To appear in the proceedings of IAU Symposium 277, Burkina Faso, December 2010, Tracing the Ancestry of Galaxies (on the Land of our Ancestors), C. Carignan, F. Combes \& K. Freeman, eds
I review the outstanding problems in galaxy formation theory, and the role of feedback in resolving them. I address the efficiency of star formation, the galactic star formation rate, and the roles of supernovae and supermassive black holes.
We present cosmological parameter measurements from the Deep Lens Survey (DLS) using galaxy-mass and galaxy-galaxy power spectra in the multipole range $\ell=250\sim2000$. We measure galaxy-galaxy power spectra from two lens bins centered at $z\sim0.27$ and $0.54$ and galaxy-mass power spectra by cross-correlating the positions of galaxies in these two lens bins with galaxy shapes in two source bins centered at $z\sim0.64$ and $1.1$. We marginalize over a baryonic feedback process using a single-parameter representation and a sum of neutrino masses, as well as photometric redshift and shear ca…
We present a galaxy evolution model which incorporates a physically motivated implementation of AGN feedback. Intermittent jets inflate cocoons of radio plasma which then expand supersonically, shock heating the ambient gas. The model reproduces observed star formation histories to the highest redshifts for which reliable data exists, as well as the observed galaxy colour bimodality. Intermittent radio source feedback also naturally provides a way of keeping the black hole and spheroid growth in step. We find possible evidence for a top-heavy Initial Mass Function (IMF) for $z>2$, consistent w…
Galaxy clusters are valuable cosmological probes. However, cluster mass estimates rely on observable quantities that are affected by complicated baryonic physics in the intracluster medium (ICM), including feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN). Cosmological simulations have started to include AGN feedback using subgrid models. In order to make robust predictions, the systematics of different implementations and parametrizations need to be understood. We have developed an AGN subgrid model in FLASH that supports a few different black hole accretion models and feedback models. We use this m…
Galaxy formation models and simulations rely on various feedback mechanisms to reproduce the observed baryonic scaling relations and galaxy morphologies. Although dwarf galaxy and giant elliptical properties can be explained using feedback from supernova and active galactic nuclei, Milky Way-sized galaxies still represent a challenge to current theories of galaxy formation. In this paper, we explore the possible role of feedback from stellar radiation in regulating the main properties of disk galaxies such as our own Milky Way. We have performed a suite of cosmological simulations of the same …
We show, using global 3D grid-based hydrodynamical simulations, that Ultra Fast Outflows (UFOs) from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) result in considerable feedback of energy and momentum into the interstellar medium (ISM) of the host galaxy. The AGN wind interacts strongly with the inhomogeneous, two-phase ISM consisting of dense clouds embedded in a tenuous hot hydrostatic medium. The outflow floods through the inter-cloud channels, sweeps up the hot ISM, and ablates and disperses the dense clouds. The momentum of the UFO is primarily transferred to the dense clouds via the ram pressure in the …
We use hydrodynamical simulations from the OWLS project to investigate the dependence of the physical properties of galaxy populations at redshift 2 on metal-line cooling and feedback from star formation and active galactic nuclei (AGN). We find that if the sub-grid feedback from star formation is implemented kinetically, the feedback is only efficient if the initial wind velocity exceeds a critical value. This critical velocity increases with galaxy mass and also if metal-line cooling is included. This suggests that radiative losses quench the winds if their initial velocity is too low. If th…
Flux limited X-ray surveys of galaxy clusters show that clusters come in two roughly equally proportioned varieties: "cool core" clusters (CCs) and non-"cool core" clusters (NCCs). In previous work, we have demonstrated using cosmological $N$-body + Eulerian hydrodynamic simulations that NCCs are often consistent with early major mergers events that destroy embryonic CCs. In this paper we extend those results and conduct a series of simulationsusing different methods of gas cooling, and of energy and metal feedback from supernovae, where we attempt to produce a population of clusters with real…
