arXiv subjects

Oliver Zier

Publications and source records attributed to Oliver Zier.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2026

Overmassive black holes in the early Universe can be explained by gas-rich, dark matter-dominated galaxies

JWST has revealed the apparent evolution of the black hole (BH)-stellar mass ($M_\mathrm{BH}$-$M_\rm{\ast}$) relation in the early Universe, while remaining consistent with the BH-dynamical mass ($M_\mathrm{BH}$-$M_\mathrm{dyn}$) relation. We predict BH masses for $z>3$ galaxies in the high-resolution THESAN-ZOOM simulations by assuming the $M_\mathrm{BH}$-$M_\mathrm{dyn}$ relation is fundamental. Even without live BH modelling, our approach reproduces the JWST-observed $M_\mathrm{BH}$ distribution, including overmassive BHs relative to the local $M_\mathrm{BH}$-$M_\mathrm{\ast}$ relation. We find that $M_\mathrm{BH}/M_\mathrm{\ast}$ declines with $M_\mathrm{\ast}$, evolving from $\sim$0.1 at $M_\mathrm{\ast}=10^6\,\mathrm{M_\odot}$ to $\sim$0.01 at $M_\mathrm{\ast}=10^{10.5}\,\mathrm{M_\odot}$. This trend reflects the dark matter ($f_\mathrm{DM}$) and gas fractions ($f_\mathrm{gas}$), which decrease with $M_\mathrm{\ast}$ but show little redshift evolution down to $z=3$, resulting in small $M_\mathrm{\ast}/M_\mathrm{dyn}$ ratios and thus overmassive BHs in low-mass galaxies. We use $\texttt{Prospector}$-derived stellar masses and star-formation rates to infer $f_\mathrm{gas}$ across 48,022 galaxies in JADES at $3<z<9$, finding excellent agreement with our simulation. Our results demonstrate that overmassive BHs would naturally result from a fundamental $M_\mathrm{BH}$-$M_\mathrm{dyn}$ relation and be typical of the gas-rich, dark matter-dominated nature of low-mass, high-redshift galaxies. Such overmassive BHs may strongly influence early galaxy formation, and we caution that our approach does not include the self-consistent BH-galaxy co-evolution required for a complete understanding.

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arXiv2026

The THESAN-ZOOM project: The Hidden Neighbours of OI Absorbers during Reionization

Metal absorbers represent a powerful probe of galaxy feedback and reionization, as highlighted by both observational and theoretical results showing an increased abundance of low-ionised metal species at higher redshifts. The origin of such absorbers is currently largely unknown because of the low number of galaxy counterparts detected, suggesting that they might be surrounded by low-mass faint sources below the current detection threshold. We use the THESAN-ZOOM radiation hydrodynamic simulations to investigate the connection between properties of neutral oxygen (OI) absorbers and galaxies across redshift $z = 5 - 8$. We find that the virialised gas in haloes becomes progressively ionised with cosmic time, leading to a decrease of $\approx 0.2$ in the covering fraction of neutral oxygen, while the total oxygen covering fraction remains constant. Comparing the OI line density obtained from our covering fractions with the trend suggested by blind quasar observations, we determine that the observable absorbers ($N_{\rm OI} \gtrsim 10^{13}\,\text{cm}^{-2}$) are not confined to haloes: at $z \geq 5$ the majority ($\gtrsim 60\%$) arise beyond $R_{\rm{vir}}$, consistent with recent JWST results. Close to OI absorbers, low-mass galaxies ($M_\star \leq 10^8\,\rm{M}_\odot$) are more commonly found, while, depending on the simulated environment, we do not exclude the possibility of nearby more massive star-forming sources ($\geq 5\,\text{M}_\odot\,\text{yr}^{-1}$) similar to those suggested by the latest ALMA observations. These results establish OI absorbers as sensitive tracers of the evolving ionisation structure around faint galaxies to be probed by forthcoming deep spectroscopic surveys.

