Multiphase turbulent interstellar medium: some recent results from radio astronomy
Nirupam Roy
备注：
20 pages, 10 figures. Invited review accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy. The definitive version will be available at http://insaindia.org/journals/proceedings.php
发表信息：
2015, Proc. of the Indian National Science Academy, 81, 583
The radio frequency 1.4 GHz transition of the atomic hydrogen is one of the important tracers of the diffuse neutral interstellar medium. Radio astronomical observations of this transition, using either a single dish telescope or an array interferometer, reveal different properties of the interstellar medium. Such observations are particularly useful to study the multiphase nature and turbulence in the interstellar gas. Observations with multiple radio telescopes have recently been used to study these two closely related aspects in greater detail. Using various observational techniques, the density and the velocity fluctuations in the Galactic interstellar medium was found to have a Kolmogorov-like power law power spectra. The observed power law scaling of the turbulent velocity dispersion with the length scale can be used to derive the true temperature distribution of the medium. Observations from a large ongoing atomic hydrogen absorption line survey have also been used to study the distribution of gas at different temperature. The thermal steady state model predicts that the multiphase neutral gas will exist in cold and warm phase with temperature below 200 K and above 5000 K respectively. However, these observations clearly show the presence of a large fraction of gas in the intermediate unstable phase. These results raise serious doubt about the validity of the standard model, and highlight the necessity of alternative theoretical models. Interestingly, numerical simulations suggest that some of the observational results can be explained consistently by including the effects of turbulence in the models of the multiphase medium. This review article presents a brief outline of some of the basic ideas of radio astronomical observations and data analysis, summarizes the results from recent observations, and discusses possible implications of the results.
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The atomic multiphase interstellar medium of galaxies in the COLIBRE simulations
University of Vienna（维也纳大学）；Leiden University（莱顿大学）；Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca（米兰比可卡大学）；University of Durham（杜伦大学）；University of Hull（赫尔大学）；University of Hertfordshire（赫特福德大学）
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Segmenting Superbubbles in a Simulated Multiphase Interstellar Medium using Computer Vision
University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus（不列颠哥伦比亚大学奥肯那根校区）；Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, Herzberg Research Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, National Research Council Canada（加拿大国家研究委员会赫茨伯格天文学与天体物理学研究中心自治领射电天体物理观测台）；University of Western Ontario（西安大略大学）；University of Calgary（卡尔加里大学）
High resolution X-ray absorption spectroscopy is a powerful diagnostic tool for probing chemical and physical properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) at various phases. We present detections of K transition absorption lines from the low ionization ions of OI, OII, NeI, NeII, and NeIII, and the high ionization ones of OVI, OVII, OVIII, NeIX, and MgXI, as well as details of neutral absorption edges from Mg, Ne, and O in an unprecedented high quality spectrum of the low mass X-ray binary Cyg X-2. These absorption features trace the intervening interstellar medium which is indicated by the uns…
We examine a model for the variable free-free and neutral hydrogen absorption inferred towards the cores of some compact radio galaxies in which a spatially fluctuating medium drifts in front of the source. We relate the absorption-induced intensity fluctuations to the statistics of the underlying opacity fluctuations. We investigate models in which the absorbing medium consists of either discrete clouds or a power-law spectrum of opacity fluctuations. We examine the variability characteristics of a medium comprised of Gaussian-shaped clouds in which the neutral and ionized matter are co-locat…
A cool phase of the interstellar medium has been observed in many giant elliptical galaxies, but its origin remains unclear. We propose that uneven heating from Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), together with radiative cooling, can lead to the formation of the cool phase. The basic idea is that since SNe Ia explode randomly, gas parcels which are not directly heated by SN shocks will cool, forming multiphase gas. We run a series of idealized high-resolution numerical simulations, and find that cool gas develops even when the overall SNe heating rate $H$ exceeds the cooling rate $C$ by a factor as l…
We introduce the PRISM interstellar medium (ISM) model for thermochemistry and its implementation in the RAMSES-RTZ code. The model includes a non-equilibrium primordial, metal, and molecular chemistry network for 115 species coupled to on-the-fly multifrequency radiation transport. PRISM accurately accounts for the dominant ISM cooling and heating processes in the low-density regime (i.e. $ρ<10^5\ {\rm cm^{-3}}$), including photoheating, photoelectric heating, H$_2$ heating/cooling, cosmic-ray heating, H/He cooling, metal-line cooling, CO cooling, and dust cooling (recombination and gas-grain…
We discuss the degree to which radio propagation measurements diagnose conditions in the ionized gas of the interstellar medium (ISM). The "signal generators" of the radio waves of interest are extragalactic radio sources (quasars and radio galaxies), as well as Galactic sources, primarily pulsars. The polarized synchrotron radiation of the Galactic non-thermal radiation also serves to probe the ISM, including space between the emitting regions and the solar system. Radio propagation measurements provide unique information on turbulence in the ISM as well as the mean plasma properties such as …
