We introduce a new set of eight Milky Way-sized cosmological simulations performed using the AMR code ART + Hydrodynamics in a \Lambda CDM cosmology .
The set of zoom-in simulations covers present-day virial masses that range from 8.3 \times 10 ^ { 11 } \mbox { $M _ { \odot } $ } to 1.56 \times 10 ^ { 12 } \mbox { $M _ { \odot } $ } and is carried out with our simple but effective deterministic star formation ( SF ) and “ explosive ” stellar feedback prescriptions .
The work is focused on showing the goodness of the simulated set of “ field ” Milky Way-sized galaxies .
To this end , we compare some of the predicted physical quantities with the corresponding observed ones .
Our results are as follows .
( a ) In agreement with some previous works , we found circular velocity curves that are flat or slightly peaked .
( b ) All simulated galaxies with a significant disk component are consistent with the observed Tully-Fisher , radius-mass , and cold gas-stellar mass correlations of late-type galaxies .
( c ) The disk-dominated galaxies have stellar specific angular momenta in agreement with those of late-type galaxies , with values around 10 ^ { 3 } km/s/kpc .
( d ) The SF rates at z = 0 of all runs but one are comparable to those estimated for the star-forming galaxies .
( e ) The two most spheroid-dominated galaxies formed in halos with late active merger histories and late bursts of SF , but the other run that ends also as dominated by an spheroid , never had major mergers .
( f ) The simulated galaxies lie in the semi-empirical stellar-to-halo mass correlation of local central galaxies , and those that end up as disk dominated , evolve mostly along the low-mass branch of this correlation .
Moreover , the baryonic and stellar mass growth histories of these galaxies are proportional to their halo mass growth histories since the last 6.5–10 Gyr .
( g ) Within the virial radii of the simulations , \approx 25 - 50 \% of the baryons are missed ; the amount of gas in the halo is similar to the one in stars in the galaxy , and most of this gas is in the warm-hot phase .
( h ) The z \sim 0 vertical gas velocity dispersion profiles , \sigma _ { z } ( r ) , are nearly flat and can be mostly explained by the kinetic energy injected by stars .
The average values of \sigma _ { z } increase at higher redshifts , following roughly the shape of the SF history .