Simulated Galaxy Merger Trees: A New Numerical Tool to Study Galaxy Evolution

We present a new numerical approach to study galaxy evolution in a cosmological context. To this end, we combine cosmological merger trees and semi-analytic models of galaxy formation to provide the initial conditions for multi-merger hydrodynamic simulations. In this way we exploit the advantages of merger simulations (high resolution and detailed treatment of the gas physics) and semi-analytic models (cosmological background and low computational cost), and integrate them to create a novel tool. We have tested our new method studying the evolution of Milky Way-like galaxies since z = 1, and find good agreement with observations for the total stellar masses and disk scale parameters. Overall, our novel numerical approach will be very useful for pursuing a number of questions pertaining to the transformation of galaxy internal structure through cosmic time.