arXiv subjects

Eliot Quataert

Publications and source records attributed to Eliot Quataert.

At least 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

An instability of feedback regulated star formation in galactic nuclei

We examine the stability of feedback-regulated star formation (SF) in galactic nuclei and contrast it to SF in extended discs. In galactic nuclei the dynamical time becomes shorter than the time over which feedback from young stars evolves. We argue analytically that the balance between stellar feedback and gravity is unstable in this regime. We study this using numerical simulations with pc-scale resolution and explicit stellar feedback taken from stellar evolution models. The nuclear gas mass, young stellar mass, and SFR within the central ~100 pc (the short-timescale regime) never reach steady-state, but instead go through dramatic, oscillatory cycles. Stars form until a critical surface density of young stars is present (such that feedback overwhelms gravity), at which point they begin to expel gas from the nucleus. Since the dynamical times are shorter than the stellar evolution times, the stars do not die as the gas is expelled, but continue to push, triggering a runaway quenching of star formation in the nucleus. However the expelled gas is largely not unbound from the galaxy, but goes into a galactic fountain which re-fills the nuclear region after the massive stars from the previous burst cycle have died off (~50 Myr timescale). On large scales (>1 kpc), the galaxy-scale gas content and SFR is more stable. We examine the consequences of this episodic nuclear star formation for the Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) relation: while a tight KS relation exists on ~1 kpc scales in good agreement with observations, the scatter increases dramatically in smaller apertures centered on galactic nuclei.

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arXiv2016

The formation of massive, quiescent galaxies at cosmic noon

The cosmic noon (z~1.5-3) marked a period of vigorous star formation for most galaxies. However, about a third of the more massive galaxies at those times were quiescent in the sense that their observed stellar populations are inconsistent with rapid star formation. The reduced star formation activity is often attributed to gaseous outflows driven by feedback from supermassive black holes, but the impact of black hole feedback on galaxies in the young Universe is not yet definitively established. We analyze the origin of quiescent galaxies with the help of ultra-high resolution, cosmological simulations that include feedback from stars but do not model the uncertain consequences of black hole feedback. We show that dark matter halos with specific accretion rates below ~0.25-0.4 per Gyr preferentially host galaxies with reduced star formation rates and red broad-band colors. The fraction of such halos in large dark matter only simulations matches the observed fraction of massive quiescent galaxies (~10^10-10^11 Msun). This strongly suggests that halo accretion rate is the key parameter determining which massive galaxies at z~1.5-3 become quiescent. Empirical models that connect galaxy and halo evolution, such as halo occupation distribution or abundance matching models, assume a tight link between galaxy properties and the masses of their parent halos. These models will benefit from adding the specific accretion rate of halos as a second model parameter.

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arXiv2016

Supernova Feedback in an Inhomogeneous Interstellar Medium

Supernova (SN) feedback is one of the key processes shaping the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies. SNe contribute to (and in some cases may dominate) driving turbulence in the ISM and accelerating galactic winds. Modern cosmological simulations have sufficient resolution to capture the main structures in the ISM of galaxies, but are typically still not capable of explicitly resolving all of the small-scale stellar feedback processes, including the expansion of supernova remnants (SNRs). We perform a series of controlled three-dimensional hydrodynamic (adaptive mesh refinement) simulations of single SNRs expanding in an inhomogeneous density field with statistics motivated by those of the turbulent ISM. We use these to quantify the momentum and thermal energy injection from SNe as a function of spatial scale and the density, metallicity, and structure of the ambient medium. We develop a series of analytic formulae that we fit to the simulations. These formulae can be used as a basis for a more predictive sub-resolution model for SN feedback for galaxy formation simulations. We then use simulations of multiple, stochastically driven SNe that resolve the key phases of SNRs to test the sub-resolution model, and show that it accurately captures the turbulent kinetic energy and thermal energy in the ISM. By contrast, proposed SN feedback models in the literature based on `delayed cooling' significantly overpredict the late-time thermal energy and momentum in SNRs.

