Category: Uncategorized

Mercado et al., available on arXiv

Abstract: We explore the origin of stellar metallicity gradients in simulated and observed dwarf galaxies. We use FIRE-2 cosmological baryonic zoom-in simulations of 26 isolated galaxies as well as existing observational data for 10 Local Group dwarf galaxies. Our simulated galaxies have stellar masses between 10^5.5 and 10^8.6 Msun. Whilst gas-phase metallicty gradients are generally weak in our simulated galaxies, we find that stellar metallicity gradients are common, with central regions tending to be more metal-rich than the outer parts. The strength of the gradient is correlated with galaxy-wide median stellar age, such that galaxies with younger stellar populations have flatter gradients. Stellar metallicty gradients are set by two competing processes: (1) the steady “puffing” of old, metal-poor stars by feedback-driven potential fluctuations, and (2) the accretion of extended, metal-rich gas at late times, which fuels late-time metal-rich star formation. If recent star formation dominates, then extended, metal-rich star formation washes out pre-existing gradients from the “puffing” process. We use published results from ten Local Group dwarf galaxies to show that a similar relationship between age and stellar metallicity-gradient strength exists among real dwarfs. This suggests that observed stellar metallicity gradients may be driven largely by the baryon/feedback cycle rather than by external environmental effects.

Catmabacak et al., available on arXiv

Abstract: The co-evolution of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) with their host galaxies remains to be fully explored, especially at high redshift. While often understood as a consequence of self-regulation via AGN feedback, it may also be explained by alternative SMBH accretion models. Here, we expand on previous work by studying the growth of SMBHs with the help of a large suite of cosmological zoom-in simulations (MassiveFIRE) that are part of the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. The growth of SMBHs is modeled in post-processing with different accretion models, placements, and merger treatments, and validated by comparing to on-the-fly calculations. Scaling relations predicted by the gravitational torque driven accretion (GTDA) model agree with observations at low redshift without the need for AGN feedback, in contrast to models in which the accretion rate depends strongly on SMBH mass. At high redshift, we find deviations from the local scaling relations in line with previous results. In particular, SMBHs are under-massive, presumably due to stellar feedback, but start to grow efficiently once their host galaxies reach M*∼10^10 Msun. We analyze and explain these findings in the context of a simple analytic model. Finally, we show that the predicted scaling relations depend sensitively on the efficiency of SMBH merging. These findings highlight the relevance of understanding the evolution of SMBH-galaxy scaling relations to predict the rate of gravitational wave signals from SMBH mergers across cosmic history.

Stern et al., available on arXiv

Abstract: We use the FIRE-2 cosmological simulations to study the formation of a virial temperature, quasi-static gas phase in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) at redshifts 0 < z < 5, and how the formation of this virialized phase affects the evolution of galactic discs. We demonstrate that when the halo mass crosses ~10^12 M_sun, the cooling time of shocked gas in the inner CGM (~0.1 R_vir, where R_vir is the virial radius) exceeds the local free-fall time. The inner CGM then experiences a transition from on average sub-virial temperatures (T < < T_vir), large pressure fluctuations and supersonic inflow/outflow velocities, to virial temperatures (T~T_vir), uniform pressures and subsonic velocities. This transition occurs when the outer CGM (~0.5 R_vir) is already subsonic and has a temperature ~T_vir, indicating that the longer cooling times at large radii allow the outer CGM to virialize at lower halo masses than the inner CGM. This outside-in CGM virialization scenario is in contrast with inside-out scenarios commonly envisioned based on more idealized simulations. We demonstrate that virialization of the inner CGM coincides with abrupt changes in the properties of the central galaxy and its stellar feedback: the galaxy settles into a stable rotating disc, star formation transitions from `bursty’ to `steady,’ and stellar-driven galaxy-scale outflows are suppressed. Our results hence suggest that CGM virialization is initially associated with the formation of rotation-dominated thin galactic discs, rather than with the quenching of star formation as often assumed.

Esmerian et al., available on arXiv

Abstract: We examine the thermodynamic state and cooling of the low-z Circum-Galactic Medium (CGM) in five FIRE-2 galaxy formation simulations of Milky Way-mass galaxies. We find that the CGM in these simulations is generally multiphase and dynamic, with a wide spectrum of largely nonlinear density perturbations sourced by the accretion of gas from the IGM and winds from both the central and satellite galaxies. We investigate the origin of the multiphase structure of the CGM with a particle tracking analysis and find that most of the low entropy gas has cooled from the hot halo as a result of thermal instability triggered by these perturbations. The ratio of cooling to free-fall timescales tcool/tff in the hot component of the CGM spans a wide range ~1-100 at a given radius, but exhibits approximately constant median values ~5-20 at all radii 0.1Rvir < r < Rvir. These are similar to the ~10-20 value typically adopted as the thermal instability threshold in “precipitation” models of the ICM. Consequently, a one-dimensional model based on the assumption of a constant tcool/tff and hydrostatic equilibrium approximately reproduces the simulation number density and entropy profiles, but only if it assumes the metallicity profiles taken directly from the simulations. We explicitly show that the tcool/tff value of a gas parcel in the hot component of the CGM does not predict its probability of cooling and subsequently accreting onto the central galaxy. This suggests that the value of tcool/tff is a poor predictor of thermal stability in gaseous halos in which large-amplitude density perturbations are prevalent.

