arXiv subjects

Drummond B. Fielding

Publications and source records attributed to Drummond B. Fielding.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Towards Implementation of the Pressure-Regulated, Feedback-Modulated Model of Star Formation in Cosmological Simulations: Methods and Application to TNG

Traditional star formation subgrid models implemented in cosmological galaxy formation simulations, such as that of Springel & Hernquist (2003, hereafter SH03), employ adjustable parameters to satisfy constraints measured in the local Universe. In recent years, however, theory and spatially-resolved simulations of the turbulent, multiphase, star-forming ISM have begun to produce new first-principles models, which when fully developed can replace traditional subgrid prescriptions. This approach has advantages of being physically motivated and predictive rather than empirically tuned, and allowing for varying environmental conditions rather than being tied to local Universe conditions. As a prototype of this new approach, by combining calibrations from the TIGRESS numerical framework with the Pressure-Regulated Feedback-Modulated (PRFM) theory, simple formulae can be obtained for both the gas depletion time and an effective equation of state. Considering galaxies in TNG50, we compare the "native" simulation outputs with post-processed predictions from PRFM. At TNG50 resolution, the total midplane pressure is nearly equal to the total ISM weight, indicating that galaxies in TNG50 are close to satisfying vertical equilibrium. The measured gas scale height is also close to theoretical equilibrium predictions. The slopes of the effective equations of states are similar, but with effective velocity dispersion normalization from SH03 slightly larger than that from current TIGRESS simulations. Because of this and the decrease in PRFM feedback yield at high pressure, the PRFM model predicts shorter gas depletion times than the SH03 model at high densities and redshift. Our results represent a first step towards implementing new, numerically calibrated subgrid algorithms in cosmological galaxy formation simulations.

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arXiv2024

Arkenstone -- II. A model for unresolved cool clouds entrained in galactic winds in cosmological simulations

Arkenstone is a new scheme that allows multiphase, stellar feedback-driven winds to be included in coarse resolution cosmological simulations. The evolution of galactic winds and their subsequent impact on the circumgalactic medium are altered by exchanges of mass, energy, momentum, and metals between their component phases. These exchanges are governed by complex, small-scale physical processes that cannot be resolved in cosmological simulations. In this second presentation paper, we describe Arkenstone's novel cloud particle approach for modelling unresolvable cool clouds entrained in hot, fast winds. This general framework allows models of the cloud-wind interaction, derived from state-of-the-art high-resolution simulations, to be applied in a large-scale context. In this work, we adopt a cloud evolution model that captures simultaneous cloud mass loss to and gain from the ambient hot phase via turbulent mixing and radiative cooling, respectively. We demonstrate the scheme using non-cosmological idealized simulations of a galaxy with a realistic circumgalactic medium component, using the Arepo code. We show that the ability of a high-specific energy wind component to perform preventative feedback may be limited by heavy loading of cool clouds coupled into it. We demonstrate that the diverging evolution of clouds of initially differing masses leads to a complex velocity field for the cool phase and a cloud mass function that varies both spatially and temporally in a non-trivial manner. These latter two phenomena can manifest in the simulation because of our choice of a Lagrangian discretisation of the cloud population, in contrast to other proposed schemes. This is a Learning the Universe publication.

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arXiv2024

Pumping Iron: How turbulent metal diffusion impacts multiphase galactic outflows

Most numerical simulations of galaxy formation and evolution are unable to properly resolve the turbulent cascade at or below the resolution scale and turbulence models are required to capture the motion of eddies on those unresolved scales. In this study, we investigate the impact of turbulent metal diffusion models on multiphase outflows originating from dwarf galaxies ($M_{\rm halo} \sim 10^{10} - 10^{11}$ M$_\odot$). We use our state-of-the-art numerical model for the formation of single stars and non-equilibrium cooling and hydrogen chemistry. Our simulations are carried out at a mass resolution of $\sim$1 M$_{\odot}$, where the individual supernova explosions are resolved in terms of hot-phase generation and momentum input. We find that mass, energy, and metal loading factors are only weakly affected by the inclusion of a metal diffusion model. The metal enrichment factor at low altitude above the galactic disk is higher by around 20 per cent when the metal diffusion model is included. Specifically, we find more efficient cooling in the cold interstellar medium, as higher amounts of metals are kept in the cold dense phase. The most striking effect of the metal diffusion model is that, without metal diffusion, there is more rapid cooling in the hot phase and a reduced sound speed by a factor of two. Specifically, we find that the hot phase is more metal enriched in the case without metal diffusion leading to more rapid (over) cooling of that phase which is consistent with the higher sound speed we find in the runs with metal diffusion.