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arXiv2015

An Origin for Multi-Phase Gas in Galactic Winds and Halos

The physical origin of high velocity cool gas seen in galactic winds remains unknown. Following Wang (1995), we argue that radiative cooling in initially hot thermally-driven outflows can produce fast neutral atomic and photoionized cool gas. The inevitability of adiabatic cooling from the flow's initial 10^7-10^8K temperature and the shape of the cooling function for T<10^7K imply that outflows with hot gas mass-loss rate relative to star formation rate of beta=Mdot_hot/Mdot_star > 0.5 cool radiatively on scales ranging from the size of the energy injection region to tens of kpc. We highlight the beta and star formation rate surface density dependence of the column density, emission measure, radiative efficiency, and velocity. At r_cool, the gas produces X-ray and then UV/optical line emission with a total power bounded by 10^{-2} L_star if the flow is powered by steady-state star formation with luminosity L_star. The wind is thermally unstable at r_cool, potentially leading to a multi-phase medium. Cooled winds decelerate significantly in the extended gravitational potential of galaxies. The cool gas precipitated from hot outflows may explain its prevalence in galactic halos. We forward a picture of winds whereby cool clouds are initially accelerated by the ram pressure of the hot flow, but are rapidly shredded by hydrodynamical instabilities, thereby increasing beta, seeding radiative and thermal instability, and cool gas rebirth. If the cooled wind shocks as it sweeps up the circumgalactic medium, its cooling time is short, thus depositing cool gas far out into the halo. Finally, conduction can dominate energy transport in low-beta hot winds, leading to flatter temperature profiles than otherwise expected, potentially consistent with X-ray observations of some starbursts.

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arXiv2015

Evolution of Accretion Discs around a Kerr Black Hole using Extended Magnetohydrodynamics

Black holes accreting well below the Eddington rate are believed to have geometrically thick, optically thin, rotationally supported accretion discs in which the Coulomb mean free path is large compared to $GM/c^2$. In such an environment, the disc evolution may differ significantly from ideal magnetohydrodynamic predictions. We present non-ideal global axisymmetric simulations of geometrically thick discs around a rotating black hole. The simulations are carried out using a new code ${\rm\it grim}$, which evolves a covariant extended magnetohydrodynamics model derived by treating non-ideal effects as a perturbation of ideal magnetohydrodynamics. Non-ideal effects are modeled through heat conduction along magnetic field lines, and a difference between the pressure parallel and perpendicular to the field lines. The model relies on an effective collisionality in the disc from wave-particle scattering and velocity-space (mirror and firehose) instabilities. We find that the pressure anisotropy grows to match the magnetic pressure, at which point it saturates due to the mirror instability. The pressure anisotropy produces outward angular momentum transport with a magnitude comparable to that of MHD turbulence in the disc, and a significant increase in the temperature in the wall of the jet. We also find that, at least in our axisymmetric simulations, conduction has a small effect on the disc evolution because (1) the heat flux is constrained to be parallel to the field and the field is close to perpendicular to temperature gradients, and (2) the heat flux is choked by an increase in effective collisionality associated with the mirror instability.

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arXiv2015

Gusty, gaseous flows of FIRE: galactic winds in cosmological simulations with explicit stellar feedback

We present an analysis of the galaxy-scale gaseous outflows from the FIRE (Feedback in Realistic Environments) simulations. This suite of hydrodynamic cosmological zoom simulations resolves formation of star-forming giant molecular clouds to $z=0$, and features an explicit stellar feedback model on small scales. Our simulations reveal that high redshift galaxies undergo bursts of star formation followed by powerful gusts of galactic outflows that eject much of the ISM and temporarily suppress star formation. At low redshift, however, sufficiently massive galaxies corresponding to L*-progenitors develop stable disks and switch into a continuous and quiescent mode of star formation that does not drive outflows far into the halo. Mass-loading factors for winds in L*-progenitors are $η\approx 10$ at high redshift, but decrease to $η\ll 1$ at low redshift. Although lower values of $η$ are expected as halos grow in mass over time, we show that the strong suppression of outflows with decreasing redshift cannot be explained by mass evolution alone. Circumgalactic outflow velocities are variable and broadly distributed, but typically range between one and three times the circular velocity of the halo. Much of the ejected material builds a reservoir of enriched gas within the circumgalactic medium, some of which could be later recycled to fuel further star formation. However, a fraction of the gas that leaves the virial radius through galactic winds is never regained, causing most halos with mass $M_h \le 10^{12} M_{\odot}$ to be deficient in baryons compared to the cosmic mean by $z=0$.