The energy released by an active galactic nucleus (AGN) has a strong impact on the surrounding interstellar medium (ISM). This feedback is considered to be the regulating factor for the growth of the central massive black hole, and for the rate of star formation in a galaxy. We have located, using Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), the fast outflow of neutral hydrogen in the young, restarted radio loud AGN 4C12.50. The outflow is located 100 pc from the nucleus where the radio jet interacts with the ISM, as well as around the associated radio lobe. These observations show that the radio…
We use 1 kpc resolution cosmological AMR simulations of a Virgo-like galaxy cluster to investigate the effect of feedback from supermassive black holes (SMBH) on the mass distribution of dark matter, gas and stars. We compared three different models: (i) a standard galaxy formation model featuring gas cooling, star formation and supernovae feedback, (ii) a "quenching" model for which star formation is artificially suppressed in massive halos and finally (iii) the recently proposed AGN feedback model of Booth & Schaye (2009). Without AGN feedback (even in the quenching case), our simulated clus…
In the current models of galaxy formation and evolution, AGN feedback is crucial to reproduce galaxy luminosity function, colour-magnitude relation and M-sigma relation. However, if AGN-feedback can indeed expel and heat up significant amount of cool molecular gas and consequently quench star formation, is yet to be demonstrated observationally. Only in four cases so far (Cen A, NGC 3801, NGC 6764 and Mrk 6), X-ray observations have found evidences of jet-driven shocks heating the ISM. We chose the least-explored galaxy, NGC 3801, and present the first ultraviolet imaging and stellar populatio…
We quantify the importance of the mechanical energy released by radio-galaxies inside galaxy groups. We use scaling relations to estimate the mechanical energy released by 16 radio-AGN located inside X-ray detected galaxy groups in the COSMOS field. By comparing this energy output to the host groups' gravitational binding energy, we find that radio galaxies produce sufficient energy to unbind a significant fraction of the intra-group medium. This unbinding effect is negligible in massive galaxy clusters with deeper potential wells. Our results correctly reproduce the breaking of self-similarit…
We introduce the Making Galaxies in a Cosmological Context (MaGICC) program of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations. We describe a parameter study of galaxy formation simulations of an L* galaxy that uses early stellar feedback combined with supernova feedback to match the stellar mass--halo mass relationship. While supernova feedback alone can reduce star formation enough to match the stellar mass--halo mass relationship, the galaxy forms too many stars before z=2 to match the evolution seen using abundance matching. Our early stellar feedback is purely thermal and thus operates …
The goal of this work is to to investigate different numerical approaches and to introduce a new, physically-based sub-grid model for the ISM physics, including a treatment of star formation and Type II supernovae energy feedback (MUPPI, MUlti-Phase Particle Integrator). Our model follows the ISM physics using a system of ordinary differential equations, describing mass and energy flows among the different gas phases in the ISM inside each gas particle. The model also includes the treatment of SNe energy transfer from star-forming particles to their neighbours. We will show in this Thesis how …
We present an ongoing study of 18 nearby galaxy groups, chosen for the availability of Chandra and/or XMM-Newton data and evidence for AGN/hot intragroup gas interaction. We have obtained 235 and 610 MHz observations at the GMRT for all the groups, and 327 and 150 MHz for a few. We discuss two interesting cases - NGC 5044 and AWM 4 - which exhibit different kinds of AGN/hot gas interaction. With the help of these examples we show how joining low-frequency radio data (to track the history of AGN outbursts through emission from aged electron populations) with X-ray data (to determine the state o…
We study the effect of AGN mechanical and radiation feedback on the formation of bulge dominated galaxies via mergers of disc galaxies. The merging galaxies have mass-ratios of 1:1 to 6:1 and include pre-existing hot gaseous halos to properly account for the global impact of AGN feedback. Using smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulation code (GADGET-3) we compare three models with different AGN feedback models: (1) no black hole and no AGN feedback; (2) thermal AGN feedback; and (3) mechanical and radiative AGN feedback. The last model is motivated by observations of broad line quasars which s…
