Star formation and feedback in smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations – I. Isolated galaxies

ABSTRACT

We present an analysis of star formation and feedback recipes appropriate for galactic smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations. Using an isolated Milky Way-like galaxy, we constrain these recipes based on well-established observational results. Our star formation recipe is based on that of Katz with the additional inclusion of physically motivated supernova feedback recipes. We propose a new feedback recipe in which Type II supernovae are modelled using an analytical treatment of blastwaves. With this feedback mechanism and a tuning of other star formation parameters, the star formation in our isolated Milky Way-like galaxy follows the slope and normalization of the observed Schmidt law. In addition, we reproduce the low-density cut-off and filamentary structure of star formation observed in disc galaxies. Our final recipe will enable better comparison of N-body simulations with observations.