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arXiv2024

Metallicity Dependence of Pressure-Regulated Feedback-Modulated Star Formation in the TIGRESS-NCR Simulation Suite

We present a new simulation suite for the star-forming interstellar medium (ISM) in galactic disks using the TIGRESS-NCR framework. Distinctive aspects of our simulation suite are: (1) sophisticated and comprehensive numerical treatments of essential physical processes including magnetohydrodynamics, self-gravity, and galactic differential rotation, as well as photochemistry, cooling, and heating coupled with ray-tracing UV radiation transfer and resolved supernova feedback and (2) wide parameter coverage including metallicity over $Z'\equiv Z/Z_\odot\sim0.1-3$, gas surface density $Σ_{\rm gas}\sim5-150 M_{\odot}{\rm pc^{-2}}$, and stellar surface density $Σ_{\rm star}\sim 1-50 M_{\odot}{\rm pc^{-2}}$. The range of emergent star formation rate surface density is $Σ_{\rm SFR}\sim 10^{-4}-0.5 M_{\odot}{\rm kpc^{-2}yr^{-1}}$ and ISM total midplane pressure is $P_{\rm tot}/k_B=10^3-10^6{\rm cm^{-3}K}$, with $P_{\rm tot}$ equal to the ISM weight $W$. For given $Σ_{\rm gas}$ and $Σ_{\rm star}$, we find $Σ_{\rm SFR} \propto Z'^{0.3}$. We provide an interpretation based on the pressure-regulated feedback-modulated (PRFM) star formation theory. We characterize feedback modulation in terms of the yield $Υ$, defined as the ratio of each stress to $Σ_{\rm SFR}$. The thermal feedback yield varies sensitively with both weight and metallicity as $Υ_{\rm th}\propto W^{-0.46}Z'^{-0.53}$, while the combined turbulent and magnetic feedback yield shows weaker dependence $Υ_{\rm turb+mag}\propto W^{-0.22}Z'^{-0.18}$. The reduction in $Σ_{\rm SFR}$ at low metallicity is due mainly to enhanced thermal feedback yield, resulting from reduced attenuation of UV radiation. With the metallicity-dependent calibrations we provide, PRFM theory can be used for a new subgrid star formation prescription in cosmological simulations where the ISM is unresolved.

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arXiv2024

Plasmoid Instability in the Multiphase Interstellar Medium

The processes controlling the complex clump structure, phase distribution, and magnetic field geometry that develops across a broad range of scales in the turbulent interstellar medium remains unclear. Using unprecedentedly high resolution three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of thermally unstable turbulent systems, we show that large current sheets unstable to plasmoid-mediated reconnection form regularly throughout the volume. The plasmoids form in three distinct environments: (i) within cold clumps, (ii) at the asymmetric interface of the cold and warm phases, and (iii) within the warm, volume-filling phase. We then show that the complex magneto-thermal phase structure is characterized by a predominantly highly magnetized cold phase, but that regions of high magnetic curvature, which are the sites of reconnection, span a broad range in temperature. Furthermore, we show that thermal instabilities change the scale dependent anisotropy of the turbulent magnetic field, reducing the increase in eddy elongation at smaller scales. Finally, we show that most of the mass is contained in one contiguous cold structure surrounded by smaller clumps that follow a scale free mass distribution. These clumps tend to be highly elongated and exhibit a size versus internal velocity relation consistent with supersonic turbulence, and a relative clump distance-velocity scaling consistent with subsonic motion. We discuss the striking similarity of cold plasmoids to observed tiny scale atomic and ionized structures and HI fibers, and consider how the prevalence of plasmoids will modify the motion of charged particles thereby impacting cosmic ray transport and thermal conduction in the ISM and other similar systems.