To study the star formation and feedback mechanism, we simulate the evolution of an isolated dwarf irregular galaxy (dIrr) in a fixed dark matter halo, similar in size to WLM, using a new stellar feedback scheme. We use the new version of our original N-body/smoothed particle chemodynamics code, GCD+, which adopts improved hydrodynamics, metal diffusion between the gas particles and new modelling of star formation and stellar wind and supernovae (SNe) feedback. Comparing the simulations with and without stellar feedback effects, we demonstrate that the collisions of bubbles produced by strong …
The current generation of flagship X-ray missions, Chandra and XMM-Newton, has changed our understanding of the so-called "cool core" galaxy clusters and groups. Instead of the initial idea that the thermal gas is cooling and flowing toward the center, the new picture envisages a complex dynamical evolution of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) regulated by the radiative cooling and the nongravitational heating from the active galactic nucleus (AGN). Understanding the physics of the hot gas and its interplay with the relativistic plasma ejected by the AGN is key for understanding the growth and ev…
Deciphering Baryonic Feedback from ACT tSZ Galaxy Clusters
The Ohio State University(俄亥俄州立大学);University of Chicago(芝加哥大学);Carnegie Mellon University(卡内基梅隆大学);University of the Witwatersrand(威特沃特斯兰德大学);University of KwaZulu-Natal(夸祖鲁-纳塔尔大学);Johns Hopkins University(约翰斯·霍普金斯大学)
We present a new version of a semi-analytic model of cosmological galaxy formation, incorporating a star formation law with a feedback depending on the galaxy-scale mean dust opacity and metallicity, motivated by recent observations of star formation in nearby galaxies and theoretical considerations. This new model is used to investigate the effect of such a feedback on shaping the galaxy luminosity function and its evolution. Star formation activity is significantly suppressed in dwarf galaxies by the new feedback effect, and the faint-end slope of local luminosity functions can be reproduced…
The total feedback energy injected into hot gas in galaxy clusters by central black holes can be estimated by comparing the potential energy of observed cluster gas profiles with the potential energy of non-radiating, feedback-free hot gas atmospheres resulting from gravitational collapse in clusters of the same total mass. Feedback energy from cluster-centered black holes expands the cluster gas, lowering the gas-to-dark matter mass ratio below the cosmic value. Feedback energy is unnecessarily delivered by radio-emitting jets to distant gas far beyond the cooling radius where the cooling tim…
We investigate the impact of AGN feedback on the gravitational lensing properties of a sample of galaxy clusters with masses in the range 10^14 - 10^15 Msol, using state-of-the-art simulations. Adopting a ray-tracing algorithm, we compute the cross-section of giant arcs from clusters simulated with dark-matter only physics (DM), dark matter plus gas with cooling and star formation (CSF), and dark matter plus gas with cooling, star formation and AGN feedback (CSFBH). Once AGN feedback is included, baryonic physics boosts the strong lensing cross-section by much less than previously estimated us…
The suppression of the matter power spectrum: strong feedback from X-ray gas mass fractions, kSZ effect profiles, and galaxy-galaxy lensing
Princeton University(普林斯顿大学);University of Cambridge(剑桥大学);Liverpool John Moores University(利物浦约翰摩尔斯大学);Leiden University(莱顿大学);University of Zurich(苏黎世大学)
本文通过联合分析eROSITA和HSC-XXL样本的X射线气体质量分数及SDSS/DESI+ACT的kSZ效应轮廓,研究了气体反馈对物质功率谱的抑制效应,发现其抑制幅度在k=1 h Mpc⁻¹时为10±2%,且比主流模拟预测更强。
There is compelling evidence that black holes (BHs) in cluster centers vigorously interact with their surroundings, indicating that any realistic model of cluster formation needs to account for these processes. Here we use high-resolution cosmological simulations of a large cluster and group sample to study how BHs affect their host systems. We focus on two specific properties, the halo gas fraction and the X-ray luminosity-temperature scaling relation, both of which are notoriously difficult to reproduce in self-consistent hydrodynamical simulations. We show that BH feedback can solve both of…
We present a new comprehensive model of the physics of galaxy formation designed for large-scale hydrodynamical simulations of structure formation using the moving mesh code AREPO. Our model includes primordial and metal line cooling with self-shielding corrections, stellar evolution and feedback processes, gas recycling, chemical enrichment, a novel subgrid model for the metal loading of outflows, black hole (BH) seeding, BH growth and merging procedures, quasar- and radio-mode feedback, and a prescription for radiative electro-magnetic (EM) feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN). The met…
