Which processes shape stellar population gradients of massive galaxies at large radii?

Abstract

We investigate the differential impact of physical mechanisms, mergers (stellar accretion) and internal energetic phenomena, on the evolution of stellar population gradients in massive, present-day galaxies employing a set of high-resolution, cosmological zoom simulations. We demonstrate that negative metallicity and color gradients at large radii (>2Reff) originate from the accretion of metal-poor stellar systems. At larger radii, galaxies become typically more dominated by stars accreted from satellite galaxies in major and minor mergers. However, only strong galactic winds can sufficiently reduce the metallicity content of the accreted stars to realistically steepen the outer metallicity and colour gradients in agreement with present-day observations. In contrast, the gradients of the models without winds are inconsistent with observations (too flat). In the wind model, colour and metallicity gradients are significantly steeper for systems which have accreted stars in minor mergers, while galaxies with major mergers have relatively flat gradients, confirming previous results. This analysis greatly highlights the importance of both energetic processes and merger events for stellar population properties of massive galaxies at large radii. Our results are expected to significantly contribute to the interpretation of current and up-coming IFU surveys (like MaNGA and Califa), which in turn can help to better constrain still uncertain models for energetic processes in simulations.