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Lars Hernquist

Publications and source records attributed to Lars Hernquist.

At least 379 records · Page 21Linked to original sources

The Network Behind the Cosmic Web

The concept of the cosmic web, viewing the Universe as a set of discrete galaxies held together by gravity, is deeply engrained in cosmology. Yet, little is known about the most effective construction and the characteristics of the underlying network. Here we explore seven network construction algorithms that use various galaxy properties, from their location, to their size and relative velocity, to assign a network to galaxy distributions provided by both simulations and observations. We find that a model relying only on spatial proximity offers the best correlations between the physical characteristics of the connected galaxies. We show that the properties of the networks generated from simulations and observations are identical, unveiling a deep universality of the cosmic web.

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Discriminating Topology in Galaxy Distributions using Network Analysis

(abridged) The large-scale distribution of galaxies is generally analyzed using the two-point correlation function. However, this statistic does not capture the topology of the distribution, and it is necessary to resort to higher order correlations to break degeneracies. We demonstrate that an alternate approach using network analysis can discriminate between topologically different distributions that have similar two-point correlations. We investigate two galaxy point distributions, one produced by a cosmological simulation and the other by a Lévy walk. For the cosmological simulation, we adopt the redshift $z = 0.58$ slice from Illustris (Vogelsberger et al. 2014A) and select galaxies with stellar masses greater than $10^8$$M_\odot$. The two point correlation function of these simulated galaxies follows a single power-law, $ξ(r) \sim r^{-1.5}$. Then, we generate Lévy walks matching the correlation function and abundance with the simulated galaxies. We find that, while the two simulated galaxy point distributions have the same abundance and two point correlation function, their spatial distributions are very different; most prominently, \emph{filamentary structures}, absent in Lévy fractals. To quantify these missing topologies, we adopt network analysis tools and measure diameter, giant component, and transitivity from networks built by a conventional friends-of-friends recipe with various linking lengths. Unlike the abundance and two point correlation function, these network quantities reveal a clear separation between the two simulated distributions; therefore, the galaxy distribution simulated by Illustris is not a Lévy fractal quantitatively. We find that the described network quantities offer an efficient tool for discriminating topologies and for comparing observed and theoretical distributions.

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Large-scale mass distribution in the Illustris simulation

Observations at low redshifts thus far fail to account for all of the baryons expected in the Universe according to cosmological constraints. A large fraction of the baryons presumably resides in a thin and warm-hot medium between the galaxies, where they are difficult to observe due to their low densities and high temperatures. Cosmological simulations of structure formation can be used to verify this picture and provide quantitative predictions for the distribution of mass in different large-scale structure components. Here we study the distribution of baryons and dark matter at different epochs using data from the Illustris simulation. We identify regions of different dark matter density with the primary constituents of large-scale structure, allowing us to measure mass and volume of haloes, filaments and voids. At redshift zero, we find that 49 % of the dark matter and 23 % of the baryons are within haloes more massive than the resolution limit of $2\times 10^8$ M$_\odot$. The filaments of the cosmic web host a further 45 % of the dark matter and 46 % of the baryons. The remaining 31 % of the baryons reside in voids. The majority of these baryons have been transported there through active galactic nuclei feedback. We note that the feedback model of Illustris is too strong for heavy haloes, therefore it is likely that we are overestimating this amount. Categorizing the baryons according to their density and temperature, we find that 17.8 % of them are in a condensed state, 21.6 % are present as cold, diffuse gas, and 53.9 % are found in the state of a warm-hot intergalactic medium.

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Recoiling black holes: prospects for detection and implications of spin alignment

