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The circumgalactic medium (CGM) plays a pivotal role in regulating gas flows around galaxies and thus shapes their evolution. However, the details of how galaxies and their CGM coevolve remain poorly understood. We present a new time-dependent two-zone model that self-consistently tracks not just mass and metal flows between galaxies and their CGM but also the evolution of the global thermal and turbulent kinetic energy of the CGM. Our model accounts for heating and turbulence driven by both supernova winds and cosmic accretion as well as radiative cooling, turbulence dissipation, and halo outflows due to CGM overpressurization. We demonstrate that, depending on parameters, the CGM can undergo a phase transition (“thermalization”) from a cool, turbulence-supported phase to a virial-temperature, thermally supported phase. This CGM phase transition is largely determined by the ability of radiative cooling to balance heating from supernova winds and turbulence dissipation. We perform an initial calibration of our model to the FIRE-2 cosmological hydrodynamical simulations and show that it can approximately reproduce the baryon cycles of the simulated halos. In particular, we find that, for these parameters, the phase transition occurs at high redshift in ultrafaint progenitors and at low redshift in classicalM_vir∼ 10¹¹M_⊙dwarfs, while Milky Way–mass halos undergo the transition atz≈ 0.5. We see a similar transition in the simulations though it is more gradual, likely reflecting radial dependence and multiphase gas not captured by our model. We discuss these and other limitations of the model and possible future extensions.

Both observations and simulations have shown strong evidence for highly time-variable star formation in low-mass and/or high-redshift galaxies, which has important observational implications because high-redshift galaxy samples are rest-ultraviolet (rest-UV) selected and therefore particularly sensitive to the recent star formation. Using a suite of cosmological ‘zoom-in’ simulations at z > 5 from the Feedback in Realistic Environments project, we examine the implications of bursty star formation histories for observations of high-redshift galaxies with JWST. We characterize how the galaxy observability depends on the star formation history. We also investigate selection effects due to bursty star formation on the physical properties measured, such as the gas fraction, specific star formation rate, and metallicity. We find the observability to be highly time-dependent for galaxies near the survey’s limiting flux due to the star formation rate variability: as the star formation rate fluctuates, the same galaxy oscillates in and out of the observable sample. The observable fraction $f_\mathrm{obs} = 50~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ at z ∼ 7 and M⋆ ∼ 108.5–$10^{9}\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$ for a JWST/NIRCam survey reaching a limiting magnitude of $m^\mathrm{lim}_\mathrm{AB} \sim 29{\!-\!}30$, representative of surveys such as JADES and CEERS. JWST-detectable galaxies near the survey limit tend to have properties characteristic of galaxies in the bursty phase: on average, they show approximately 2.5 times higher cold, dense gas fractions and 20 times higher specific star formation rates at a given stellar mass than galaxies below the rest-UV detection threshold. Our study represents a first step in quantifying selection effects and the associated biases due to bursty star formation in studying high-redshift galaxy properties.

Recent discoveries of a significant population of bright galaxies at cosmic dawn$\left(z\gtrsim 10\right)$have enabled critical tests of cosmological galaxy formation models. In particular, the bright end of the galaxys’ UV luminosity functions (UVLFs) appear higher than predicted by many models. Using approximately 25,000 galaxy snapshots at 8 ≤z≤ 12 in a suite of FIRE-2 cosmological “zoom-in” simulations from the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project, we show that the observed abundance of UV-bright galaxies at cosmic dawn is reproduced in these simulations with a multichannel implementation of standard stellar feedback processes, without any fine-tuning. Notably, we find no need to invoke previously suggested modifications, such as a nonstandard cosmology, a top-heavy stellar initial mass function, or a strongly enhanced star formation efficiency. We contrast the UVLFs predicted by bursty star formation in these original simulations to those derived from star formation histories (SFHs) smoothed over prescribed timescales (e.g., 100 Myr). The comparison demonstrates that the strongly time-variable SFHs predicted by the FIRE simulations play a key role in correctly reproducing the observed, bright-end UVLFs at cosmic dawn: the bursty SFHs induce order-or-magnitude changes in the abundance of UV-bright (M_UV≲ −20) galaxies atz≳ 10. The predicted bright-end UVLFs are consistent with both the spectroscopically confirmed population and the photometrically selected candidates. We also find good agreement between the predicted and observationally inferred integrated UV luminosity densities, which evolve more weakly with redshift in FIRE than suggested by some other models.