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arXiv2025

Formation of protostars and the launching of stellar core outflows with moving-mesh radiation non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics

We present an implementation of radiative transfer with flux-limited diffusion (FLD) for the moving-mesh code {\small AREPO} and use the method in a physical model for the formation of protostars with non-ideal radiation-magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD). We follow previous work in splitting the additional terms to the hydrodynamical equations arising from the inclusion of radiation into terms to be integrated explicitly and implicitly, as the diffusion and coupling terms would impose very restrictive timestep criteria. We validate the scheme with standard test problems for radiation diffusion, matter-gas coupling, and radiative shocks from the literature. Our implementation is compatible with local timestepping, which often presents problems for implicit schemes, and we found very good agreement with results obtained with global timesteps. We present an example application of the new implementation to the collapse of a $1\,{\rm M}_\odot$ molecular cloud core to a second Larson core modelled with radiation non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics. A high-velocity jet with v$_{\rm rad}> 10\, {\rm km\,s^{-1}}$ is self-consistently launched from the second core, nested within the first core, which produces a lower-velocity magnetorotational outflow. We observe magnetic field amplification up to more than $\vert \mathbf{B}\vert_{\rm max}>10^5$ G in the second core, which is surrounded by a small (<0.5 au) disk. This application demonstrates the robustness of our scheme in multi-scale and high-resolution simulations on arbitrary meshes and, as such, the model can be readily used for further simulations of protostar formation at high resolution.

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arXiv2025

High-redshift AGN population in radiation-hydrodynamics simulations

High-redshift active galactic nuclei (AGN) have long been recognized as key probes of early black hole growth and galaxy evolution. However, modeling this population remains difficult due to the wide range of luminosities and black hole masses involved, and the high computational costs of capturing the hydrodynamic response of gas and evolving radiation fields on-the-fly. In this study, we present a new suite of simulations based on the IllustrisTNG galaxy formation framework, enhanced with on-the-fly radiative transfer, to examine AGN at high redshift (z > 5) in a protocluster environment extracted from the MillenniumTNG simulation. We focus on the co-evolution of black holes and their host galaxies, as well as the radiative impact on surrounding intergalactic gas. The model predicts that black holes form in overdense regions and lie below the local black hole-stellar mass relation, with stellar mass assembly preceding significant black hole accretion. Ionizing photons are primarily produced by stars, which shape the morphology of ionized regions and drive reionization. Given the restrictive black hole growth in the original IllustrisTNG model, we reduce the radiative efficiency from 0.2 to 0.1, resulting in higher accretion rates for massive black holes, more bursty growth, and earlier AGN-driven quenching. However, the resulting AGN remain significantly fainter than observed high-redshift quasars. As such, to incorporate this missing population, we introduce a quasar boosted model, in which we artificially boost the AGN luminosity. This results in strong effects on the surrounding gas, most notably a proximity effect, and large contributions to He ionization.

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arXiv2025

Introducing the THESAN-ZOOM project: radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of high-redshift galaxies with a multi-phase interstellar medium

We introduce the THESAN-ZOOM project, a comprehensive suite of high-resolution zoom-in simulations of $14$ high-redshift ($z>3$) galaxies selected from the THESAN simulation volume. This sample encompasses a diverse range of halo masses, with $M_\mathrm{halo} \approx 10^8 - 10^{13}~\mathrm{M}_\odot$ at $z=3$. At the highest-resolution, the simulations achieve a baryonic mass of $142~\mathrm{M}_\odot$ and a gravitational softening length of $17~\mathrm{cpc}$. We employ a state-of-the-art multi-phase interstellar medium (ISM) model that self-consistently includes stellar feedback, radiation fields, dust physics, and low-temperature cooling through a non-equilibrium thermochemical network. Our unique framework incorporates the impact of patchy reionization by adopting the large-scale radiation field topology from the parent THESAN simulation box rather than assuming a spatially uniform UV background. In total, THESAN-ZOOM comprises $60$ simulations, including both fiducial runs and complementary variations designed to investigate the impact of numerical and physical parameters on galaxy properties. The fiducial simulation set reproduces a wealth of high-redshift observational data such as the stellar-to-halo-mass relation, the star-forming main sequence, the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation, and the mass-metallicity relation. While our simulations slightly overestimate the abundance of low-mass and low-luminosity galaxies they agree well with observed stellar and UV luminosity functions at the higher mass end. Moreover, the star-formation rate density closely matches the observational estimates from $z=3-14$. These results indicate that the simulations effectively reproduce many of the essential characteristics of high-redshift galaxies, providing a realistic framework to interpret the exciting new observations from JWST.