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arXiv2024

DUVET: Resolved direct metallicity measurements in the outflow of starburst galaxy NGC 1569

We present the results of direct-method metallicity measurements in the disk and outflow of the low-metallicity starburst galaxy NGC 1569. We use Keck Cosmic Web Imager observations to map the galaxy across 54$\arcsec$ (800 pc) along the major axis and 48$\arcsec$ (700 pc) along the minor axis with a spatial resolution of 1$\arcsec$ ($\sim$15 pc). We detect common strong emission lines ([\ion{O}{III}] $λ$5007, H$β$, [\ion{O}{II}] $λ$3727) and the fainter [\ion{O}{III}] $λ$4363 auroral line, which allows us to measure electron temperature ($T_e$) and metallicity. Theory suggests that outflows drive metals out of the disk driving observed trends between stellar mass and gas-phase metallicity. Our main result is that the metallicity in the outflow is similar to that of the disk, $Z_{\rm out} / Z_{\rm ISM} \approx 1$. This is consistent with previous absorption line studies in higher mass galaxies. Assumption of a mass-loading factor of $\dot{M}_{\rm out}/{\rm SFR}\sim3$ makes the metal-loading of NGC 1569 consistent with expectations derived from the mass-metallicity relationship. Our high spatial resolution metallicity maps reveal a region around a supermassive star cluster (SSC-B) with distinctly higher metallicity and higher electron density, compared to the disk. Given the known properties of SSC-B the higher metallicity and density of this region are likely the result of star formation-driven feedback acting on the local scale. Overall, our results are consistent with the picture in which metal-enriched winds pollute the circumgalactic medium surrounding galaxies, and thus connect the small-scale feedback processes to large-scale properties of galaxy halos.

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arXiv2024

Arkenstone I: A Novel Method for Robustly Capturing High Specific Energy Outflows In Cosmological Simulations

Arkenstone is a new model for multiphase, stellar feedback driven galactic winds designed for inclusion in coarse resolution cosmological simulations. In this first paper of a series, we describe the features that allow Arkenstone to properly treat high specific energy wind components and demonstrate them using idealised non-cosmological simulations of a galaxy with a realistic CGM, using the Arepo code. Hot, fast gas phases with low mass loadings are predicted to dominate the energy content of multiphase outflows. In order to treat the huge dynamic range of spatial scales involved in cosmological galaxy formation at feasible computational expense, cosmological volume simulations typically employ a Lagrangian code or else use adaptive mesh refinement with a quasi-Lagrangian refinement strategy. However, it is difficult to inject a high specific energy wind in a Lagrangian scheme without incurring artificial burstiness. Additionally, the low densities inherent to this type of flow result in poor spatial resolution. Arkenstone addresses these issues with a novel scheme for coupling energy into the ISM/CGM transition region which also provides the necessary level of refinement at the base of the wind. In the absence of our improvements, we show that poor spatial resolution near the sonic point of a hot, fast outflow leads to an underestimation of gas acceleration as the wind propagates. We explore the different mechanisms by which low and high specific energy winds can regulate the SFR of galaxies. In future work, we will demonstrate other aspects of the Arkenstone model.

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arXiv2023

Cosmic ray transport in large-amplitude turbulence with small-scale field reversals

The nature of cosmic ray (CR) transport in the Milky Way remains elusive. The predictions of current micro-physical CR transport models in magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence are drastically different from what is observed. These models usually focus on MHD turbulence with a strong guide field and ignore the impact of turbulent intermittency on particle propagation. This motivates our studying the alternative regime of large-amplitude turbulence with $δB/B_0 \gg 1$, in which intermittent small-scale magnetic field reversals are ubiquitous. We study particle transport in such turbulence by integrating trajectories in stationary snapshots. To quantify spatial diffusion, we use a setup with continuous particle injection and escape, which we term the turbulent leaky box. We find that particle transport is very different from the strong-guide-field case. Low-energy particles are better confined than high-energy particles, despite less efficient pitch-angle isotropization at small energies. In the limit of weak guide field, energy-dependent confinement is driven by the energy-dependent (in)ability to follow reversing magnetic field lines exactly and by the scattering in regions of ``resonant curvature", where the field line bends on a scale that is of order the local particle gyro-radius. We derive a heuristic model of particle transport in magnetic folds that approximately reproduces the energy dependence of transport found numerically. We speculate that CR propagation in the Galaxy is regulated by the intermittent field reversals highlighted here and discuss the implications of our findings for CR transport in the Milky Way.