We carry out hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation that simultaneously follow radiative transfer of hydrogen-ionizing photons, based on the optically-thin variable Eddington tensor approximation as implemented in the {\small GADGET} code. We consider only star-forming galaxies as sources and examine to what extent they can yield a reasonable reionization history and thermal state of the intergalactic medium at redshifts around $z\sim 3$. This serves as an important benchmark for our self-consistent methodology to simulate galaxy formation and reionization, and for future improvements …
We present a systematic study of stellar feedback processes in simulations of disk galaxy formation. Using a dark matter halo with properties similar to the ones for the Milky Way's stellar halo, we perform a comparison of different methods of distributing energy related to feedback processes to the surrounding gas. A most promising standard model is applied to halos spanning a range of masses in order to compare the results to disk galaxy scaling relations. With few exceptions we find little or no angular momentum deficiency for our galaxies and a good agreement with the angular momentum-size…
We present results from Chandra observations of NGC 5813, the dominant central galaxy in a nearby galaxy group. We focus on three main results. 1) The diffuse gas shows clear signatures from three distinct outbursts of the central AGN, with three pairs of roughly collinear cavities. The inner two cavity pairs are associated with unambiguous elliptical shock fronts, with Mach numbers M~1.7 and M~1.5 for the inner and outer shocks, respectively. 2) The mean power of the two most recent outbursts differs by a factor of six, indicating that the mean jet power varies over long (~10^7 yr) time scale…
We study the excess entropy and the corresponding non-gravitational feedback energy ($E_{feedback}$) in the intra-cluster medium (ICM) by considering a sample of 38 galaxy clusters using Chandra X-ray and NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS)/Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) radio observations. We find moderate correlation of the feedback energy and brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) radio luminosity ($L_R$) with the various cluster thermal properties. We show conclusively that the active galactic nucleus (AGN) is more effective in transferring feedback energy to the ICM in less massive clusters. We fi…
We present cosmological hydrodynamic simulations performed to study evolution of galaxy population. The simulations follow timed release of mass, energy, and metals by stellar evolution and employ phenomenological treatments of supernova feedback, pre-supernova feedback modeled as feedback by radiation pressure from massive stars, and quenching of gas cooling in large halos. We construct the fiducial model so that it reproduces the observationally estimated galaxy stellar mass functions and the relationships between the galaxy stellar mass and the host halo mass from $z = 4$ to 0. We find that…
Hydrodynamic simulations of galaxies with active galactic nuclei (AGN) have typically employed feedback that is purely local: i.e., an injection of energy to the immediate neighborhood of the black hole. We perform GADGET-2 simulations of massive elliptical galaxies with an additional feedback component: an observationally calibrated X-ray radiation field which emanates from the black hole and heats gas out to large radii from the galaxy center. We find that including the heating and radiation pressure associated with this X-ray flux in our simulations enhances the effects which are commonly r…
The intrinsic correlations of galaxy shapes and orientations across the large-scale structure of the Universe are a known contaminant to weak gravitational lensing. They are known to be dependent on galaxy properties, such as their mass and morphologies. The complex interplay between alignments and the physical processes that drive galaxy evolution remains vastly unexplored. We assess the sensitivity of intrinsic alignments (shapes and angular momenta) to Active Galactic Nuclei -AGN- feedback by comparing galaxy alignment in twin runs of the cosmological hydrodynamical Horizon simulation, whic…