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arXiv2015

Forged in FIRE: cusps, cores, and baryons in low-mass dwarf galaxies

We present ultra-high resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of $M_*\simeq10^{4-6.3}M_{\odot}$ dwarf galaxies that form within $M_{v}=10^{9.5-10}M_{\odot}$ dark matter halos. Our simulations rely on the FIRE implementation of star formation feedback and were run with high enough force and mass resolution to directly resolve stellar and dark matter structure on the ~200 pc scales of interest for classical and ultra-faint dwarfs in the Local Group. The resultant galaxies sit on the $M_*$ vs. $M_{v}$ relation required to match the Local Group stellar mass function. They have bursty star formation histories and also form with half-light radii and metallicities that broadly match those observed for local dwarfs at the same stellar mass. We demonstrate that it is possible to create a large (~1 kpc) dark matter core in a cosmological simulation of an $M_*\simeq10^{6.5}M_{\odot}$ dwarf galaxy that resides within an $M_{v}=10^{10}M_{\odot}$ halo -- precisely the scale of interest for resolving the Too Big to Fail problem. However, these large cores are not ubiquitous and appear to correlate closely with the star formation histories of the dwarfs: dark matter cores are largest in systems that form their stars late ($z\lesssim2$), after the early epoch of cusp building mergers has ended. Our $M_*\simeq10^4M_{\odot}$ dwarf retains a cuspy dark matter halo density profile that matches almost identically that of a dark-matter only run of the same system. Despite forming in a field environment, this very low mass dwarf has observable properties that match closely to those of ultra-faint satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, including a uniformly old stellar population (>10 Gyr). Though ancient, most of the stars in our ultra-faint form after reionization; the UV field acts mainly to suppress fresh gas accretion, not to boil away gas that is already present in the proto-dwarf.

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arXiv2015

The Origin and Evolution of the Galaxy Mass-Metallicity Relation

We use high-resolution cosmological zoom-in simulations from the Feedback in Realistic Environment (FIRE) project to study the galaxy mass-metallicity relations (MZR) from z=0-6. These simulations include explicit models of the multi-phase ISM, star formation, and stellar feedback. The simulations cover halo masses Mhalo=10^9-10^13 Msun and stellar mass Mstar=10^4-10^11 Msun at z=0 and have been shown to produce many observed galaxy properties from z=0-6. For the first time, our simulations agree reasonably well with the observed mass-metallicity relations at z=0-3 for a broad range of galaxy masses. We predict the evolution of the MZR from z=0-6 as log(Zgas/Zsun)=12+log(O/H)-9.0=0.35[log(Mstar/Msun)-10]+0.93 exp(-0.43 z)-1.05 and log(Zstar/Zsun)=[Fe/H]-0.2=0.40[log(Mstar/Msun)-10]+0.67 exp(-0.50 z)-1.04, for gas-phase and stellar metallicity, respectively. Our simulations suggest that the evolution of MZR is associated with the evolution of stellar/gas mass fractions at different redshifts, indicating the existence of a universal metallicity relation between stellar mass, gas mass, and metallicities. In our simulations, galaxies above Mstar=10^6 Msun are able to retain a large fraction of their metals inside the halo, because metal-rich winds fail to escape completely and are recycled into the galaxy. This resolves a long-standing discrepancy between "sub-grid" wind models (and semi-analytic models) and observations, where common sub-grid models cannot simultaneously reproduce the MZR and the stellar mass functions.

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arXiv2015

Electron Thermodynamics in GRMHD Simulations of Low-Luminosity Black Hole Accretion

Simple assumptions made regarding electron thermodynamics often limit the extent to which general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations can be applied to observations of low-luminosity accreting black holes. We present, implement, and test a model that self-consistently evolves an electron entropy equation and takes into account the effects of spatially varying electron heating and relativistic anisotropic thermal conduction along magnetic field lines. We neglect the back-reaction of electron pressure on the dynamics of the accretion flow. Our model is appropriate for systems accreting at $\ll 10^{-5}$ of the Eddington rate, so radiative cooling by electrons can be neglected. It can be extended to higher accretion rates in the future by including electron cooling and proton-electron Coulomb collisions. We present a suite of tests showing that our method recovers the correct solution for electron heating under a range of circumstances, including strong shocks and driven turbulence. Our initial applications to axisymmetric simulations of accreting black holes show that (1)~physically-motivated electron heating rates yield electron temperature distributions significantly different from the constant electron to proton temperature ratios assumed in previous work, with higher electron temperatures concentrated in the coronal region between the disc and the jet; (2)~electron thermal conduction significantly modifies the electron temperature in the inner regions of black hole accretion flows if the effective electron mean free path is larger than the local scale-height of the disc (at least for the initial conditions and magnetic field configurations we study). The methods developed in this work are important for producing more realistic predictions for the emission from accreting black holes such as Sagittarius A* and M87; these applications will be explored in future work.