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arXiv2023

Cloud Atlas: Navigating the Multiphase Landscape of Tempestuous Galactic Winds

Galaxies comprise intricate networks of interdependent processes which together govern their evolution. Central among these are the multiplicity of feedback channels, which remain incompletely understood. One outstanding problem is the understanding and modeling of the multiphase nature of galactic winds, which play a crucial role in galaxy formation and evolution. We present the results of three dimensional magnetohydrodynamical tall box interstellar medium patch simulations with clustered supernova driven outflows. Fragmentation of the interstellar medium during superbubble breakout seeds the resulting hot outflow with a population of cool clouds. We focus on analyzing and modeling the origin and properties of these clouds. Their presence induces large scale turbulence, which in turn leads to complex cloud morphologies. Cloud sizes are well described by a power law distribution and mass growth rates can be modelled using turbulent radiative mixing layer theory. Turbulence provides significant pressure support in the clouds, while magnetic fields only play a minor role. We conclude that many of the physical insights and analytic scalings derived from idealized small scale simulations translate well to larger scale, more realistic turbulent magnetized winds, thus paving a path towards their necessary yet challenging inclusion in global-scale galaxy models.

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arXiv2023

CloudFlex: A Flexible Parametric Model for the Small-Scale Structure of the Circumgalactic Medium

We present CloudFlex, a new open-source tool for predicting the absorption-line signatures of cool gas in galaxy halos with complex small-scale structure. Motivated by analyses of cool material in hydrodynamical simulations of turbulent, multiphase media, we model individual cool gas structures as assemblies of cloudlets with a power-law distribution of cloudlet mass $\propto m_{\rm cl}^{-α}$ and relative velocities drawn from a turbulent velocity field. The user may specify $α$, the lower limit of the cloudlet mass distribution ($m_{\rm cl,min}$), and several other parameters that set the total mass, size, and velocity distribution of the complex. We then calculate the MgII 2796 absorption profiles induced by the cloudlets along pencil-beam lines of sight. We demonstrate that at fixed metallicity, the covering fraction of sightlines with equivalent widths $W_{2796} < 0.3$ Ang increases significantly with decreasing $m_{\rm cl,min}$, cool cloudlet number density ($n_{\rm cl}$), and cloudlet complex size. We then present a first application, using this framework to predict the projected $W_{2796}$ distribution around ${\sim}L^*$ galaxies. We show that the observed incidences of $W_{2796}>0.3$ Ang sightlines within 10 kpc < $R_{\perp}$ < 50 kpc are consistent with our model over much of parameter space. However, they are underpredicted by models with $m_{\rm cl,min}\ge100M_{\odot}$ and $n_{\rm cl}\ge0.03$ $\rm cm^{-3}$, in keeping with a picture in which the inner cool circumgalactic medium (CGM) is dominated by numerous low-mass cloudlets ($m_{\rm cl}\lesssim100M_{\odot}$) with a volume filling factor ${\lesssim}1\%$. When used to simultaneously model absorption-line datasets built from multi-sightline and/or spatially-extended background probes, CloudFlex will enable detailed constraints on the size and velocity distributions of structures comprising the photoionized CGM.

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arXiv2023

Seeding the CGM: How Satellites Populate the Cold Phase of Milky Way Halos

The origin of the cold phase in the CGM is a highly debated question. We investigate the contribution of satellite galaxies to the cold gas budget in the circumgalactic medium (CGM)of a Milky Way-like host galaxy. We perform controlled experiments with three different satellite mass distributions and identify several mechanisms by which satellites can add cold gas to the CGM, including ram pressure stripping and induced cooling in the mixing layer of the stripped cold gas. These two mechanisms contribute a comparable amount of cold gas to the host CGM. We find that the less massive satellites ($\leq 10^9 M_\odot$) not only lose all of their cold gas in a short period ($\sim$ 0.5-1 Gyr), but their stripped cold clouds also mix with the hot CGM gas and get heated up quickly. However, stellar feedback from these less massive satellites can hugely alter the fate of their stripped gas. Feedback speeds up the destruction of the stripped cold clouds from these satellites by making them more diffuse with more surface area. On the other hand, the more massive satellites (LMC or SMC-like $\sim 10^{10} M_\odot$) can add cold gas to the total gas budget of the host CGM for several Gyrs.

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arXiv2023

A unified model for the co-evolution of galaxies and their circumgalactic medium: the relative roles of turbulence and atomic cooling physics

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 co-evolve 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 classical $M_{\rm vir}\sim10^{11}M_{\odot}$ dwarfs, while Milky Way-mass halos undergo the transition at $z\approx0.5$. We see a similar transition in the simulations though it is more gradual, likely reflecting radial dependence and multi-phase gas not captured by our model. We discuss these and other limitations of the model and possible future extensions.