Here we introduce GAMESH, a novel pipeline which implements self-consistent radiative and chemical feedback in a computational model of galaxy formation. By combining the cosmological chemical-evolution model GAMETE with the radiative transfer code CRASH, GAMESH can post process realistic outputs of a N-body simulation describing the redshift evolution of the forming galaxy. After introducing the GAMESH implementation and its features, we apply the code to a low-resolution N-body simulation of the Milky Way formation and we investigate the combined effects of self-consistent radiative and chem…
We use nine different galaxy formation scenarios in ten cosmological simulation boxes from the EAGLE suite of ΛCDM hydrodynamical simulations to assess the impact of feedback mechanisms in galaxy formation and compare these to observed strong gravitational lenses. To compare observations with simulations, we create strong lenses with $M_\star$ > $10^{11}$ $M_\odot$ with the appropriate resolution and noise level, and model them with an elliptical power-law mass model to constrain their total mass density slope. We also obtain the mass-size relation of the simulated lens-galaxy sample. We find …
We investigate the star formation-feedback cycle in cosmological galaxy formation simulations, focusing on progenitors of Milky Way (MW)-sized galaxies. We find that in order to reproduce key properties of the MW progenitors, such as semi-empirically derived star formation histories and the shape of rotation curves, our implementation of star formation and stellar feedback requires 1) a combination of local early momentum feedback via radiation pressure and stellar winds and subsequent efficient supernovae feedback, and 2) efficacy of feedback that results in self-regulation of the global star…
Large extragalactic surveys allow us to trace, in a statistical sense, how supermassive black holes, their host galaxies, and their dark matter halos evolve together over cosmic time, and so explore the consequences of AGN feedback on galaxy evolution. Recent studies have found significant links between the accretion states of black holes and galaxy stellar populations, local environments, and obscuration by gas and dust. This article describes some recent results and shows how such studies may provide new constraints on models of the co-evolution of galaxies and their central SMBHs. Finally, …
Stellar population studies show that low mass galaxies in all environments exhibit stellar halos that are older and more spherically distributed than the main body of the galaxy. In some cases, there is a significant intermediate age component that extends beyond the young disk. We examine a suite of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic (SPH) simulations and find that elevated early star formation activity combined with supernova feedback can produce an extended stellar distribution that resembles these halos for model galaxies ranging from $v_{200}$ = 15 km s$^{-1}$ to 35 km s$^{-1}$, without the n…
AGN outflows are the heat given up when gas in a galaxy evolves towards thermodynamic equilibrium. Indeed, while AGN feedback regulates the growth of massive galaxies, its origins can be understood as the spontaneous thermodynamic process which ensures that the (Gibbs) free energy of the system always decreases, enabling the galaxy to reach a more energetically favourable state. In particular, it is shown that feedback heating processes will be favoured whenever the hot atmosphere of a galaxy would effectively gain energy as a result of cooling. For example, as the hot atmosphere of a galaxy c…
In this study we quantify the properties of the gas and dark matter around active galactic nuclei (AGN) in simulated galaxy groups and clusters and analyze the effect of AGN feedback on the surrounding intra-cluster (group) medium. Our results suggest downsizing of AGN luminosity with host halo mass, supporting the results obtained from clustering studies of AGN. By examining the temperature and density distribution of the gas in the vicinity of AGN we show that due to feedback from the central engine, the gas gets displaced from the centre of the group/cluster resulting in a reduction of the …
We describe a physical model of the outflows produced as a result of gas accretion onto a black hole, and the resultant changes to star formation rates and efficiencies in galaxies, using the Radio-SAGE semi-analytic galaxy formation model. We show that the ratio of outflow rate to SFR of galaxies is mainly driven by black hole mass and virial halo mass, and show that the SFR is higher than the outflow rate at low black hole masses. The model consistently reproduces the observed evolution of star formation rate density from z = 6 to z = 0, as well as the trend of the stellar mass - halo mass r…