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arXiv2025

The Cosmic Rush Hour: Rapid Formation of Bright, Massive, Disky, Star-Forming Galaxies as Signatures of Early-Universe Physics

Early JWST observations have revealed a high-redshift universe more vibrant than predicted by canonical galaxy-formation models within $Λ$CDM, showing an excess of ultraviolet(UV)-bright, massive, and morphologically mature galaxies. Departures from $Λ$CDM prior to recombination can imprint signatures on non-linear structure formation at high redshift. In this paper, we investigate one such scenario - Early Dark Energy, originally proposed to resolve the Hubble tension - and its implications for these high-redshift challenges. We present the first large-scale cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of these models. Modifications to the pre-recombination expansion history accelerate early structure formation and produce UV luminosity and stellar mass functions in excellent agreement with JWST measurements, requiring essentially no additional calibrations. Predictions converge to $Λ$CDM at lower redshifts ($z \lesssim 3$), thereby preserving all successes of $Λ$CDM. This model also accelerates the emergence of stellar and gaseous disks, increasing their number densities by $\sim 0.5$ dex at $z\simeq 6$-7, primarily due to the higher abundance of massive galaxies. Taken together, these results demonstrate how early-universe physics can simultaneously reconcile multiple high-redshift challenges and the Hubble tension while retaining the core achievements of $Λ$CDM. This opens a pathway to constraining a broad class of beyond-$Λ$CDM models with forthcoming observations.

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arXiv2025

Protostellar disks in their natural habitat -- the formation of protostars and their accretion disks in the turbulent and magnetized interstellar medium

We present simulations of the supernova-driven turbulent interstellar medium (ISM) in a simulation domain of volume $(256\,{\rm pc})^3$ within which we resolve the formation of protostellar accretion disks and their stellar cores to spatial scales of $\sim 10^{-4}$ au, using the moving-mesh code {\small AREPO}. We perform simulations with no magnetic fields, ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and ambipolar diffusion, and compare the resulting first Larson cores and their associated structures, including the accretion disks, their location within the larger-scale structure and the streamers connecting these. We find that disks of sizes $10-100\,{\rm au}$ form early in the simulations without magnetic fields, while there are no disks larger than 10 au with ideal MHD. Ambipolar diffusion causes large disks to form in a subset of cases (two out of six cores), and generally reduces the strength of outflows, which are seen to play a central role. When they are able to carry away significant angular momentum, they prevent the formation of a rotationally supported disk. Magnetic fields strengths grow from $0.1 - 1$ mG in the protostellar core to more than 10 G in the first Larson core in all simulations with ideal MHD. The rotationally supported disks which form can have rotation speeds $> 1$ km s$^{-1}$ even out to further than 100 au from the centre, become gravitationally unstable and form complex spiral substructures with Toomre $Q < 1$. We conclude that the impact of magnetic fields and non-ideal MHD on the formation of protostellar disks is substantial in realistic formation scenarios from the turbulent ISM.

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arXiv2025

The THESAN-ZOOM project: Long-term imprints of external reionization on galaxy evolution