Supermassive black hole (BH) mergers produce powerful gravitational wave (GW) emission. Asymmetry in this emission imparts a recoil kick to the merged BH, which can eject the BH from its host galaxy altogether. Recoiling BHs could be observed as offset active galactic nuclei (AGN). Several candidates have been identified, but systematic searches have been hampered by large uncertainties regarding their observability. By extracting merging BHs and host galaxy properties from the Illustris cosmological simulations, we have developed a comprehensive model for recoiling AGN. Here, for the first time, we model the effects of BH spin alignment and recoil dynamics based on the gas-richness of host galaxies. We predict that if BH spins are not highly aligned, seeing-limited observations could resolve offset AGN, making them promising targets for all-sky surveys. For randomly-oriented spins, less than about 10 spatially-offset AGN may be detectable in HST-COSMOS, and > 10^3 could be found with Pan-STARRS, LSST, Euclid, and WFIRST. Nearly a thousand velocity-offset AGN are predicted within the SDSS footprint; the rarity of large broad-line offsets among SDSS quasars is likely due in part to selection effects but suggests that spin alignment plays a role in suppressing recoils. Nonetheless, in our most physically motivated model where alignment occurs only in gas-rich mergers, hundreds of offset AGN should be found in all-sky surveys. Our findings strongly motivate a dedicated search for recoiling AGN.

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The diverse evolutionary paths of simulated high-z massive, compact galaxies to z=0

Massive quiescent galaxies have much smaller physical sizes at high redshift than today. The strong evolution of galaxy size may be caused by progenitor bias, major and minor mergers, adiabatic expansion, and/or renewed star formation, but it is difficult to test these theories observationally. Herein, we select a sample of 35 massive, compact galaxies ($M_* = 1-3 \times 10^{11}$ M$_\odot$, $M_*/R^{1.5} > 10^{10.5}$ M$_\odot$/kpc$^{1.5}$) at $z=2$ in the cosmological hydrodynamical simulation Illustris and trace them forward to $z=0$ to uncover their evolution and identify their descendants. By $z=0$, the original factor of 3 difference in stellar mass spreads to a factor of 20. The dark matter halo masses similarly spread from a factor of 5 to 40. The galaxies' evolutionary paths are diverse: about half acquire an ex-situ envelope and are the core of a more massive descendant, a third survive undisturbed and gain very little mass, 15% are consumed in a merger with a more massive galaxy, and a small remainder are thoroughly mixed by major mergers. The galaxies grow in size as well as mass, and only $\sim$10% remain compact by $z=0$. The majority of the size growth is driven by the acquisition of ex-situ mass. The most massive galaxies at $z=0$ are the most likely to have compact progenitors, but this trend possesses significant dispersion which precludes a direct linkage to compact galaxies at $z=2$. The compact galaxies' merger rates are influenced by their $z=2$ environments, so that isolated or satellite compact galaxies (which are protected from mergers) are the most likely to survive to the present day.

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On the Assembly of Dwarf Galaxies in Clusters and their Efficient Formation of Globular Clusters

Galaxy clusters contain a large population of low mass dwarf elliptical galaxies whose exact origin is unclear: their colors, structural properties and kinematics differ substantially from those of dwarf irregulars in the field. We use the Illustris cosmological simulation to study differences in the assembly paths of dwarf galaxies (3e8 < M_*/M_sun < 1e10) according to their environment. We find that cluster dwarfs achieve their maximum total and stellar mass on average ~ 8 and ~ 4.5 Gyr ago (or redshifts z = 1.0 and z = 0.4, respectively), around the time of infall into the clusters. In contrast, field dwarfs not subjected to environmental stripping, reach their maximum mass at redshift z = 0. This different assembly history naturally produces a color bimodality, with blue isolated dwarfs and redder cluster dwarfs exhibiting negligible star-formation today. The cessation of star formation happens over median times 3.5-5 Gyr depending on stellar mass, and shows a large scatter (~ 1-8 Gyr), with the lower values associated with starburst events that occur at infall through the virial radius or pericentric passages. We argue that such starbursts together with the early assembly of cluster dwarfs can provide a natural explanation for the higher specific frequency of globular clusters (GCs) in cluster dwarfs, as found observationally. We present a simple model for the formation and stripping of GCs that supports this interpretation. The origin of dwarf ellipticals in clusters is, therefore, consistent with an environmentally-driven evolution of field dwarf irregulars. However the z = 0 field analogs of cluster dwarf progenitors have today stellar masses a factor ~ 3 larger --a difference arising from the early truncation of star formation in cluster dwarfs.