Gurvich et al., available on arXiv

Abstract: Pressure balance plays a central role in models of the interstellar medium (ISM), but whether and how pressure balance is realized in a realistic multiphase ISM is not yet well understood. We address this question using a set of FIRE-2 cosmological zoom-in simulations of Milky Way-mass disk galaxies, in which a multiphase ISM is self-consistently shaped by gravity, cooling, and stellar feedback. We analyze how gravity determines the vertical pressure profile as well as how the total ISM pressure is partitioned between different phases and components (thermal, dispersion/turbulence, and bulk flows). We show that, on average and consistent with previous more idealized simulations, the total ISM pressure balances the weight of the overlying gas. Deviations from vertical pressure balance increase with increasing galactocentric radius and with decreasing averaging scale. The different phases are in rough total pressure equilibrium with one another, but with large deviations from thermal pressure equilibrium owing to kinetic support in the cold and warm phases, which dominate the total pressure near the midplane. Bulk flows (e.g., inflows and fountains) are important at a few disk scale heights, while thermal pressure from hot gas dominates at larger heights. Overall, the total midplane pressure is well-predicted by the weight of the disk gas, and we show that it also scales linearly with the star formation rate surface density (Sigma_SFR). These results support the notion that the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation arises because Sigma_SFR and the gas surface density (Sigma_g) are connected via the ISM midplane pressure.

Ma et al., available on arXiv

Abstract: We study the escape fraction of ionizing photons (f_esc) in two cosmological zoom-in simulations of galaxies in the reionization era with halo mass M_halo~10^10 and 10^11 M_sun (stellar mass M*~10^7 and 10^9 M_sun) at z=5 from the Feedback in Realistic Environments project. These simulations explicitly resolve the formation of proto-globular clusters (GCs) self-consistently, where 17-39% of stars form in bound clusters during starbursts. Using post-processing Monte Carlo radiative transfer calculations of ionizing radiation, we compute f_esc from cluster stars and non-cluster stars formed during a starburst over ~100 Myr in each galaxy. We find that the averaged f_esc over the lifetime of a star particle follows a similar distribution for cluster stars and non-cluster stars. Clusters tend to have low f_esc in the first few Myrs, presumably because they form preferentially in more extreme environments with high optical depths; the f_esc increases later as feedback starts to disrupt the natal cloud. On the other hand, non-cluster stars formed between cluster complexes or in the compressed shell at the front of a superbubble can also have high f_esc. We find that cluster stars on average have comparable f_esc to non-cluster stars. This result is robust across several star formation models in our simulations. Our results suggest that the fraction of ionizing photons from proto-GCs to cosmic reionization is comparable to the cluster formation efficiency in high-redshift galaxies and hence proto-GCs likely contribute an appreciable fraction of photons but are not the dominant sources for reionization.

Lazar et al., available on arXiv

Abstract: We analyze the cold dark matter density profiles of 54 galaxy halos simulated with FIRE-2 galaxy formation physics, each resolved within 0.5% of the halo virial radius. These halos contain galaxies with masses that range from ultra-faint dwarfs (M*~10^4.5 Msun) to the largest spirals (M*~10^11Msun) and have density profiles that are both cored and cuspy. We characterize our results using a new analytic density profile that extends the standard Einasto form to allow for a pronounced constant-density core in the resolved innermost radius. With one additional core-radius parameter, rc, this “core-Einasto” profile is able to characterize the shape and normalization of our feedback-impacted dark matter halos. In order to enable comparisons with observations, we provide fitting functions for rc and other profile parameters as a function of both M* and M(/Mhalo. In agreement with similar studies done in the literature, we find that dark matter core formation is most efficient at the characteristic stellar-mass to halo-mass ratio M*/Mhalo≃5*10^−3, or M*~10^9 Msun, with cores that are roughly the size of the galaxy half-light radius, rc~1−5 kpc. Furthermore, we find no evidence for core formation at radii >~100 pc in galaxies with M*/Mhalo<5*10^−4 or M*<~10^6 Msun. For Milky Way-size galaxies, baryonic contraction often makes halos significantly more concentrated and dense at the stellar half-light radius than dark matter only runs. However, even at the Milky Way scale, FIRE-2 galaxy formation still produces small dark matter cores of ~0.5-2 kpc in size. Recent evidence for a ~2 kpc core in the Milky Way's dark matter halo is consistent with this expectation.