We investigate the impact of ionizing external ultraviolet (UV) radiation on low-mass haloes ($M_{h}<10^{10}M_\odot$) at high redshift using $1140M_\odot$ baryonic resolution zoom-in simulations of seven regions from the THESAN-ZOOM project. We compare three simulation sets that differ in the treatment of external UV radiation: one employing a uniform UV background initiated at z=10.6 in addition to radiation transport for local sources, another with the same background starting at z=5.5, and the default configuration in which the large-scale radiation field from the parent THESAN-1 simulation box acts as a boundary condition. The multi-phase interstellar medium (ISM) model, combined with its high mass resolution, allows us to resolve all star-forming haloes and capture the back-reaction of ionizing radiation on galaxy properties during the epoch of reionization. When present, external UV radiation efficiently unbinds gas in haloes with masses below $10^9M_\odot$ and suppresses subsequent star formation. As a result, in simulations with early reionization, minihaloes fail to form stars from pristine gas, leading to reduced metal enrichment of gas later accreted by more massive haloes. Consequently, haloes with masses below $10^{10}M_\odot$ at all simulated epochs (z>3) exhibit lower metallicities and altered metallicity distributions. The more accurate and realistic shielding from external UV radiation, achieved through self-consistent radiative transfer, permits the existence of a cold but low-density gas phase down to z=3. These findings highlight the importance of capturing a patchy reionization history in high-resolution simulations targeting high-redshift galaxy formation. We conclude that at minimum, a semi-numerical model that incorporates spatially inhomogeneous reionization and a non-uniform metallicity floor is necessary to accurately emulate metal enrichment in minihaloes.

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arXiv2025

The THESAN-ZOOM project: Population III star formation continues until the end of reionization

Population III (Pop III) stars are the first stars in the Universe, forming from pristine, metal-free gas and marking the end of the cosmic dark ages. Their formation rate is expected to sharply decline after redshift $z \approx 15$ due to metal enrichment from previous generations of stars. In this paper, we analyze 14 zoom-in simulations from the THESAN-ZOOM project, which evolves different haloes from the THESAN-1 cosmological box down to redshift $z=3$. The high mass resolution of up to $142 M_\odot$ per cell in the gas phase combined with a multiphase model of the interstellar medium (ISM), radiative transfer including Lyman-Werner radiation, dust physics, and a non-equilibrium chemistry network that tracks molecular hydrogen, allows for a realistic but still approximate description of Pop III star formation in pristine gas. Our results show that Pop III stars continue to form in low-mass haloes ranging from $10^6 M_\odot$ to $10^9 M_\odot$ until the end of reionization at around $z=5$. At this stage, photoevaporation suppresses further star formation in these minihaloes, which subsequently merge into larger central haloes. Hence, the remnants of Pop III stars primarily reside in the satellite galaxies of larger haloes at lower redshifts. While direct detection of Pop III stars remains elusive, these results hint that lingering primordial star formation could leave observable imprints or indirectly affect the properties of high-redshift galaxies. Explicit Pop III feedback and specialized initial mass function modelling within the THESAN-ZOOM framework would further help interpreting emerging constraints from the James Webb Space Telescope.

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arXiv2025

The THESAN-ZOOM project: Star formation efficiency from giant molecular clouds to galactic scale in high-redshift starbursts

Star formation in galaxies is inherently complex, involving the interplay of physical processes over a hierarchy of spatial scales. In this work, we investigate the connection between global (galaxy-scale) and local (cloud-scale) star formation efficiencies (SFEs) at high redshifts ($z\gtrsim 3$), using the state-of-the-art cosmological zoom-in simulation suite THESAN-ZOOM. We find that the galaxy-scale average SFE, $\langle ε^{\rm gal}_{\rm ff} \rangle$, scales with $M_{\rm halo}^{1/3}\,(1+z)^{1/2} \sim V_{\rm vir}$, consistent with expectations from feedback-regulated models. On cloud scales, we identify giant molecular clouds (GMCs) in a broad sample of high-redshift starbursts spanning a wide range of halo masses and redshifts. Star formation in these systems is predominantly hosted by filamentary GMCs embedded in a dense and highly turbulent interstellar medium (ISM). GMCs exhibit remarkably universal properties, including mass function, size, turbulence, and surface density, regardless of the environment in which they are identified. The global gas depletion time (and the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation) is determined by the GMC mass fraction in the ISM, while the cloud-scale SFE shows little variation. In particular, we find a nearly constant gas surface density of $Σ_{\rm GMC} \approx 70\,{\rm M}_{\odot}\,{\rm pc}^{-2}$ across different host galaxies. Nevertheless, we identify two regimes where phases with high SFE can arise. First, stars may form efficiently in the shock fronts generated by feedback from a preceding starburst. Second, the increasing background dark matter surface density with redshift may contribute to the gravitational potential of clouds at $z \gtrsim 8$ and confine them in high-SFE phases over extended periods.

