (SDSS-V) and imminent 4MOST observations. Thanks to the flexibility of the SWIFT code, in collaboration with the Trieste University chemical evolution group, we have updated the stellar yields module to trace the production of all chemical elements (>30) that will soon be available for millions of stars across the Milky Way and nearby systems. These opportunities include divining the origins of the extremely metal-poor stars and tracing self-enrichment histories for low-mass satellites of the Milky Way analogues.
The calibration runs for HESTIA-2 were successfully completed in October 2024. Production runs are currently underway and are expected to be finalized by the end of 2025. Stay tuned for updates!