Ma et al., available on arXiv

Abstract: We present the escape fraction of hydrogen ionizing photons (f_esc) from a sample of 34 high-resolution cosmological zoom-in simulations of galaxies at z>5 in the Feedback in Realistic Environments project, post-processed with a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code for ionizing radiation. Our sample consists of 8500 halos in M_vir~10^8–10^{12} M_sun (M_star~10^4–10^{10} M_sun) at z=5–12. We find the sample average increases with halo mass for M_vir~10^8–10^{9.5} M_sun, becomes nearly constant for M_vir~10^{9.5}–10^{11} M_sun, and decreases at M_vir>10^{11} M_sun. Equivalently, increases with stellar mass up to M_star~10^8 M_sun and decreases at higher masses. Even applying single-star stellar population synthesis models, we find a moderate ~0.2 for galaxies at M_star~10^8 M_sun. Nearly half of the escaped ionizing photons come from stars 1–3 Myr old and the rest from stars 3–10 Myr old. Binaries only have a modest effect, boosting by ~25–35% and the number of escaped photons by 60–80%. Most leaked ionizing photons are from vigorously star-forming regions that usually contain a feedback-driven kpc-scale superbubble surrounded by a dense shell. The shell is forming stars while accelerated, so new stars formed earlier in the shell are already inside the shell. Young stars in the bubble and near the edge of the shell can fully ionize some low-column-density paths pre-cleared by feedback, allowing a large fraction of their ionizing photons to escape. The decrease of at the high-mass end is due to dust attenuation, while at the low-mass end, decreases owing to inefficient star formation (and hence feedback). At fixed mass, tends to increase with redshift. Our simulations produce sufficient ionizing photons for cosmic reionization.

Hopkins et al., available on arXiv

Abstract: The microphysics of ~GeV cosmic ray (CR) transport on galactic scales remain deeply uncertain, with almost all studies adopting simple prescriptions (e.g. constant-diffusivity). We explore different physically-motivated, anisotropic, dynamical CR transport scalings in high-resolution cosmological FIRE simulations of dwarf and ~L^* galaxies where scattering rates vary with local plasma properties motivated by extrinsic turbulence (ET) or self-confinement (SC) scenarios, with varying assumptions about e.g. turbulent power spectra on un-resolved scales, Alfven-wave damping, etc. We self-consistently predict observables including gamma-rays (L_gamma), grammage, residence times, and CR energy densities to constrain the models. We demonstrate many non-linear dynamical effects (not captured in simpler models) tend to enhance confinement. For example, in multi-phase media, even allowing arbitrary fast transport in neutral gas does not substantially reduce CR residence times (or L_gamma), as transport is rate-limited by the ionized WIM and ‘inner CGM’ gaseous halo (10^4-10^6 K gas within 10-30 kpc), and L_gamma can be dominated by trapping in small ‘patches.’ Most physical ET models contribute negligible scattering of ~1-10 GeV CRs, but it is crucial to account for anisotropy and damping (especially of fast modes) or else scattering rates would violate observations. We show that the most widely-assumed scalings for SC models produce excessive confinement by factors >100 in the WIM and inner CGM, where turbulent and Landau damping dominate. This suggests either a breakdown of quasi-linear theory used to derive the CR transport parameters in SC, or that other novel damping mechanisms dominate in intermediate-density ionized gas.

Hopkins et al., available on arXiv

Abstract: We study the effects of cosmic rays (CRs) on outflows from star-forming galaxies in the circum and inter-galactic medium (CGM/IGM), in high-resolution, fully-cosmological FIRE-2 simulations (accounting for mechanical and radiative stellar feedback, magnetic fields, anisotropic conduction/viscosity/CR diffusion and streaming, and CR losses). We showed previously that massive (M_halo>~10^11 Msun), low-redshift (z<~1-2) halos can have CR pressure dominate over thermal CGM pressure and balance gravity, giving rise to a cooler CGM with an equilibrium density profile. This dramatically alters outflows. Absent CRs, high gas thermal pressure in massive halos "traps" galactic outflows near the disk, so they recycle. With CRs injected in supernovae as modeled here, the low-pressure halo allows "escape" and CR pressure gradients continuously accelerate this material well into the IGM in "fast" outflows, while lower-density gas at large radii is accelerated in-situ into "slow" outflows that extend to >Mpc scales. CGM/IGM outflow morphologies are radically altered: they become mostly volume-filling (with inflow in a thin mid-plane layer) and coherently biconical from the disk to >Mpc. The CR- driven outflows are primarily cool (T~10^5 K) and low-velocity. All of these effects weaken and eventually vanish at lower halo masses (<~10^11 Msun) or higher redshifts (z>~1-2), reflecting the ratio of CR to thermal+gravitational pressure in the outer halo. We present a simple analytic model which explains all of the above phenomena.