Massive clump formation in gas rich galaxies and the nature of bulges

O. VALENZUELA; J. PEREZ ; L. MICHEL-DANSAC; P. TISSERA

Workshop; Second workshop on numerical and observational astrophysics: From the First Structures to the Universe Today; 2011

An alternative scenario of bulge formation is proposed. Using hydrodynamical simulations of late type galaxies, we show that gas-rich galactic discs fragment into giant clumps which migrate to the central region and form a classical bulge with a Sersic index, n~4.The metallicity of the final bulge is also investigated. Metal distributions and time delay models are in good agreement with observations, revealing the rapid formation timescale of the bulge.These result might complete the traditional picture of bulge formation through major mergers, showing that classical bulges can also be formed by secular processes.Although previous numerical works have reported the clump formation in high-redshift galaxies, we think that our results contribute further to explore the role of these clumps shaping galaxies, given that  our simulations include self-consistently, SN feedback and a detailed chemical model.