It is now well established that many galaxies have nuclear star clusters (NCs) whose total masses correlate with the velocity dispersion (sigma) of the galaxy spheroid in a very similar way to the well--known supermassive black hole (SMBH) M - sigma relation. Previous theoretical work suggested that both correlations can be explained by a momentum feedback argument. Observations further show that most known NCs have masses < 10^8 Msun, while SMBHs frequently have masses > 10^8 Msun, which remained unexplained in previous work. We suggest here that this changeover reflects a competition between…
Stellar feedback plays a key role in galaxy formation by regulating star formation, driving interstellar turbulence and generating galactic scale outflows. Although modern simulations of galaxy formation can resolve scales of 10-100 pc, star formation and feedback operate on smaller, "subgrid" scales. Great care should therefore be taken in order to properly account for the effect of feedback on global galaxy evolution. We investigate the momentum and energy budget of feedback during different stages of stellar evolution, and study its impact on the interstellar medium using simulations of loc…
We present a first study of the effect of local photoionising radiation on gas cooling in smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of galaxy formation. We explore the combined effect of ionising radiation from young and old stellar populations. The method computes the effect of multiple radiative sources using the same tree algorithm used for gravity, so it is computationally efficient and well resolved. The method foregoes calculating absorption and scattering in favour of a constant escape fraction for young stars to keep the calculation efficient enough to simulate the entire evolution o…
We show that feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) plays an essential role in reproducing the down-sizing phenomena, namely: the colour-magnitude relation; specific star formation rates; and the $α$ enhancement of early type galaxies. In our AGN model, black holes originate from Population III stars, in contrast to the merging scenario of previous works. In this paper, we show how the properties of present-day galaxies in cosmological chemo-hydrodynamical simulations change when we include our model for AGN feedback. Massive galaxies become redder, older, less massive, less compact, and s…
Detection of the copious amount of X-ray emission from the dilute hot plasma in galaxy clusters suggests that a substantial fraction of the central intracluster medium (ICM) is cooling radiatively on a time scale much faster than the Hubble time. Theoretical models predict the cooling rate as high as about few hundred to few thousand solar mass per year, which would be then made available for the formation of new stars in the core of these clusters. However, systematic studies of the cores of such clusters failed to detect the expected reservoirs of cooled gas. Thus, the gas in the cores of ga…
We present a semi-analytical model of high redshift galaxy formation. In our model the star formation inside a galaxy is regulated by the feedback from supernova (SNe) driven outflows. We derive a closed analytical form for star formation rate in a single galaxy taking account of the SNe feedback in a self-consistent manner. We show that our model can explain the observed correlation between the stellar mass and the circular velocity of galaxies from dwarf galaxies to massive galaxies of $10^{12} M_\odot$. For small mass dwarf galaxies additional feedback other than supernova feedback is neede…
We have applied stellar population synthesis to 500 pc sized regions in a sample of 102 galaxy discs observed with the MUSE spectrograph. We derived the star formation history and analyse specifically the "recent" ($20\rm{Myr}$) and "past" ($570\rm{Myr}$) age bins. Using a star formation self-regulator model we can derive local mass-loading factors, $η$ for specific regions, and find that this factor depends on the local stellar mass surface density, $Σ_*$, in agreement with the predictions form hydrodynamical simulations including supernova feedback. We integrate the local $η$-$Σ_*$ relation …
Recent observations have found that many $z\sim 6$ quasar fields lack galaxies. This unexpected lack of galaxies may potentially be explained by quasar radiation feedback. In this paper I present a suite of 3D radiative transfer cosmological simulations of quasar fields. I find that quasar radiation suppresses star formation in low mass galaxies, mainly by photo-dissociating their molecular hydrogen. Photo-heating also plays a role, but only after $\sim$100 Myr. However, galaxies which already have stellar mass above $10^5 M_\odot$ when the quasar turns on will not be suppressed significantly.…