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On the OVI Abundance in the Circumgalactic Medium of Low-Redshift Galaxies

We analyze the mass, temperature, metal enrichment, and OVI abundance of the circumgalactic medium (CGM) around $z\sim 0.2$ galaxies of mass $10^9 M_\odot <M_\bigstar < 10^{11.5} M_\odot$ in the Illustris simulation. Among star-forming galaxies, the mass, temperature, and metallicity of the CGM increase with stellar mass, driving an increase in the OVI column density profile of $\sim 0.5$ dex with each $0.5$ dex increase in stellar mass. Observed OVI column density profiles exhibit a weaker mass dependence than predicted: the simulated OVI abundance profiles are consistent with those observed for star-forming galaxies of mass $M_\bigstar = 10^{10.5-11.5} M_\odot$, but underpredict the observed OVI abundances by $\gtrsim 0.8$ dex for lower-mass galaxies. We suggest that this discrepancy may be alleviated with additional heating of the abundant cool gas in low-mass halos, or with increased numerical resolution capturing turbulent/conductive mixing layers between CGM phases. Quenched galaxies of mass $M_\bigstar = 10^{10.5-11.5} M_\odot$ are found to have 0.3-0.8 dex lower OVI column density profiles than star-forming galaxies of the same mass, in qualitative agreement with the observed OVI abundance bimodality. This offset is driven by AGN feedback, which quenches galaxies by heating the CGM and ejecting significant amounts of gas from the halo. Finally, we find that the inclusion of the central galaxy's radiation field may enhance the photoionization of the CGM within $\sim 50$ kpc, further increasing the predicted OVI abundance around star-forming galaxies.

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The Illustris Simulation: Public Data Release

We present the full public release of all data from the Illustris simulation project. Illustris is a suite of large volume, cosmological hydrodynamical simulations run with the moving-mesh code Arepo and including a comprehensive set of physical models critical for following the formation and evolution of galaxies across cosmic time. Each simulates a volume of (106.5 Mpc)^3 and self-consistently evolves five different types of resolution elements from a starting redshift of z=127 to the present day, z=0. These components are: dark matter particles, gas cells, passive gas tracers, stars and stellar wind particles, and supermassive black holes. This data release includes the snapshots at all 136 available redshifts, halo and subhalo catalogs at each snapshot, and two distinct merger trees. Six primary realizations of the Illustris volume are released, including the flagship Illustris-1 run. These include three resolution levels with the fiducial "full" baryonic physics model, and a dark matter only analog for each. In addition, we provide four distinct, high time resolution, smaller volume "subboxes". The total data volume is ~265 TB, including ~800 full volume snapshots and ~30,000 subbox snapshots. We describe the released data products as well as tools we have developed for their analysis. All data may be directly downloaded in its native HDF5 format. Additionally, we release a comprehensive, web-based API which allows programmatic access to search and data processing tasks. In both cases we provide example scripts and a getting-started guide in several languages: currently, IDL, Python, and Matlab. This paper addresses scientific issues relevant for the interpretation of the simulations, serves as a pointer to published and on-line documentation of the project, describes planned future additional data releases, and discusses technical aspects of the release.

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Galaxy Morphology and Star Formation in the Illustris Simulation at z=0

We study how optical galaxy morphology depends on mass and star formation rate (SFR) in the Illustris Simulation. To do so, we measure automated galaxy structures in 10808 simulated galaxies at z=0 with stellar masses 10^9.7 < M_*/M_sun < 10^12.3. We add observational realism to idealized synthetic images and measure non-parametric statistics in rest-frame optical and near-IR images from four directions. We find that Illustris creates a morphologically diverse galaxy population, occupying the observed bulge strength locus and reproducing median morphology trends versus stellar mass, SFR, and compactness. Morphology correlates realistically with rotation, following classification schemes put forth by kinematic surveys. Type fractions as a function of environment agree roughly with data. These results imply that connections among mass, star formation, and galaxy structure arise naturally from models matching global star formation and halo occupation functions when simulated with accurate methods. This raises a question of how to construct experiments on galaxy surveys to better distinguish between models. We predict that at fixed halo mass near 10^12 M_sun, disc-dominated galaxies have higher stellar mass than bulge-dominated ones, a possible consequence of the Illustris feedback model. While Illustris galaxies at M_* ~ 10^11 M_sun have a reasonable size distribution, those at M_* ~ 10^10 M_sun have half-light radii larger than observed by a factor of two. Furthermore, at M_* ~ 10^10.5-10^11 M_sun, a relevant fraction of Illustris galaxies have distinct "ring-like" features, such that the bright pixels have an unusually wide spatial extent.

