Gas dynamic simulations of galaxy formation

Results are presented from a simulation modeling the formation of a group of galaxies in a 'standard' cold, dark matter universe with delta = 1, h sub 0 = 50 km/(s(Mpc)), baryon fraction omega sub b = 0.1 and spectrum normalization sigma sub 8 = 0.6 (bias parameter b = 1.7). Initial conditions are generated within a periodic box with comoving length 16 Mpc in a manner constrained to produce a small cluster of total mass approximately 10 exp 14 solar mass. Two sets of 643 particles are used to model the dark matter and baryon fluids. Each gas particle represents 1.08 x 10 exp -8 solar mass, implying an L* galaxy is resolved by approximately 1000 particles. The system is evolved self-consistently in three dimensions using the combined N-body/hydrodynamic scheme P3MSPH up to a final redshift z = 1. Evolving to the present is prohibited by the fact that the mean density in the simulated volume is above critical and the entire volume would be going nonlinear beyond this point, We are currently analyzing another run with somewhat poorer mass resolution which was evolved to the present.