Mixing of chemical elements in galaxy formation models.

Patricia Tissera, Instituto de Astronomia y Fisica del Espacio, Buenos Aires

We use hydrodynamical simulations including SN feedback to study
the formation of galaxies focusing on the chemical evolution of baryons.
In our model, chemical elements are produced by SNII and SNIa and ejected into
the interstellar medium according to certain criteria.
Chemical elements are then mixed up by dynamical processes.
We found that the chemical abundances of baryons show larger dispersions than
observed and this dispersion does not diminish with increasing numerical
resolution. This suggest the need to improve the mixing scheme.
We are also interesting in understanding the evolution of metals in the cold,
warm and hot phases and how different gas streams with different chemical
and thermodynamical properties evolved as a galaxy is assembled.

Powerpoint presentation