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Modeling Galactic Conformity with the Color-Halo Age Relation in the Illustris Simulation

Comparisons between observational surveys and galaxy formation models find that the mass of dark matter haloes can largely explain galaxies' stellar mass. However, it remains uncertain whether additional environmental variables, generally referred to as assembly bias, are necessary to explain other galaxy properties. We use the Illustris Simulation to investigate the role of assembly bias in producing galactic conformity by considering 18,000 galaxies with $M_{stellar}$ > $2 \times 10^9$ $M_{\odot}$. We find a significant signal of galactic conformity: out to distances of about 10 Mpc, the mean red fraction of galaxies around redder galaxies is higher than around bluer galaxies at fixed stellar mass. Dark matter haloes exhibit an analogous conformity signal, in which the fraction of haloes formed at earlier times (old haloes) is higher around old haloes than around younger ones at fixed halo mass. A plausible interpretation of galactic conformity can be given as a combination of the halo conformity signal with the galaxy color-halo age relation: at fixed stellar mass, particularly toward the low-mass end, Illustris' galaxy colors correlate with halo age, with the reddest galaxies (often satellites) being preferentially found in the oldest haloes. In fact, we can explain the galactic conformity effect with a simple semi-empirical model, by assigning stellar mass based on halo mass (abundance matching) and by assigning galaxy color based on halo age (age matching). We investigate other interpretations for the galactic conformity, particularly its dependence on the isolation criterion and on the central-satellite information. Regarding comparison to observations, we conclude that the adopted selection/isolation criteria, projection effects, and stacking techniques can have a significant impact on the measured amplitude of the conformity signal.

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Hydrogen Reionization in the Illustris universe

Hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation such as the Illustris simulations have progressed to a state where they approximately reproduce the observed stellar mass function from high to low redshift. This in principle allows self-consistent models of reionization that exploit the accurate representation of the diffuse gas distribution together with the realistic growth of galaxies provided by these simulations, within a representative cosmological volume. In this work, we apply and compare two radiative transfer algorithms implemented in a GPU-accelerated code to the $106.5\,{\rm Mpc}$ wide volume of Illustris in postprocessing in order to investigate the reionization transition predicted by this model. We find that the first generation of galaxies formed by Illustris is just about able to reionize the universe by redshift $z\sim 7$, provided quite optimistic assumptions about the escape fraction and the resolution limitations are made. Our most optimistic model finds an optical depth of $τ\simeq 0.065$, which is in very good agreement with recent Planck 2015 determinations. Furthermore, we show that moment-based approaches for radiative transfer with the M1 closure give broadly consistent results with our angular-resolved radiative transfer scheme. In our favoured fiducial model, 20\% of the hydrogen is reionized by redshift $z=9.20$, and this rapidly climbs to 80\% by redshift $z=6.92$. It then takes until $z=6.24$ before 99\% of the hydrogen is ionized. On average, reionization proceeds `inside-out' in our models, with a size distribution of reionized bubbles that progressively features regions of ever larger size while the abundance of small bubbles stays fairly constant.

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An analysis of the evolving comoving number density of galaxies in hydrodynamical simulations

The cumulative comoving number-density of galaxies as a function of stellar mass or central velocity dispersion is commonly used to link galaxy populations across different epochs. By assuming that galaxies preserve their number-density in time, one can infer the evolution of their properties, such as masses, sizes, and morphologies. However, this assumption does not hold in the presence of galaxy mergers or when rank ordering is broken owing to variable stellar growth rates. We present an analysis of the evolving comoving number density of galaxy populations found in the Illustris cosmological hydrodynamical simulation focused on the redshift range $0\leq z \leq 3$. Our primary results are as follows: 1) The inferred average stellar mass evolution obtained via a constant comoving number density assumption is systematically biased compared to the merger tree results at the factor of $\sim$2(4) level when tracking galaxies from redshift $z=0$ out to redshift $z=2(3)$; 2) The median number density evolution for galaxy populations tracked forward in time is shallower than for galaxy populations tracked backward in time; 3) A similar evolution in the median number density of tracked galaxy populations is found regardless of whether number density is assigned via stellar mass, stellar velocity dispersion, or dark matter halo mass; 4) Explicit tracking reveals a large diversity in galaxies' assembly histories that cannot be captured by constant number-density analyses; 5) The significant scatter in galaxy linking methods is only marginally reduced by considering a number of additional physical and observable galaxy properties as realized in our simulation. We provide fits for the forward and backward median evolution in stellar mass and number density and discuss implications of our analysis for interpreting multi-epoch galaxy property observations.