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arXiv2025

The THESAN-ZOOM project: Star-formation efficiencies in high-redshift galaxies

Recent JWST observations hint at unexpectedly intense cosmic star-formation in the early Universe, often attributed to enhanced star-formation efficiencies (SFEs). Here, we analyze the SFE in THESAN-ZOOM, a novel zoom-in radiation-hydrodynamic simulation campaign of high-redshift ($z \gtrsim 3$) galaxies employing a state-of-the-art galaxy formation model resolving the multiphase interstellar medium (ISM). The halo-scale SFE ($ε^{\ast}_{\rm halo}$) - the fraction of baryons accreted by a halo that are converted to stars - follows a double power-law dependence on halo mass, with a mild redshift evolution above $M_{\rm halo} \gtrsim 10^{9.5}\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$. The power-law slope is roughly $1/3$ at large halo masses, consistent with expectations when gas outflows are momentum-driven. At lower masses, the slope is roughly $2/3$ and is more aligned with the energy-driven outflow scenario. $ε^{\ast}_{\rm halo}$ is a factor of $2-3$ larger than commonly assumed in empirical galaxy-formation models at $M_{\rm halo} \lesssim 10^{11}\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$. On galactic (kpc) scales, the Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) relation of neutral gas is universal in THESAN-ZOOM, following $Σ_{\rm SFR} \propto Σ_{\rm gas}^2$, indicative of a turbulent energy balance in the ISM maintained by stellar feedback. The rise of $ε^{\ast}_{\rm halo}$ with halo mass can be traced primarily to increasing gas surface densities in massive galaxies, while the underlying KS relation and neutral, star-forming gas fraction remain unchanged. Although the increase in $ε^{\ast}_{\rm halo}$ with redshift is relatively modest, it is sufficient to explain the large observed number density of UV-bright galaxies at $z \gtrsim 12$. However, reproducing the brightest sources at $M_{\rm UV} \lesssim -21$ may require extrapolating the SFE beyond the halo mass range directly covered by THESAN-ZOOM.

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arXiv2025

Moving-mesh non-ideal magnetohydrodynamical simulations of the collapse of cloud cores to protostars

Magnetic fields have been shown both observationally and through theoretical work to be an important factor in the formation of protostars and their accretion disks. Accurate modelling of the evolution of the magnetic field in low-ionization molecular cloud cores requires the inclusion of non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) processes, specifically Ohmic and ambipolar diffusion and the Hall effect. These have a profound influence on the efficiency of magnetic removal of angular momentum from protostellar disks and simulations that include them can avoid the `magnetic-braking catastrophe' in which disks are not able to form. However, the impact of the Hall effect, in particular, is complex and remains poorly studied. In this work, we perform a large suite of simulations of the collapse of cloud cores to protostars with several non-ideal MHD chemistry models and initial core geometries using the moving-mesh code {\small AREPO}. We find that the efficiency of angular momentum removal is significantly reduced with respect to ideal MHD, in line with previous results. The Hall effect has a varied influence on the evolution of the disk which depends on the initial orientation of the magnetic field. This extends to the outflows seen in a subset of the models, where this effect can act to enhance or suppress them and open up new outflow channels. We conclude, in agreement with a subset of the previous literature, that the Hall effect is the dominant non-ideal MHD process in some collapse scenarios and thus should be included in simulations of protostellar disk formation.

