skip to main content


Title: Ne viii in the Warm-hot Circumgalactic Medium of FIRE Simulations and in Observations
Abstract

The properties of warm-hot gas around ∼L*galaxies can be studied with absorption lines from highly ionized metals. We predict Neviiicolumn densities from cosmological zoom-in simulations of halos with masses in ∼1012and ∼1013Mfrom the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. Neviiitraces the volume-filling, virial-temperature gas in ∼1012Mhalos. In ∼1013Mhalos the Neviiigas is clumpier, and biased toward the cooler part of the warm-hot phase. We compare the simulations to observations from the COS Absorption Survey of Baryon Harbors (or CASBaH) and COS Ultraviolet Baryon Survey (or CUBS). We show that when inferring halo masses from stellar masses to compare simulated and observed halos, it is important to account for the scatter in the stellar-mass–halo-mass relation, especially atM≳ 1010.5M. Median Neviiicolumns in the fiducial FIRE-2 model are about as high as observed upper limits allow, while the simulations analyzed do not reproduce the highest observed columns. This suggests that the median Neviiiprofiles predicted by the simulations are consistent with observations, but that the simulations may underpredict the scatter. We find similar agreement with analytical models that assume a product of the halo gas fraction and metallicity (relative to solar) ∼0.1, indicating that observations are consistent with plausible circumgalactic medium temperatures, metallicities, and gas masses. Variants of the FIRE simulations with a modified supernova feedback model and/or active galactic nuclei feedback included (as well as some other cosmological simulations from the literature) more systematically underpredict Neviiicolumns. The circumgalactic Neviiiobservations therefore provide valuable constraints on simulations that otherwise predict realistic galaxy properties.

 
more » « less
PAR ID:
10543676
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
Date Published:
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume:
973
Issue:
2
ISSN:
0004-637X
Format(s):
Medium: X Size: Article No. 99
Size(s):
Article No. 99
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract

    Quenching of star formation in the central galaxies of cosmological halos is thought to result from energy released as gas accretes onto a supermassive black hole. The same energy source also appears to lower the central density and raise the cooling time of baryonic atmospheres in massive halos, thereby limiting both star formation and black hole growth, by lifting the baryons in those halos to greater altitudes. One predicted signature of that feedback mechanism is a nearly linear relationship between the central black hole’s mass (MBH) and the original binding energy of the halo’s baryons. We present the increasingly strong observational evidence supporting a such a relationship, showing that it extends up to halos of massMhalo∼ 1014M. We then compare current observational constraints on theMBHMhalorelation with numerical simulations, finding that black hole masses in IllustrisTNG appear to exceed those constraints atMhalo< 1013Mand that black hole masses in EAGLE fall short of observations atMhalo∼ 1014M. A closer look at IllustrisTNG shows that quenching of star formation and suppression of black hole growth do indeed coincide with black hole energy input that lifts the halo’s baryons. However, IllustrisTNG does not reproduce the observedMBHMhalorelation because its black holes gain mass primarily through accretion that does not contribute to baryon lifting. We suggest adjustments to some of the parameters in the IllustrisTNG feedback algorithm that may allow the resulting black hole masses to reflect the inherent links between black hole growth, baryon lifting, and star formation among the massive galaxies in those simulations.

     
    more » « less
  2. Abstract

    Semianalytic models (SAMs) systematically predict higher-stellar mass scatter at a given halo mass than hydrodynamical simulations and most empirical models. Our goal is to investigate the physical origin of this scatter by exploring modifications to the physics in the SAMDark Sage. We design two black hole formation models that approximate results from theIllustrisTNG 300-1hydrodynamical simulation. In the first model, we assign a fixed black hole mass of 106Mto every halo that reaches 1010.5M. In the second model, we disregard any black hole growth as implemented in the standardDark Sagemodel. Instead, we force all black hole masses to follow the medianz= 0 black hole mass–halo mass relation inIllustrisTNG 300-1with an imposed fixed scatter. We find that each model on its own does not significantly reduce the scatter in stellar mass. To explore the effects of active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback in addition to black hole seeding, we replace the native Dark Sage AGN feedback model with a simple model where we turn off cooling for galaxies with black hole masses above 108M. With the additional modification in AGN feedback, we find that the supermassive black hole seeding and fixed conditional distribution models create a significant reduction in the scatter in stellar mass at halo masses between 1011–14M. These results suggest that AGN feedback in SAMs acts in a qualitatively different way than feedback implemented in cosmological simulations. Either or both may require substantial modification to match the empirically inferred scatter in the stellar mass–halo mass relation.

