flamingo-halo-catalogues

name	flamingo-halo-catalogues
description	FLAMINGO SOAP halo catalogues and HBT-HERONS subhalo outputs: directory layout, halo definitions (bound, spheres, projected apertures, spherical overdensity), and cross-simulation matching. Use when selecting clusters or galaxies from released catalogues.

FLAMINGO halo catalogues

Source of truth: Halo catalogues (SOAP)

Pipeline: HBT-HERONS finds self-bound subhaloes (centrals + satellites, merger trees) → SOAP computes properties under many halo/aperture definitions.

Directory layout (separate trees)

<run>/<run>/SOAP-HBT/
    halo_properties_<NNNN>.hdf5    # one file per snapshot number

<run>/<run>/HBT-HERONS/
    OrderedSubSnap_<NNN>.hdf5       # subhalo finder output per snapshot

<NNNN> / <NNN> follow snapshot numbering (see flamingo-snapshots redshift tables). Example: /FLAMINGO/L1_m9/L1_m9/SOAP-HBT/.

SOAP version is recorded in file metadata (/Code attributes). Pin this when reproducing published numbers.

Terminology

• Halo — 3D Friends-of-Friends group.
• Subhalo — bound set inside a halo (HBT-HERONS).
• Central — one per halo (centre = most-bound particle); satellite — others.

SOAP halo definition groups (HDF5)

Group pattern	Meaning
bound_subhalo	All particles bound to the subhalo
exclusive_sphere_<R>kpc	Bound particles within physical radius R
inclusive_sphere_<R>kpc	All particles within R (bound or not)
projected_aperture_<R>kpc_projP	Bound particles in cylinder along axis P (x, y, z)
spherical_overdensity_<label>	Sphere from density profile (centrals only)

Sphere radii (exclusive/inclusive): 10, 30, 50, 100, 300, 500, 1000, 3000 kpc (physical).

Projected apertures: 10, 30, 50, 100 kpc only; three projection axes each.

Spherical overdensity labels: include 50_crit, 100_crit, 200_crit, 500_crit, 1000_crit, 2500_crit, 200_mean, 5xR_500_crit (see portal for calculation details). SO quantities are for central haloes only.

Choosing a definition

• Cluster masses / Y_X-style work: SO 200_crit or 500_crit.
• Galaxy stellar mass in aperture: exclusive_sphere_30kpc (typical).
• Photometric aperture mimic: projected_aperture.
• Total subhalo: bound_subhalo.

Exclusive vs inclusive sphere: whether unbound/s satellite material inside R is included — stay consistent within a study.

Properties and filters

Hundreds of fields per definition (masses, radii, kinematics, gas/star/BH splits, Compton-y, X-ray proxies, etc.). The portal SOAP properties table and property filters list what exists for each definition.

Preferred reader: swiftsimio (units from metadata) — see portal page Reading SOAP halo catalogues with swiftsimio.

Cross-simulation matching

Portal documents matching subhaloes between paired runs (hydro vs _DMO, variation vs fiducial) via particle IDs / most-bound particle. Use released match files instead of rematching by position.

Merger trees

HBT-HERONS merger trees: portal section HBT-HERONS merger trees and files under HBT-HERONS/.

Related skills

• flamingo-snapshots — particles SOAP ingests; custom finder reruns
• flamingo-lightcones — halo_lightcone/ catalogues on the past lightcone
• flamingo-simulations — which run variant to open