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arXiv2023

DUVET Survey: Mapping Outflows in the Metal-Poor Starburst Mrk 1486

We present a method to characterize star-formation driven outflows from edge-on galaxies and apply this method to the metal-poor starburst galaxy, Mrk 1486. Our method uses the distribution of emission line flux (from H$β$ and [OIII] 5007) to identify the location of the outflow and measure the extent above the disk, the opening angle, and the transverse kinematics. We show that this simple technique recovers a similar distribution of the outflow without requiring complex modelling of line-splitting or multi-Gaussian components, and is therefore applicable to lower spectral resolution data. In Mrk 1486 we observe an asymmetric outflow in both the location of the peak flux and total flux from each lobe. We estimate an opening angle of $17-37^{\circ}$ depending on the method and assumptions adopted. Within the minor axis outflows, we estimate a total mass outflow rate of $\sim2.5$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$, which corresponds to a mass loading factor of $η=0.7$. We observe a non-negligible amount of flux from ionized gas outflowing along the edge of the disk (perpendicular to the biconical components), with a mass outflow rate $\sim0.9$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$. Our results are intended to demonstrate a method that can be applied to high-throughput, low spectral resolution observations, such as narrow band filters or low spectral resolution IFS that may be more able to recover the faint emission from outflows.

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arXiv2023

TuRMoiL of Survival: A Unified Survival Criterion for Cloud-Wind Interactions

Cloud-wind interactions play an important role in long-lived multiphase flows in many astrophysical contexts. When this interaction is primarily mediated by hydrodynamics and radiative cooling, the survival of clouds can be phrased in terms of the comparison between a timescale that dictates the evolution of the cloud-wind interaction, (the dynamical time-scale $τ_{\rm dyn}$) and the relevant cooling timescale $τ_{\rm cool}$. Previously proposed survival criteria, which can disagree by large factors about the size of the smallest surviving clouds, differ in both their choice of $τ_{\rm cool}$ and (to a lesser extent) $τ_{\rm dyn}$. Here we present a new criterion which agrees with a previously proposed empirical formulae but is based on simple physical principles. The key insight is that clouds can grow if they are able to mix and cool gas from the hot wind faster than it advects by the cloud. Whereas prior criteria associate $τ_{\rm dyn}$ with the cloud crushing timescale, our new criterion links it to the characteristic cloud-crossing timescale of a hot-phase fluid element, making it more physically consistent with shear-layer studies. We develop this insight into a predictive expression and validate it with hydrodynamic ENZO-E simulations of ${\sim}10^4\, {\rm K}$, pressure-confined clouds in hot supersonic winds, exploring, in particular, high wind/cloud density contrasts, where disagreements are most pronounced. Finally, we illustrate how discrepancies among previous criteria primarily emerged due to different choices of simulation conditions and cooling properties, and discuss how they can be reconciled.

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arXiv2023

The Anatomy of a Turbulent Radiative Mixing Layer: Insights from an Analytic Model with Turbulent Conduction and Viscosity

Turbulent Radiative Mixing Layers (TRMLs) form at the interface of cold, dense gas and hot, diffuse gas in motion with each other. TRMLs are ubiquitous in and around galaxies on a variety of scales, including galactic winds and the circumgalactic medium. They host the intermediate temperature gases that are efficient in radiative cooling, thus play a crucial role in controlling the cold gas supply, phase structure, and spectral features of galaxies. In this work, we develop an intuitive analytic 1.5 dimensional model for TRMLs that includes a simple parameterization of the effective turbulent conductivity and viscosity and a piece-wise power-law cooling curve. Our analytic model reproduces the mass flux, total cooling, and phase structure of 3D simulations of TRMLs at a fraction of the computational cost. It also reveals essential insights into the physics of TRMLs, particularly the importance of the viscous dissipation of relative kinetic energy in balancing radiative cooling as the shear Mach number approaches unity. This dissipation takes place both in the intermediate temperature phase, which reduces the enthalpy flux from the hot phase, and in the cold phase, which enhances radiative cooling. Additionally, our model provides a fast and easy way of computing the column density and surface brightness of TRMLs, which can be directly linked to observations.