     
    more » « less
  3. Abstract

    We make an in-depth analysis of different active galactic nuclei (AGN) jet models’ signatures, inducing quiescence in galaxies with a halo mass of 1012M. Three jet models, including cosmic-ray-dominant, hot thermal, and precessing kinetic jets, are studied at two energy flux levels each, compared to a jet-free, stellar feedback-only simulation. Each of our simulations is idealized isolated galaxy simulations with AGN jet powers that are constant in time and generated using GIZMO and with FIRE stellar feedback. We examine the distribution of Mgii, Ovi, and Oviiiions, alongside gas temperature and density profiles. Low-energy ions, like Mgii, concentrate in the interstellar medium (ISM), while higher energy ions, e.g., Oviii, prevail at the AGN jet cocoon’s edge. High-energy flux jets display an isotropic ion distribution with lower overall density. High-energy thermal or cosmic-ray jets pressurize at smaller radii, significantly suppressing core density. The cosmic-ray jet provides extra pressure support, extending cool and warm gas distribution. A break in the ion-to-mass ratio slope in Oviand Oviiiis demonstrated in the ISM-to-circumgalactic medium (CGM) transition (between 10 and 30 kpc), growing smoothly toward the CGM at greater distances.

     
    more » « less
  4. Abstract

    The presence of dense, neutral hydrogen clouds in the hot, diffuse intragroup and intracluster (IC) medium is an important clue to the physical processes controlling the survival of cold gas and sheds light on cosmological baryon flows in massive halos. Advances in numerical modeling and observational surveys mean that theory and observational comparisons are now possible. In this paper, we use the high-resolution TNG50 cosmological simulation to study the Hidistribution in seven halos with masses similar to the Fornax galaxy cluster. Adopting observational sensitivities similar to the MeerKAT Fornax Survey (MFS), an ongoing Hisurvey that will probe to column densities of 1018cm−2, we find that Fornax-like TNG50 halos have an extended distribution of neutral hydrogen clouds. Within 1Rvir, we predict the MFS will observe a total Hicovering fraction of ∼12% (mean value) for 10 kpc pixels and 6% for 2 kpc pixels. If we restrict this to gas more than 10 half-mass radii from galaxies, the mean values only decrease mildly, to 10% (4%) for 10 (2) kpc pixels (albeit with significant halo-to-halo spread). Although there are large amounts of Hioutside of galaxies, the gas seems to be associated with satellites, judging both by the visual inspection of projections and by comparison of the line of sight velocities of galaxies and IC Hi.

     
    more » « less
  5. Abstract

    Extended, old, and round stellar halos appear to be ubiquitous around high-mass dwarf galaxies (108.5<M/M< 109.6) in the observed universe. However, it is unlikely that these dwarfs have undergone a sufficient number of minor mergers to form stellar halos that are composed of predominantly accreted stars. Here, we demonstrate that FIRE-2 (Feedback in Realistic Environments) cosmological zoom-in simulations are capable of producing dwarf galaxies with realistic structures, including both a thick disk and round stellar halo. Crucially, these stellar halos are formed in situ, largely via the outward migration of disk stars. However, there also exists a large population of “nondisky” dwarfs in FIRE-2 that lack a well-defined disk/halo and do not resemble the observed dwarf population. These nondisky dwarfs tend to be either more gas-poor or to have burstier recent star formation histories than the disky dwarfs, suggesting that star formation feedback may be preventing disk formation. Both classes of dwarfs underscore the power of a galaxy’s intrinsic shape—which is a direct quantification of the distribution of the galaxy’s stellar content—to interrogate the feedback implementation in simulated galaxies.

     
    more » « less