Recent observations of giant ellipticals and brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) provide tentative evidence for a correlation between the luminosity of the H$α$ emitting gas filaments and the strength of feedback associated with the active galactic nucleus (AGN). Motivated by this, we use 3D radiation-hydrodynamic simulations with the code Enzo to examine and quantify the relationship between the observable properties of the H$α$ filaments and the kinetic and radiative feedback from supermassive black holes in BCGs. We find that the spatial extent and total mass of the filaments show positive co…
We present the $Iκεα$ model of galaxy formation, in which a galaxy's star formation rate is set by the balance between energy injected by feedback from massive stars and energy lost by the deepening of the potential of its host dark matter halo due to cosmological accretion. Such a balance is secularly stable provided that the star formation rate increases with the pressure in the star forming gas. The $Iκεα$ model has four parameters that together control the feedback from star formation and the cosmological accretion rate onto a halo. $Iκεα$ reproduces accurately the star formation rate as a…
As computational resolution of modern cosmological simulations reach ever so close to resolving individual star-forming clumps in a galaxy, a need for "resolution-appropriate" physics for a galaxy-scale simulation has never been greater. To this end, we introduce a self-consistent numerical framework that includes explicit treatments of feedback from star-forming molecular clouds (SFMCs) and massive black holes (MBHs). In addition to the thermal supernovae feedback from SFMC particles, photoionizing radiation from both SFMCs and MBHs is tracked through full 3-dimensional ray tracing. A mechani…
The observed super-massive black hole (SMBH) mass -- galaxy velocity dispersion ($M_{\rm cmo} - σ$) correlation, and the similar correlation for nuclear star clusters, may be established when winds/outflows from the CMO ("central massive object") drive gas out of the potential wells of classical bulges. Timescales of growth for these objects may explain why smaller bulges appear to host preferentially NCs while larger ones contain SMBHs only. Despite much recent progress, feedback processes in bulge/galaxy formation are far from being understood. Our numerical simulations show that that unders…
The co-evolution between supermassive black holes and their environment is most directly traced by the hot atmospheres of dark matter halos. Cooling of the hot atmosphere supplies the central regions with fresh gas, igniting active galactic nuclei (AGN) with long duty cycles. Outflows from the central engine tightly couple with the surrounding gaseous medium and provide the dominant heating source preventing runaway cooling by carving cavities and driving shocks across the medium. The AGN feedback loop is a key feature of all modern galaxy evolution models. Here we review our knowledge of the …
Achieving a precise understanding of galaxy formation in a cosmological context is one of the great challenges in theoretical astrophysics, due to the vast range of spatial scales involved in the relevant physical processes. Observations in the millimeter bands, particularly those using the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation as a "backlight", provide a unique probe of the thermodynamics of these processes, with the capability to directly measure the density, pressure, and temperature of ionized gas. Moreover, these observations have uniquely high sensitivity into the outskirts of the …
In this review I demonstrate that a realistic model for the formation of galaxy disks depends on a proper treatment of the gas in galaxies. Historically, cosmological simulations of disk galaxy formation have suffered from a lack of resolution and a physically motivated feedback prescription. Recent computational progress has allowed for unprecedented resolution, which in turn allows for a more realistic treatment of feedback. These advances have led to a new examination of gas accretion, evolution, and loss in the formation of galaxy disks. Here I highlight the role that gas inflows, the regu…
One major problem of current theoretical models of galaxy formation is given by their inability to reproduce the apparently `anti-hierarchical' evolution of galaxy assembly: massive galaxies appear to be in place since $z\sim 3$, while a significant increase of the number densities of low mass galaxies is measured with decreasing redshift. In this work, we perform a systematic analysis of the influence of different stellar feedback schemes, carried out in the framework of GAEA, a new semi-analytic model of galaxy formation. It includes a self-consistent treatment for the timings of gas, metal …