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arXiv2023

Taming the TuRMoiL: The Temperature Dependence of Turbulence in Cloud-Wind Interactions

Turbulent radiative mixing layers (TRMLs) play an important role in many astrophysical contexts where cool ($\lesssim 10^4$ K) clouds interact with hot flows (e.g., galactic winds, high velocity clouds, infalling satellites in halos and clusters). The fate of these clouds (as well as many of their observable properties) is dictated by the competition between turbulence and radiative cooling; however, turbulence in these multiphase flows remains poorly understood. We have investigated the emergent turbulence arising in the interaction between clouds and supersonic winds in hydrodynamic ENZO-E simulations. In order to obtain robust results, we employed multiple metrics to characterize the turbulent velocity, $v_{\rm turb}$. We find four primary results, when cooling is sufficient for cloud survival. First, $v_{\rm turb}$ manifests clear temperature dependence. Initially, $v_{\rm turb}$ roughly matches the scaling of sound speed on temperature. In gas hotter than the temperature where cooling peaks, this dependence weakens with time until $v_{\rm turb}$ is constant. Second, the relative velocity between the cloud and wind initially drives rapid growth of $v_{\rm turb}$. As it drops (from entrainment), $v_{\rm turb}$ starts to decay before it stabilizes at roughly half its maximum. At late times cooling flows appear to support turbulence. Third, the magnitude of $v_{\rm turb}$ scales with the ratio between the hot phase sound crossing time and the minimum cooling time. Finally, we find tentative evidence for a length-scale associated with resolving turbulence. Under-resolving this scale may cause violent shattering and affect the cloud's large-scale morphological properties.

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arXiv2022

The structure and composition of multiphase galactic winds in a Large Magellanic Cloud mass simulated galaxy

We present the first results from a high resolution simulation with a focus on galactic wind driving for an isolated galaxy with a halo mass of $\sim 10^{11}$ M$_{\odot}$ (similar to the Large Magellanic Cloud) and a total gas mass of $\sim 6 \times 10^{8}$ M$_{\odot}$, resulting in $\sim 10^{8}$ gas cells at $\sim 4$ M$_{\odot}$ mass resolution. We adopt a resolved stellar feedback model with non-equilibrium cooling and heating, including photoelectric heating and photo-ionizing radiation, as well as supernovae (SNe), coupled to the second order meshless finite mass (MFM) method for hydrodynamics. These features make this the largest resolved-ISM galaxy model run to date. We find mean star formation rates around $0.05$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ and evaluate typical time averaged loading factors for mass ($η_\mathrm{M}$ $\sim$ 1.0, in good agreement with recent observations) and energy ($η_\mathrm{E}$ $\sim$ 0.01). The bulk of the mass of the wind is transported by the warm ($T < 5 \times 10^5$K) phase, while there is a similar amount of energy transported in the warm and the hot phases ($T > 5 \times 10^5$K). We find an average opening angle of 30 degrees for the wind, decreasing with higher altitude above the midplane. The wind mass loading is decreasing (flat) for the warm (hot) phase as a function of the star formation surface rate density $Σ_{\rm SFR}$, while the energy loading shows inverted trends with $Σ_{\rm SFR}$, decreasing for the warm wind and increasing for the hot wind, although with very shallow slopes. These scalings are in good agreement with previous simulations of resolved wind driving in the multi-phase ISM.

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arXiv2022

Regulation of Star Formation by a Hot Circumgalactic Medium

Galactic outflows driven by supernovae (SNe) are thought to be a powerful regulator of a galaxy's star-forming efficiency. Mass, energy, and metal outflows ($η_M$, $η_E$, and $η_Z$, here normalized by the star formation rate, the SNe energy and metal production rates, respectively) shape galaxy properties by both ejecting gas and metals out of the galaxy and by heating the circumgalactic medium (CGM), preventing future accretion. Traditionally, models have assumed that galaxies self-regulate by ejecting a large fraction of the gas which enters the interstellar medium (ISM), even though such high mass-loadings are in growing tension with observations. To better understand how the relative importance of ejective (i.e. high mass-loading) vs preventative (i.e. high energy-loading) feedback affects the present-day properties of galaxies, we develop a simple gas-regulator model of galaxy evolution, where the stellar mass, ISM, and CGM are modeled as distinct reservoirs which exchange mass, metals, and energy at different rates within a growing halo. Focusing on the halo mass range from $10^{10}$ to $10^{12} M_{\odot}$, we demonstrate that, with reasonable parameter choices, we can reproduce the stellar-to-halo mass relation and the ISM-to-stellar mass relation with low mass-loaded ($η_M \sim 0.1-10$) but high energy-loaded ($η_E \sim 0.1-1$) winds, with self-regulation occurring primarily through heating and cooling of the CGM. We show that the model predictions are robust against changes to the mass-loading of outflows but are quite sensitive to our choice of the energy-loading, preferring $η_E \sim 1$ for the lowest mass halos and $\sim 0.1$ for Milky Way-like halos.

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