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arXiv2024

The THESAN project: tracking the expansion and merger histories of ionized bubbles during the Epoch of Reionization

The growth of ionized hydrogen bubbles in the intergalactic medium around early luminous objects is a fundamental process during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). In this study, we analyze bubble sizes and their evolution using the state-of-the-art THESAN radiation-hydrodynamics simulation suite, which self-consistently models radiation transport and realistic galaxy formation throughout a large (95.5 cMpc)^3 volume of the Universe. Analogous to the accretion and merger tree histories employed in galaxy formation simulations, we characterize the growth and merger rates of ionized bubbles by focusing on the spatially-resolved redshift of reionization. By tracing the chronological expansion of bubbles, we partition the simulation volume and construct a natural ionization history. We identify three distinct stages of ionized bubble growth: (1) initial slow expansion around the earliest ionizing sources seeding formation sites, (2) accelerated growth through percolation as bubbles begin to merge, and (3) rapid expansion dominated by the largest bubble. Notably, we find that the largest bubble emerges by z=9-10, well before the midpoint of reionization. This bubble becomes dominant during the second growth stage, and defines the third stage by rapidly expanding to eventually encompass the remainder of the simulation volume and becoming one of the few bubbles actively growing. Additionally, we observe a sharp decline in the number of bubbles with radii around ~10 cMpc compared to smaller sizes, indicating a characteristic scale in the final segmented bubble size distribution. Overall, these chronologically sequenced spatial reconstructions offer crucial insights into the physical mechanisms driving ionized bubble growth during the EoR and provide a framework for interpreting the structure and evolution of reionization itself.

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arXiv2024

The THESAN project: galaxy sizes during the epoch of reionization

We investigate galaxy sizes at redshift $z\gtrsim 6$ with the cosmological radiation-magneto-hydrodynamic simulation suite THESAN(-HR). These simulations simultaneously capture the reionization of the large-scale intergalactic medium and resolved galaxy properties. The intrinsic size ($r^{\ast}_{1/2}$) of simulated galaxies increases moderately with stellar mass at $M_{\ast} \lesssim 10^{8}\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$ and decreases fast at larger masses, resulting in a hump feature at $M_{\ast}\sim 10^{8}\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$ that is insensitive to redshift. Low-mass galaxies are in the initial phase of size growth and are better described by a spherical shell model with feedback-driven gas outflows competing with the cold inflows. In contrast, massive galaxies fit better with the disk formation model. They generally experience a phase of rapid compaction and gas depletion, likely driven by internal disk instability rather than external processes. We identify four compact quenched galaxies in the $(95.5\,{\rm cMpc})^{3}$ volume of THESAN-1 at $z\simeq 6$, and their quenching follows reaching a characteristic stellar surface density akin to the massive compact galaxies at cosmic noon. Compared to observations, we find that the median UV effective radius ($R^{\rm UV}_{\rm eff}$) of simulated galaxies is at least three times larger than the observed ones at $M_{\ast}\lesssim 10^{9}\,{\rm M}_{\odot}$ or $M_{\rm UV}\gtrsim -20$ at $6 \lesssim z \lesssim 10$. This inconsistency, related to the hump feature of the intrinsic size--mass relation, persists across many other cosmological simulations with different galaxy formation models and demonstrates the potential of using galaxy morphology to constrain the physics of galaxy formation at high redshifts.

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arXiv2024

Adapting AREPO-RT for Exascale Computing: GPU Acceleration and Efficient Communication

Radiative transfer (RT) is a crucial ingredient for self-consistent modelling of numerous astrophysical phenomena across cosmic history. However, on-the-fly integration into radiation-hydrodynamics (RHD) simulations is computationally demanding, particularly due to the stringent time-stepping conditions and increased dimensionality inherent in multi-frequency collisionless Boltzmann physics. The emergence of exascale supercomputers, equipped with extensive CPU cores and GPU accelerators, offers new opportunities for enhancing RHD simulations. We present a novel optimization of AREPO-RT explicitly tailored for such high-performance computing environments. We implement a novel node-to-node communication strategy that utilizes shared memory to substitute intra-node communication with direct memory access. Furthermore, combining multiple inter-node messages into a single message substantially enhances network bandwidth utilization and performance for large-scale simulations on modern supercomputers. The single-message node-to-node approach also improves performance on smaller-scale machines with less optimized networks. Furthermore, by transitioning all RT-related calculations to GPUs, we achieve a significant computational speedup of around 15 for standard benchmarks compared to the original CPU implementation. As a case study, we perform cosmological RHD simulations of the Epoch of Reionization, employing a similar setup as the THESAN project. In this context, RT becomes sub-dominant such that even without modifying the core AREPO codebase, there is an overall threefold improvement in efficiency. The advancements presented here have broad implications, potentially transforming the complexity and scalability of future simulations for a wide variety of astrophysical studies.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2023