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The Illustris simulation: the evolving population of black holes across cosmic time

We study the properties of black holes and their host galaxies across cosmic time in the Illustris simulation. Illustris is a large scale cosmological hydrodynamical simulation which resolves a (106.5 Mpc)^3 volume with more than 12 billion resolution elements and includes state-of-the-art physical models relevant for galaxy formation. We find that the black hole mass density for redshifts z = 0 - 5 and the black hole mass function at z = 0 predicted by Illustris are in very good agreement with the most recent observational constraints. We show that the bolometric and hard X-ray luminosity functions of AGN at z = 0 and 1 reproduce observational data very well over the full dynamic range probed. Unless the bolometric corrections are largely underestimated, this requires radiative efficiencies to be on average low, epsilon_r <= 0.1, noting however that in our model radiative efficiencies are degenerate with black hole feedback efficiencies. Cosmic downsizing of the AGN population is in broad agreement with the findings from X-ray surveys, but we predict a larger number density of faint AGN at high redshifts than currently inferred. We also study black hole -- host galaxy scaling relations as a function of galaxy morphology, colour and specific star formation rate. We find that black holes and galaxies co-evolve at the massive end, but for low mass, blue and star-forming galaxies there is no tight relation with either their central black hole masses or the nuclear AGN activity.

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Galactic Angular Momentum in the Illustris Simulation: Feedback and the Hubble Sequence

We study the stellar angular momentum of thousands of galaxies in the Illustris cosmological simulation, which captures gravitational and gas dynamics within galaxies, as well as feedback from stars and black holes. We find that the angular momentum of the simulated galaxies matches observations well, and in particular two distinct relations are found for late-type versus early-type galaxies. The relation for late-type galaxies corresponds to the value expected from full conservation of the specific angular momentum generated by cosmological tidal torques. The relation for early-type galaxies corresponds to retention of only ~30% of that, but we find that those early-type galaxies with low angular momentum at z=0 nevertheless reside at high redshift on the late-type relation. Some of them abruptly lose angular momentum during major mergers. To gain further insight, we explore the scaling relations in simulations where the galaxy formation physics is modified with respect to the fiducial model. We find that galactic winds with high mass-loading factors are essential for obtaining the high angular momentum relation typical for late-type galaxies, while AGN feedback largely operates in the opposite direction. Hence, feedback controls the stellar angular momentum of galaxies, and appears to be instrumental for establishing the Hubble sequence.

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Reducing noise in moving-grid codes with strongly-centroidal Lloyd mesh regularization

A method for improving the accuracy of hydrodynamical codes that use a moving Voronoi mesh is described. Our scheme is based on a new regularization scheme that constrains the mesh to be centroidal to high precision while still allowing the cells to move approximately with the local fluid velocity, thereby retaining the quasi-Lagrangian nature of the approach. Our regularization technique significantly reduces mesh noise that is attributed to changes in mesh topology and deviations from mesh regularity. We demonstrate the advantages of our method on various test problems, and note in particular improvements obtained in handling shear instabilities, mixing, and in angular momentum conservation. Calculations of adiabatic jets in which shear excites Kelvin Helmholtz instability show reduction of mesh noise and entropy generation. In contrast, simulations of the collapse and formation of an isolated disc galaxy are nearly unaffected, showing that numerical errors due to the choice of regularization do not impact the outcome in this case.

