The properties of the first galaxies in the BlueTides simulation

We employ the very large cosmological hydrodynamical simulation BlueTides to investigate the predicted properties of the galaxy population during the epoch of reionization (z > 8). BlueTides has a resolution and volume ((400/h ˜ 577)3 cMpc3) providing a population of galaxies that is well matched to depth and area of current observational surveys targeting the high-redshift Universe. At z = 8, BlueTides includes almost 160 000 galaxies with stellar masses >108 M?. The population of galaxies predicted by BlueTides closely matches observational constraints on both the galaxy stellar mass function and far-UV (150 nm) luminosity function. Galaxies in BlueTides are characterized by rapidly increasing star formation histories. Specific star formation rates decrease with redshift though remain largely insensitive to stellar mass. As a result of the enhanced surface density of metals, more massive galaxies are predicted to have higher dust attenuation resulting in a significant steepening of the observed far-UV luminosity function at high luminosities. The contribution of active supermassive black holes (SMBHs) to the UV luminosities of galaxies with stellar masses 109–10 M? is around 3 per cent on average. Approximately 25 per cent of galaxies with M* ˜ 1010 M? are predicted to have active SMBHs that contribute >10 per cent of the total UV luminosity.