Non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics on a moving mesh II: Hall effect

In this work we extend the non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) solver in the moving mesh code AREPO to include the Hall effect. The core of our algorithm is based on an estimation of the magnetic field gradients by a least-square reconstruction on the unstructured mesh, which we also used in the companion paper for Ohmic and ambipolar diffusion. In an extensive study of simulations of a magnetic shock, we show that without additional magnetic diffusion our algorithm for the Hall effect becomes unstable at high resolution. We can however stabilise it by artificially increasing the Ohmic resistivity, $η_{\rm OR}$, so that it satisfies the condition $η_{\rm OR} \geq η_{\rm H} /5$, where $η_{\rm H}$ is the Hall diffusion coefficient. Adopting this solution we find second order convergence for the C-shock and are also able to accurately reproduce the dispersion relation of the whistler waves. As a first application of the new scheme, we simulate the collapse of a magnetised cloud with constant Hall parameter $η_{\rm H}$ and show that, depending on the sign of $η_{\rm H}$, the magnetic braking can either be weakened or strengthened by the Hall effect. The quasi-Lagrangian nature of the moving mesh method used here automatically increases the resolution in the forming core, making it well suited for more realistic studies with non-constant magnetic diffusivities in the future.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2023

Simulating cold shear flows on a moving mesh

Rotationally supported, cold, gaseous disks are ubiquitous in astrophysics and appear in a diverse set of systems, such as protoplanetary disks, accretion disks around black holes, or large spiral galaxies. Capturing the gas dynamics accurately in these systems is challenging in numerical simulations due to the low sound speed compared to the bulk velocity of the gas, the resolution limitations of full disk models, and the fact that numerical noise can easily source spurious growth of fluid instabilities if not suppressed sufficiently well, negatively interfering with real physical instabilities present in such disks (like the magneto-rotational instability). Here we implement the so-called shearing-box approximation in the moving-mesh code AREPO in order to facilitate achieving high resolution in local regions of differentially rotating disks and to address these problems. While our new approach offers manifest translational invariance across the shearing-box boundaries and offers continuous local adaptivity, we demonstrate that the unstructured mesh of AREPO introduces unwanted levels of "grid-noise" in the default version of the code. We show that this can be rectified by high-order integrations of the flux over mesh boundaries. With our new techniques we obtain highly accurate results for shearing-box calculations of the magneto-rotational instability that are superior to other Lagrangian techniques. These improvements are also of value for other applications of the code that feature strong shear flows.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2023

Simulating the magnetorotational instability on a moving mesh with the shearing box approximation

The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is an important process in sufficiently ionized accretion disks, as it can create turbulence that acts as an effective viscosity, mediating angular momentum transport. Due to its local nature, it is often analyzed in the shearing box approximation with Eulerian methods, which otherwise would suffer from large advection errors in global disk simulations. In this work, we report on an extensive study that applies the quasi-Lagrangian, moving-mesh code AREPO, combined with the Dedner cleaning scheme to control deviations from $\nabla\cdot B=0$, to the problem of magnetized flows in shearing boxes. We find that we can resolve the analytical linear growth rate of the MRI with mean background magnetic field well. In the zero net flux case, there is a threshold value for the strength of the divergence cleaning above which the turbulence eventually dies out, and in contrast to previous Eulerian simulations, the strength of the MRI does not decrease with increasing resolution. In boxes with larger vertical aspect ratio we find a mean-field dynamo, as well as an active shear current effect that can sustain MRI turbulence for at least 200 orbits. In stratified simulations, we obtain an active $αω$ dynamo and the characteristic butterfly diagram. Our results compare well with previous results obtained with static grid codes such as ATHENA. We thus conclude that AREPO represents an attractive approach for global disk simulations due to its quasi-Lagrangian nature, and for shearing box simulations with large density variations due to its continuously adaptive resolution.

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