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arXiv2015

Super-Eddington Stellar Winds Driven by Near-Surface Energy Deposition

We develop analytic and numerical models of the properties of super-Eddington stellar winds, motivated by phases in stellar evolution when super-Eddington energy deposition (via, e.g., unstable fusion, wave heating, or a binary companion) heats a region near the stellar surface. This appears to occur in luminous blue variables (LBVs), Type IIn supernovae progenitors, classical novae, and X-ray bursts. We show that when the wind kinetic power exceeds Eddington, the photons are trapped and behave like a fluid. Convection does not play a significant role in the wind energy transport. The wind properties depend on the ratio of a characteristic speed in the problem vc ~ (Edot G)^{1/5} (where Edot is the heating rate) to the stellar escape speed near the heating region vesc(r_h). For vc > vesc(r_h) the wind kinetic power at large radii Edot_w ~ Edot. For vc < vesc(r_h), most of the energy is used to unbind the wind material and thus Edot_w < Edot. Multidimensional hydrodynamic simulations without radiation diffusion using FLASH and one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations with radiation diffusion using MESA are in good agreement with the analytic predictions. The photon luminosity from the wind is itself super-Eddington but in many cases the photon luminosity is likely dominated by `internal shocks' in the wind. We discuss the application of our models to eruptive mass loss from massive stars and argue that the wind models described here can account for the broad properties of LBV outflows and the enhanced mass loss in the years prior to Type IIn core-collapse supernovae.

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arXiv2015

Local Radiation Hydrodynamic Simulations of Massive Star Envelopes at the Iron Opacity Peak

We perform three dimensional radiation hydrodynamic simulations of the structure and dynamics of radiation dominated envelopes of massive stars at the location of the iron opacity peak. One dimensional hydrostatic calculations predict an unstable density inversion at this location, whereas our simulations reveal a complex interplay of convective and radiative transport whose behavior depends on the ratio of the photon diffusion time to the dynamical time. The latter is set by the ratio of the optical depth per pressure scale height, $τ_0$, to $τ_c=c/c_g$, where $c_g \approx$ 50 km/s is the isothermal sound speed in the gas alone. When $τ_0 \gg τ_c$, convection reduces the radiation acceleration and removes the density inversion. The turbulent energy transport in the simulations agrees with mixing length theory and provides its first numerical calibration in the radiation dominated regime. When $τ_0 \ll τ_c$, convection becomes inefficient and the turbulent energy transport is negligible. The turbulent velocities exceed $c_g$, driving shocks and large density fluctuations that allow photons to preferentially diffuse out through low-density regions. However, the effective radiation acceleration is still larger than the gravitational acceleration so that the time average density profile contains a modest density inversion. In addition, the simulated envelope undergoes large-scale oscillations with periods of a few hours. The turbulent velocity field may affect the broadening of spectral lines and therefore stellar rotation measurements in massive stars, while the time variable outer atmosphere could lead to variations in their mass loss and stellar radius.

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arXiv2015

The spin rate of pre-collapse stellar cores: wave-driven angular momentum transport in massive stars

The core rotation rates of massive stars have a substantial impact on the nature of core-collapse supernovae and their compact remnants. We demonstrate that internal gravity waves (IGW), excited via envelope convection during a red supergiant phase or during vigorous late time burning phases, can have a significant impact on the rotation rate of the pre-SN core. In typical ($10 \, M_\odot \lesssim M \lesssim 20 \, M_\odot$) supernova progenitors, IGW may substantially spin down the core, leading to iron core rotation periods $P_{\rm min,Fe} \gtrsim 30 \, {\rm s}$. Angular momentum (AM) conservation during the supernova would entail minimum NS rotation periods of $P_{\rm min,NS} \gtrsim 3 \, {\rm ms}$. In most cases, the combined effects of magnetic torques and IGW AM transport likely lead to substantially longer rotation periods. However, the stochastic influx of AM delivered by IGW during shell burning phases inevitably spin up a slowly rotating stellar core, leading to a maximum possible core rotation period. We estimate maximum iron core rotation periods of $P_{\rm max,Fe} \lesssim 5 \times 10^3 \, {\rm s}$ in typical core-collapse supernova progenitors, and a corresponding spin period of $P_{\rm max, NS} \lesssim 500 \, {\rm ms}$ for newborn neutron stars. This is comparable to the typical birth spin periods of most radio pulsars. Stochastic spin-up via IGW during shell O/Si burning may thus determine the initial rotation rate of most neutron stars. For a given progenitor, this theory predicts a Maxwellian distribution in pre-collapse core rotation frequency that is uncorrelated with the spin of the overlying envelope.