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The merger rate of galaxies in the Illustris Simulation: a comparison with observations and semi-empirical models

We have constructed merger trees for galaxies in the Illustris Simulation by directly tracking the baryonic content of subhalos. These merger trees are used to calculate the galaxy-galaxy merger rate as a function of descendant stellar mass, progenitor stellar mass ratio, and redshift. We demonstrate that the most appropriate definition for the mass ratio of a galaxy-galaxy merger consists in taking both progenitor masses at the time when the secondary progenitor reaches its maximum stellar mass. Additionally, we avoid effects from `orphaned' galaxies by allowing some objects to `skip' a snapshot when finding a descendant, and by only considering mergers which show a well-defined `infall' moment. Adopting these definitions, we obtain well-converged predictions for the galaxy-galaxy merger rate with the following main features, which are qualitatively similar to the halo-halo merger rate except for the last one: a strong correlation with redshift that evolves as $\sim (1+z)^{2.4-2.8}$, a power law with respect to mass ratio, and an increasing dependence on descendant stellar mass, which steepens significantly for descendant stellar masses greater than $\sim 2 \times 10^{11} \, {\rm M_{\odot}}$. These trends are consistent with observational constraints for medium-sized galaxies ($M_{\ast} \gtrsim 10^{10} \, {\rm M_{\odot}}$), but in tension with some recent observations of the close pair fraction for massive galaxies ($M_{\ast} \gtrsim 10^{11} \, {\rm M_{\odot}}$), which report a nearly constant or decreasing evolution with redshift. Finally, we provide a fitting function for the galaxy-galaxy merger rate which is accurate over a wide range of stellar masses, progenitor mass ratios, and redshifts.

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Zooming in on accretion - I. The structure of halo gas

We study the properties of gas in and around 10^12 solar mass halos at z=2 using a suite of high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic 'zoom' simulations. We quantify the thermal and dynamical structure of these gaseous reservoirs in terms of their mean radial distributions and angular variability along different sightlines. With each halo simulated at three levels of increasing resolution, the highest reaching a baryon mass resolution of ~10,000 solar masses, we study the interaction of filamentary inflow and the quasi-static hot halo atmosphere. We highlight the discrepancy between the spatial resolution available in the halo gas as opposed to within the galaxy itself, and find that stream morphologies become increasingly complex at higher resolution, with large coherent flows revealing density and temperature structure at progressively smaller scales. Moreover, multiple gas components co-exist at the same radius within the halo, making radially averaged analyses misleading. This is particularly true where the hot, quasi-static, high entropy halo atmosphere interacts with cold, rapidly inflowing, low entropy accretion. We investigate the process of gas virialization and identify different regimes for the heating of gas as it accretes from the intergalactic medium. Haloes at this mass have a well-defined virial shock, associated with a sharp jump in temperature and entropy at ~1.25 r_vir. The presence, radius, and radial width of this boundary feature, however, vary not only from halo to halo, but also as a function of angular direction, covering roughly ~85% of the 4pi sphere. Our findings are relevant for the proper interpretation of observations pertaining to the circumgalactic medium, including evidence for large amounts of cold gas surrounding massive haloes at intermediate redshifts.

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The impact of feedback on cosmological gas accretion

We investigate how the way galaxies acquire their gas across cosmic time in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations is modified by a comprehensive physical model for baryonic feedback processes. To do so, we compare two simulations -- with and without feedback -- both evolved with the moving mesh code AREPO. The feedback runs implement the full physics model of the Illustris simulation project, including star formation driven galactic winds and energetic feedback from supermassive blackholes. We explore: (a) the accretion rate of material contributing to the net growth of galaxies and originating directly from the intergalactic medium, finding that feedback strongly suppresses the raw, as well as the net, inflow of this "smooth mode" gas at all redshifts, regardless of the temperature history of newly acquired gas. (b) At the virial radius the temperature and radial flux of inflowing gas is largely unaffected at z=2. However, the spherical covering fraction of inflowing gas at 0.25 rvir decreases substantially, from more than 80% to less than 50%, while the rates of both inflow and outflow increase, indicative of recycling across this boundary. (c) The fractional contribution of smooth accretion to the total accretion rate is lower in the simulation with feedback, by roughly a factor of two across all redshifts. Moreover, the smooth component of gas with a cold temperature history, is entirely suppressed in the feedback run at z<1. (d) The amount of time taken by gas to cross from the virial radius to the galaxy -- the "halo transit time" -- increases in the presence of feedback by a factor of ~2-3, and is notably independent of halo mass. We discuss the possible implications of this invariance for theoretical models of hot halo gas cooling.

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