Simulations of the flocculent spiral M33: what drives the spiral
  structure?
  We perform simulations of isolated galaxies in order to investigate the
likely origin of the spiral structure in M33. In our models, we find that
gravitational instabilities in the stars and gas are able to reproduce the
observed spiral pattern and velocity field of M33, as seen in HI, and no
interaction is required. We also find that the optimum models have high levels
of stellar feedback which create large holes similar to those observed in M33,
whilst lower levels of feedback tend to produce a large amount of small scale
structure, and undisturbed long filaments of high surface density gas, hardly
detected in the M33 disc. The gas component appears to have a significant role
in producing the structure, so if there is little feedback, both the gas and
stars organise into clear spiral arms, likely due to a lower combined $Q$
(using gas and stars), and the ready ability of cold gas to undergo spiral
shocks. By contrast models with higher feedback have weaker spiral structure,
especially in the stellar component, compared to grand design galaxies. We did
not see a large difference in the behaviour of $Q_{stars}$ with most of these
models, however, because $Q_{stars}$ stayed relatively constant unless the disc
was more strongly unstable. Our models suggest that although the stars produce
some underlying spiral structure, this is relatively weak, and the gas physics
has a considerable role in producing the large scale structure of the ISM in
flocculent spirals.