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arXiv2015

The Difficulty of Getting High Escape Fractions of Ionizing Photons from High-redshift Galaxies: a View from the FIRE Cosmological Simulations

We present a series of high-resolution (20-2000 Msun, 0.1-4 pc) cosmological zoom-in simulations at z~6 from the Feedback In Realistic Environment (FIRE) project. These simulations cover halo masses 10^9-10^11 Msun and rest-frame ultraviolet magnitude Muv = -9 to -19. These simulations include explicit models of the multi-phase ISM, star formation, and stellar feedback, which produce reasonable galaxy properties at z = 0-6. We post-process the snapshots with a radiative transfer code to evaluate the escape fraction (fesc) of hydrogen ionizing photons. We find that the instantaneous fesc has large time variability (0.01%-20%), while the time-averaged fesc over long time-scales generally remains ~5%, considerably lower than the estimate in many reionization models. We find no strong dependence of fesc on galaxy mass or redshift. In our simulations, the intrinsic ionizing photon budgets are dominated by stellar populations younger than 3 Myr, which tend to be buried in dense birth clouds. The escaping photons mostly come from populations between 3-10 Myr, whose birth clouds have been largely cleared by stellar feedback. However, these populations only contribute a small fraction of intrinsic ionizing photon budgets according to standard stellar population models. We show that fesc can be boosted to high values, if stellar populations older than 3 Myr produce more ionizing photons than standard stellar population models (as motivated by, e.g., models including binaries). By contrast, runaway stars with velocities suggested by observations can enhance fesc by only a small fraction. We show that "sub-grid" star formation models, which do not explicitly resolve star formation in dense clouds with n >> 1 cm^-3, will dramatically over-predict fesc.

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arXiv2015

The Diversity of Transients from Magnetar Birth

Strongly-magnetized, rapidly-rotating neutron stars are contenders for the central engines of both long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) and hydrogen-poor super-luminous supernovae (SLSNe-I). Models for typical (~minute long) LGRBs invoke magnetars with high dipole magnetic fields (Bd > 1e15 G) and short spin-down times, while models for SLSNe-I invoke neutron stars with weaker fields and longer spin-down times of weeks. Here we identify a transition region in the space of Bd and birth period for which a magnetar can power both a long GRB and a luminous SN. In particular, we show that a 2 ms period magnetar with a spin-down time of ~1e4 s can explain the observations of both the ultra-long GRB 111209 and its associated luminous SN2011kl. For magnetars with longer spin down times, we predict even longer duration (~1e6 s) GRBs and brighter supernovae, a correlation that extends to Swift J2058+05 (commonly interpreted as a tidal disruption event). We further show that previous estimates of the maximum rotational energy of a proto-magnetar were too conservative and energies up to Emax ~1-2e53 erg are possible. The magnetar model can therefore comfortably accommodate the extreme energy requirements recently posed by the most luminous supernova ASASSN-15lh. The high ionization flux from a pulsar wind nebula powering ASASSN-15lh may lead to an "ionization break-out" X-ray burst over the coming months, which would be accompanied by an abrupt change in the optical spectrum. We conclude by briefly contrasting millisecond magnetar and black hole models for SLSNe and ultra-long GRBs.

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arXiv2015

An Extended Magnetohydrodynamics Model for Relativistic Weakly Collisional Plasmas

Black holes that accrete far below the Eddington limit are believed to accrete through a geometrically thick, optically thin, rotationally supported plasma that we will refer to as a radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF). RIAFs are typically collisionless in the sense that the Coulomb mean free path is large compared to $GM/c^2$, and relativistically hot near the event horizon. In this paper we develop a phenomenological model for the plasma in RIAFs, motivated by the application to sources such as Sgr A* and M87. The model is derived using Israel-Stewart theory, which considers deviations up to second order from thermal equilibrium, but modified for a magnetized plasma. This leads to thermal conduction along magnetic field lines and a difference in pressure, parallel and perpendicular to the field lines (which is equivalent to anisotrotropic viscosity). In the non-relativistic limit, our model reduces to the widely used Braginskii theory of magnetized, weakly collisional plasmas. We compare our model to the existing literature on dissipative relativistic fluids, describe the linear theory of the plasma, and elucidate the physical meaning of the free parameters in the model. We also describe limits of the model when the conduction is saturated and when the viscosity implies a large pressure anisotropy. In future work, the formalism developed in this paper will be used in numerical models of RIAFs to assess the importance of non-ideal processes for the dynamics and radiative properties of slowly accreting black holes.