The bulk propagation speed of GeV-energy cosmic rays is limited by frequent scattering off hydromagnetic waves. Most galaxy evolution simulations that account for this confinement assume the gas is fully ionized and cosmic rays are well-coupled to Alfvén waves; however, multiphase density inhomogeneities, frequently under-resolved in galaxy evolution simulations, induce cosmic ray collisions and ionization-dependent transport driven by cosmic ray decoupling and elevated streaming speeds in partially neutral gas. How do cosmic rays navigate and influence such a medium, and can we constrain this…
Supersonic turbulence in the interstellar medium (ISM) is believed to decay rapidly within a flow crossing time irrespective of the degree of magnetization. However, this general consensus of decaying magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence relies on local isothermal simulations, which are unable to take into account the roles of global structures of magnetic fields and the ISM. Utilizing three-dimensional MHD simulations including interstellar cooling and heating, we investigate decaying MHD turbulence within cold neutral medium sheets embedded in warm neutral medium. Early evolution of turbulen…
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(abridged) Spectroscopic observations of high-redshift galaxies slowly reveal the same complexity of the interstellar medium (ISM) as expected from resolved observations in nearby galaxies. While providing a wealth of diagnostics, such high-z spectra are often unresolved, and inferring reliable diagnostics represents a major obstacle. Bright, nearby, unresolved galaxies provide many constraints to design methods to infer ISM properties, but they have so far been limited to deterministic methods and/or with simple topological assumptions. Multicomponent ISM models associate a complex enough dis…
We explore the effect of magnetic fields on the vertical distribution and multiphase structure of the supernova-driven interstellar medium (ISM) in simulations that admit dynamo action. As the magnetic field is amplified to become dynamically significant, gas becomes cooler and its distribution in the disc becomes more homogeneous. We attribute this to magnetic quenching of vertical velocity, which leads to a decrease in the cooling length of hot gas. A non-monotonic vertical distribution of the large-scale magnetic field strength, with the maximum at |z| $\approx$ 300 pc causes a downward pre…
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The observed gas-phase molecular inventory of hot cores is believed to be significantly impacted by the products of chemistry in interstellar ices. In this study, we report the construction of a full macroscopic Monte Carlo model of both the gas-phase chemistry and the chemistry occurring in the icy mantles of interstellar grains. Our model treats icy grain mantles in a layer-by-layer manner, which incorporates laboratory data on ice desorption correctly. The ice treatment includes a distinction between a reactive ice surface and an inert bulk. The treatment also distinguishes between zeroth a…
The multiphase interstellar medium as a common origin for magnetic misalignment and TB parity violation
LUX, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, CNRS（巴黎天文台，巴黎文理研究大学，索邦大学）；INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri（意大利国家天体物理研究所阿切里天文台）；Laboratoire de Physique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, ENS, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris（巴黎高等师范学院物理实验室，巴黎文理研究大学，索邦大学）；Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院物理系）；TAPIR, California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院理论天体物理学与相对论研究中心）
Galaxy evolution and star formation are two multi-scale problems tightly linked to each other. To understand the interstellar cycle, which triggers galaxy evolution, it is necessary to describe simultaneously the large-scale evolution widely induced by the feedback processes and the details of the gas dynamics that controls the star formation process through gravitational collapse. We perform a set of three-dimensional high-resolution numerical simulations of a turbulent, self-gravitating and magnetized interstellar medium within a $1\ \mathrm{kpc}$ stratified box with supernova feedback corre…
Magnetic fields grow quickly, even at early cosmological times, suggesting the action of a small-scale dynamo (SSD) in the interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies. Many studies have focused on idealized, isotropic, homogeneous, turbulent driving of the SSD. Here we analyze more realistic simulations of supernova-driven turbulence to understand how it drives an SSD. We find that SSD growth rates are intermittently variable as a result of the evolving multiphase ISM structure. Rapid growth in the magnetic field typically occurs in hot gas, with the highest overall growth rates occurring when the f…
We have performed reaction product screening measurements using broadband rotational spectroscopy to identify rotational transition matches between laboratory spectra and the Green Bank Telescope PRIMOS radio astronomy survey spectra in Sagittarius B2 North (Sgr B2(N)). The broadband rotational spectrum of molecules created in an electrical discharge of CH3CN and H2S contained several frequency matches to unidentified features in the PRIMOS survey that did not have molecular assignments based on standard radio astronomy spectral catalogs. Several of these transitions are assigned to the E- and…
We show that simulations of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the multiphase interstellar medium yield an $E/B$ ratio for polarized emission from Galactic dust in broad agreement with recent $Planck$ measurements. In addition, the $B$-mode spectra display a scale dependence that is consistent with observations over the range of scales resolved in the simulations. The simulations present an opportunity to understand the physical origin of the $E/B$ ratio, and a starting point for more refined models of Galactic emission of use for both current and future CMB experiments.