Understanding the star formation rate (SFR) variability and how it depends on physical properties of galaxies is important for developing and testing the theory of galaxy formation. We investigate how statistical measurements of the extragalactic background light (EBL) can shed light on this topic and complement traditional methods based on observations of individual galaxies. Using semi-empirical models of galaxy evolution and SFR indicators sensitive to different star formation time-scales (e.g. H α and ultraviolet continuum luminosities), we show that the SFR variability, quantified by the joint probability distribution of the SFR indicators (i.e. the bivariate conditional luminosity function), can be characterized as a function of galaxy mass and redshift through the cross-correlation between deep, near-infrared maps of the EBL and galaxy distributions. As an example, we consider combining upcoming SPHEREx maps of the EBL with galaxy samples from Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time. We demonstrate that their cross-correlation over a sky fraction of fsky ∼ 0.5 can constrain the joint SFR indicator distribution at high significance up to z ∼ 2.5 for mass-complete samples of galaxies down to $M_{*}\sim 10^9\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$. These constraints not only allow models of different SFR variability to be distinguished, but also provide unique opportunities to investigate physical mechanisms that require large number statistics such as environmental effects. The cross-correlations investigated illustrate the power of combining cosmological surveys to extract information inaccessible from each data set alone, while the large galaxy populations probed capture ensemble-averaged properties beyond the reach of targeted observations towards individual galaxies.

This paper reports the first measurement of the relationship between turbulent velocity and cloud size in the diffuse circumgalactic medium (CGM) in typical galaxy halos at redshiftz≈ 0.4–1. Through spectrally resolved absorption profiles of a suite of ionic transitions paired with careful ionization analyses of individual components, cool clumps of size as small asl_cl∼ 1 pc and density lower thann_H= 10⁻³cm⁻³are identified in galaxy halos. In addition, comparing the line widths between different elements for kinematically matched components provides robust empirical constraints on the thermal temperatureTand the nonthermal motionsb_NT, independent of the ionization models. On average,b_NTis found to increase withl_clfollowing$b_{\mathrm{NT}}\propto l_{\mathrm{cl}}^{0.3}$over three decades in spatial scale froml_cl≈ 1 pc tol_cl≈ 1 kpc. Attributing the observedb_NTto turbulent motions internal to the clumps, the best-fitb_NT–l_clrelation shows that the turbulence is consistent with Kolmogorov at <1 kpc with a roughly constant energy transfer rate per unit mass ofϵ≈ 0.003 cm²s⁻³and a dissipation timescale of ≲100 Myr. No significant difference is found between massive quiescent and star-forming halos in the sample on scales less than 1 kpc. While the inferredϵis comparable to what is found in Civabsorbers at high redshift, it is considerably smaller than observed in star-forming gas or in extended line-emitting nebulae around distant quasars. A brief discussion of possible sources to drive the observed turbulence in the cool CGM is presented.

As they grow, galaxies can transition from irregular/spheroidal with ‘bursty’ star formation histories (SFHs), to discy with smooth SFHs. But even in simulations, the direct physical cause of such transitions remains unclear. We therefore explore this in a large suite of numerical experiments re-running portions of cosmological simulations with widely varied physics, further validated with existing FIRE simulations. We show that gas supply, cooling/thermodynamics, star formation model, Toomre scale, galaxy dynamical times, and feedback properties do not have a direct causal effect on these transitions. Rather, both the formation of discs and cessation of bursty star formation are driven by the gravitational potential, but in different ways. Disc formation is promoted when the mass profile becomes sufficiently centrally concentrated in shape (relative to circularization radii): we show that this provides a well-defined dynamical centre, ceases to support the global ‘breathing modes’ that can persist indefinitely in less-concentrated profiles and efficiently destroy discs, promotes orbit mixing to form a coherent angular momentum, and stabilizes the disc. Smooth SF is promoted by the potential or escape velocity Vesc (not circular velocity Vc) becoming sufficiently large at the radii of star formation that cool, mass-loaded (momentum-conserving) outflows are trapped/confined near the galaxy, as opposed to escaping after bursts. We discuss the detailed physics, how these conditions arise in cosmological contexts, their relation to other correlated phenomena (e.g. inner halo virialization, vertical disc ‘settling’), and observations.