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arXiv2015

The Properties of G-modes in Layered Semi-Convection

We study low frequency waves that propagate in a region of layered semi-convection. Layered semi-convection is predicted to be present in stellar and planetary interiors and can significantly modify the rate of thermal and compositional mixing. We derive a series of analytical dispersion relations for plane-parallel layered semi-convection in the Boussinesq approximation using a matrix transfer formalism. We find that like a continuously stratified medium, a semi-convective staircase -- in which small convective regions are separated by sharp density jumps -- supports internal gravity waves (g-modes). When the wavelength is much longer than the distance between semi-convective steps, these behave nearly like g-modes in a continuously stratified medium. However, the g-mode period spacing in a semi-convective region is systematically {\em smaller} than in a continuously stratified medium, and it decreases with decreasing mode frequency. When the g-mode wavelength becomes comparable to the distance between semi-convective steps, the g-mode frequencies deviate significantly from those of a continuously stratified medium (the frequencies are higher). G-modes with vertical wavelengths smaller than the distance between semi-convective steps are evanescent and do not propagate in the staircase. Thus, there is a lower cutoff frequency for a given horizontal wavenumber. We generalize our results to gravito-inertial waves relevant for rapidly rotating stars and planets. Finally, we assess the prospects for detecting layered semi-convection using astero/planetary seismology.

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arXiv2015

Numerical Simulations of Internal Wave Generation by Convection in Water

Water's density maximum at 4C makes it well suited to study internal gravity wave excitation by convection: an increasing temperature profile is unstable to convection below 4C, but stably stratified above 4C. We present numerical simulations of a water-like fluid near its density maximum in a two dimensional domain. We successfully model the damping of waves in the simulations using linear theory, provided we do not take the weak damping limit typically used in the literature. In order to isolate the physical mechanism exciting internal waves, we use the novel spectral code Dedalus to run several simplified model simulations of our more detailed simulation. We use data from the full simulation as source terms in two simplified models of internal wave excitation by convection: bulk excitation by convective Reynolds stresses, and interface forcing via the mechanical oscillator effect. We find excellent agreement between the waves generated in the full simulation and the simplified simulation implementing the bulk excitation mechanism. The interface forcing simulations over excite high frequency waves because they assume the excitation is by the "impulsive" penetration of plumes, which spreads energy to high frequencies. However, we find the real excitation is instead by the "sweeping" motion of plumes parallel to the interface. Our results imply that the bulk excitation mechanism is a very accurate heuristic for internal wave generation by convection.

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arXiv2015

The creation and persistence of a misaligned gas disc in a simulated early-type galaxy

Massive early-type galaxies commonly have gas discs which are kinematically misaligned with the stellar component. These discs feel a torque from the stars and the angular momentum vectors are expected to align quickly. We present results on the evolution of a misaligned gas disc in a cosmological simulation of a massive early-type galaxy from the Feedback In Realistic Environments project. This galaxy experiences a merger which, together with a strong galactic wind, removes most of the original gas disc. The galaxy subsequently reforms a gas disc through accretion of cold gas, but it is initially 120 degrees misaligned with the stellar rotation axis. This misalignment persists for about 2 Gyr before the gas-star misalignment angle drops below 20 degrees. The time it takes for the gaseous and stellar components to align is much longer than previously thought, because the gas disc is accreting a significant amount of mass for about 1.5 Gyr after the merger, during which the angular momentum change induced by accreted gas dominates over that induced by stellar torques. Once the gas accretion rate has decreased sufficiently, the gas disc decouples from the surrounding halo gas and realigns with the stellar component in about 6 dynamical times. During the late evolution of the misaligned gas disc, the centre aligns faster than the outskirts, resulting in a warped disc. We discuss the observational consequences of the long survival of our misaligned gas disc and how our results can be used to calibrate merger rate estimates from observed gas misalignments.

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