We study gas inflows onto supermassive black holes using hydrodynamics simulations of isolated galaxies and idealized galaxy mergers with an explicit, multiphase interstellar medium (ISM). Our simulations use the recently developed ISM and stellar evolution model called Stars and MUltiphase Gas in GaLaxiEs (SMUGGLE). We implement a novel super-Lagrangian refinement scheme that increases the gas mass resolution in the immediate neighborhood of the black holes (BHs) to accurately resolve gas accretion. We do not include black hole feedback in our simulations. We find that the complex and turbule…
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 fl…
Imprints of the Neutral Interstellar Medium on Polarized Synchrotron Emission and Faraday Rotation
Stanford University（斯坦福大学）；University of South Carolina（南卡罗来纳大学）；Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, CNRS（巴黎天文台，巴黎文理研究大学，索邦大学，法国国家科学研究中心）；Laboratoire de Physique de l’École normale supérieure, ENS, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, Observatoire de Paris（巴黎高等师范学院物理实验室，ENS，巴黎文理研究大学，法国国家科学研究中心，索邦大学，巴黎西岱大学，巴黎天文台）；INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri（意大利国家天体物理研究所 - 阿切特里天文台）；Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie（马克斯·普朗克射电天文研究所）；Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Australian National University（澳大利亚国立大学天文学与天体物理学研究学院）；Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto（多伦多大学邓普勒天文学与天体物理研究所）
A common situation in galactic and intergalactic gas involves cold dense gas in motion relative to hot diffuse gas. Kelvin-Helmholtz instability creates a turbulent mixing layer and populates the intermediate-temperature phase, which often cools rapidly. The energy lost to cooling is balanced by the advection of hot high enthalpy gas into the mixing layer, resulting in growth and acceleration of the cold phase. This process may play a major role in determining the interstellar medium and circumgalactic medium phase structure, and accelerating cold gas in galactic winds and cosmic filaments. Co…
Gas blown away from galactic disks by supernova (SN) feedback plays a key role in galaxy evolution. We investigate outflows utilizing the solar neighborhood model of our high-resolution, local galactic disk simulation suite, TIGRESS. In our numerical implementation, star formation and SN feedback are self-consistently treated and well resolved in the multiphase, turbulent, magnetized interstellar medium. Bursts of star formation produce spatially and temporally correlated SNe that drive strong outflows, consisting of hot (T>5x10^5K) winds and warm (5050K < T < 2x10^4K) fountains. The hot gas a…
The Launching of Galactic Winds from a Multiphase ISM
Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics（马普天体物理研究所）；Astronomisches Rechen-Institut, Zentrum für Astronomie, Universität Heidelberg（海德堡大学天文学计算研究所）；Hamburger Sternwarte, Universität Hamburg（汉堡大学天文台）
The OVI $λλ$1032, 1038Å doublet emission traces collisionally ionized gas with $T\approx 10^{5.5}$ K, where the cooling curve peaks for metal-enriched plasma. This warm-hot phase is usually not well-resolved in numerical simulations of the multiphase interstellar medium (ISM), but can be responsible for a significant fraction of the emitted energy. Comparing simulated OVI emission to observations is therefore a valuable test of whether simulations predict reasonable cooling rates from this phase. We calculate OVI $λ$1032Å emission, assuming collisional ionization equilibrium, for our small-box…
Large scale surveys have brought about a revolution in astronomy. To analyse the resulting wealth of data, we need automated tools to identify, classify, and quantify the important underlying structures. We present here a method for classifying and quantifying a pixelated structure, based on its principal moments of inertia. The method enables us to automatically detect, and objectively compare, centrally condensed cores, elongated filaments and hollow rings. We illustrate the method by applying it to (i) observations of surface-density from Hi-GAL, and (ii) simulations of filament growth in a…
Adequate modelling of the multiphase interstellar medium requires optically thin radiative cooling, comprising an inherent thermal instability. The size of the occurring condensation and evaporation interfaces is determined by the so-called Field-length, which gives the dimension at which the instability is significantly damped by thermal conduction. Our aim is to study the relevance of conduction scale effects in the numerical modelling of a bistable medium and check the applicability of conventional and alternative adaptive mesh techniques. The low physical value of the thermal conduction wi…
Galactic outflows have density, temperature, and velocity variations at least as large as that of the multiphase, turbulent interstellar medium (ISM) from which they originate. We have conducted a suite of parsec-resolution numerical simulations using the TIGRESS framework, in which outflows emerge as a consequence of interaction between supernovae (SNe) and the star-forming ISM. The outflowing gas is characterized by two distinct thermal phases, cool (T<10^4 K) and hot (T>10^6 K), with most mass carried by the cool phase and most energy and newly-injected metals carried by the hot phase. Both…
We report the evidence for the existence of the universal, continuous turbulent cascade of velocity fluctuations with Kolmogorov -5/3 slope spanning 6 orders of length scales, from $10^4$ pc down to $10^{-2}$ pc. This was achieved by applying our innovative technique of separating density and velocity fluctuations to a set of spectroscopic surveys featuring various galactic spectral lines. This unified velocity cascade involves different interstellar phases from diffuse galactic media to dense self-gravitating clouds and persists despite interstellar phase transitions. However, the turbulent d…