This paper presents a newly established sample of 19 unique galaxies and galaxy groups at redshift z = 0.89–1.21 in six QSO fields from the Cosmic Ultraviolet Baryon Survey (CUBS), designated as the CUBSz1 sample. In this sample, nine galaxies or galaxy groups show absorption features, while the other 10 systems exhibit 2σ upper limits of $\log N (\rm{He\,{\small I}})/\mbox{${\rm cm^{-2}}$}\lesssim 13.5$ and $\log N (\rm{O\,{\small V}})/\mbox{${\rm cm^{-2}}$}\lesssim 13.3$. Environmental properties of the galaxies, including galaxy overdensities, the total stellar mass and gravitational potential summed over all neighbours, and the presence of local ionizing sources, are found to have a significant impact on the observed CGM absorption properties. Specifically, massive galaxies and galaxies in overdense regions exhibit a higher rate of incidence of absorption. The CGM absorption properties in galaxy groups appear to be driven by the galaxy closest to the QSO sightline, rather than by the most massive galaxy or by mass-weighted properties. We introduce a total projected gravitational potential ψ, defined as −ψ/G = ∑Mhalo/dproj summed over all group members, to characterize the galaxy environment. This projected gravitational potential correlates linearly with the maximum density detected in each sightline (i.e. a power-law slope of $0.95_{-0.14}^{+0.15}$), consistent with higher pressure gas being confined in deeper gravitational potential wells. In addition, we find that the radial profile of cool gas density exhibits a decline from the inner regions to the outskirts, and the amplitude is consistent with the cool gas being in pressure balance with the hot halo. Finally, we note that the ionizing flux from nearby galaxies can elevate the N(H i)/N(He i) ratio, which provides a unique diagnostic of possible local sources contributing to the ionizing radiation field.

Negative feedback from accreting supermassive black holes is considered crucial in suppressing star formation and quenching massive galaxies. However, several models and observations suggest that black hole feedback may have a positive effect, triggering star formation by compressing interstellar medium gas to higher densities. We investigate the dual role of black hole feedback using cosmological hydrodynamic simulations from the Feedback In Realistic Environment (FIRE) project, incorporating a novel implementation of hyper-refined accretion-disc winds. Focusing on a massive, star-forming galaxy at z ∼ 2 ($M_{\rm halo} \sim 10^{12.5}\, {\rm M}_{\odot }$), we demonstrate that strong quasar winds with a kinetic power of ∼1046 erg s−1, persisting for over 20 Myr, drive the formation of a central gas cavity and significantly reduce the surface density of star formation across the galaxy’s disc. The suppression of star formation primarily occurs by limiting the availability of gas for star formation rather than by evacuating the pre-existing star-forming gas reservoir (preventive feedback dominates over ejective feedback). Despite the overall negative impact of quasar winds, we identify several potential indicators of local positive feedback, including (1) the spatial anticorrelation between wind-dominated regions and star-forming clumps, (2) higher local star formation efficiency in compressed gas at the edge of the cavity, and (3) increased contribution of outflowing material to local star formation. Moreover, stars formed under the influence of quasar winds tend to be located at larger radial distances. Our findings suggest that both positive and negative AGN feedback can coexist within galaxies, although the local positive triggering of star formation has a minor influence on global galaxy growth.

We introduce CRK-HACC, an extension of the Hardware/Hybrid Accelerated Cosmology Code (HACC), to resolve gas hydrodynamics in large-scale structure formation simulations of the universe. The new framework couples the HACC gravitationalN-body solver with a modern smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) approach called conservative reproducing kernel SPH (CRKSPH). CRKSPH utilizes smoothing functions that exactly interpolate linear fields while manifestly preserving conservation laws (momentum, mass, and energy). The CRKSPH method has been incorporated to accurately model baryonic effects in cosmology simulations—an important addition targeting the generation of precise synthetic sky predictions for upcoming observational surveys. CRK-HACC inherits the codesign strategies of the HACC solver and is built to run on modern GPU-accelerated supercomputers. In this work, we summarize the primary solver components and present a number of standard validation tests to demonstrate code accuracy, including idealized hydrodynamic and cosmological setups, as well as self-similarity measurements.

We present Firefly, a new browser-based interactive tool for visualizing 3D particle data sets. On a typical personal computer, Firefly can simultaneously render and enable real-time interactions with ≳10 million particles, and can interactively explore data sets with billions of particles using the included custom-built octree render engine. Once created, viewing a Firefly visualization requires no installation and is immediately usable in most modern internet browsers simply by visiting a URL. As a result, a Firefly visualization works out-of-the-box on most devices including smartphones and tablets. Firefly is primarily developed for researchers to explore their own data, but can also be useful to communicate results to researchers and/or collaborators and as an effective public outreach tool. Every element of the user interface can be customized and disabled, enabling easy adaptation of the same visualization for different audiences with little additional effort. Creating a new Firefly visualization is simple with the provided Python data preprocessor that translates input data to a Firefly-compatible format and provides helpful methods for hosting instances of Firefly both locally and on the internet. In addition to visualizing the positions of particles, users can visualize vector fields (e.g., velocities) and also filter and color points by scalar fields. We share three examples of Firefly applied to astronomical data sets: (1) the FIRE cosmological zoom-in simulations, (2) the SDSS galaxy catalog, and (3) Gaia Data Release 3. A gallery of additional interactive demos is available atalexbgurvi.ch/Firefly.