Feedback from AGN jets has been proposed to counteract the catastrophic cooling in many galaxy clusters. However, it is still unclear which physical processes are acting to couple the energy from the bi-directional jets to the ICM. We study the long-term evolution of rising bubbles that were inflated by AGN jets using MHD simulations. In the wake of the rising bubbles, a significant amount of low-entropy gas is brought into contact with the hot cluster gas. We assess the energy budget of the uplifted gas and find it comparable to the total energy injected by the jets. Although our simulation does not include explicit thermal conduction, we find that, for reasonable assumptions about the conduction coefficient, the rate is fast enough that much of the uplifted gas may be thermalized before it sinks back to the core. Thus, we propose that the AGN can act like a heat pump to move low-entropy gas from the cluster core to the heat reservoir and will be able to heat the inner cluster more efficiently than would be possible by direct energy transfer from jets alone. We show that the maximum efficiency of this mechanism, i.e. the ratio between the conductive thermal energy and the work needed to lift the gas, $ξ_{\mathrm{max}}$ can exceed 100 per cent. While $ξ$ < $ξ_{\mathrm{max}}$ in realistic scenarios, AGN-induced thermal conduction has the potential to significantly increase the efficiency with which AGN can heat cool-core clusters and transform the bursty AGN activities into a smoother and enduring heating process.
Jet feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) is one of the most promising mechanisms for suppressing cooling flows in cool-core clusters. However, the composition of AGN jets and bubbles remains uncertain; they could be thermally dominated, or dominated by cosmic-ray proton (CRp), cosmic-ray electron (CRe), or magnetic energy. In this work, we investigate the evolution and feedback effects of CRp and CRe dominated jets by conducting 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of AGN jet-inflated bubbles in the intracluster medium using the FLASH code. We present the evolution of their energies, dynam…
The Fermi bubbles are two giant bubbles in gamma rays lying above and below the Galactic center (GC). Despite numerous studies on the bubbles, their origin and emission mechanism remain elusive. Here we use a suite of hydrodynamic simulations to study the scenario where the cosmic rays (CRs) in the bubbles are mainly accelerated at the forward shocks driven by a pair of opposing jets from Sgr A*. We find that an active galactic nucleus (AGN) jet event happened $5-6$ Myr ago can naturally reproduce the bilobular morphology of the bubbles, and the postshock gas temperature in the bubbles is heat…
Feeding and feedback of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are critical for understanding the dynamics and thermodynamics of the intracluster medium (ICM) within the cores of galaxy clusters. While radio bubbles inflated by AGN jets could be dynamically supported by cosmic rays (CRs), the impact of CR-dominated jets are not well understood. In this work, we perform three-dimensional simulations of CR-jet feedback in an isolated cluster atmosphere; we find that CR jets impact the multiphase gas differently than jets dominated by kinetic energy. In particular, CR bubbles can more efficiently uplift th…
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveals two large bubbles in the Galaxy, which extend nearly symmetrically ~50 degrees above and below the Galactic center (GC). Using three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations that self-consistently include the dynamical interaction between cosmic rays (CR) and thermal gas, and anisotropic CR diffusion along the magnetic field lines, we show that the key characteristics of the observed gamma-ray bubbles and the spatially-correlated X-ray features in ROSAT 1.5 keV map can be successfully reproduced by a recent jet activity from the central…
The origin of the Fermi bubbles and the microwave haze is yet to be determined. To disentangle different models requires detailed comparisons between theoretical predictions and multi-wavelength observations. Our previous simulations have demonstrated that the primary features of the Fermi bubbles could be successfully reproduced by recent jet activity from the central active galactic nucleus (AGN). In this work, we generate gamma-ray and microwave maps and spectra based on the simulated properties of cosmic rays (CRs) and magnetic fields in order to examine whether the observed bubble and haz…
Several galaxy clusters are known to present multiple and misaligned pairs of cavities seen in X-rays, as well as twisted kiloparsec-scale jets at radio wavelengths. It suggests that the AGN precessing jets play a role in the formation of the misaligned bubbles. Also, X-ray spectra reveal that typically these systems are also able to supress cooling flows, predicted theoretically. The absence of cooling flows in galaxy clusters has been a mistery for many years since numerical simulations and analytical studies suggest that AGN jets are highly energetic, but are unable to redistribute it at al…
I suggest that the main process that amplifies magnetic fields in cooling flows in clusters and group of galaxies is a jet-driven dynamo (JEDD). The main processes that are behind the JEDD is the turbulence that is formed by the many vortices formed in the inflation processes of bubbles, and the large scale shear formed by the propagating jet. It is sufficient that a strong turbulence exits in the vicinity of the jets and bubbles, just where the shear is large. The typical amplification time of magnetic fields by the JEDD near the jets and bubbles is approximately hundred million years. The am…
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveals two large gamma-ray bubbles in the Galaxy, which extend about 50 degrees (~ 10 kpc) above and below the Galactic center (GC) and are symmetric about the Galactic plane. Using axisymmetric hydrodynamic simulations with a self-consistent treatment of the dynamical cosmic ray (CR) - gas interaction, we show that the bubbles can be created with a recent active galactic nucleus (AGN) jet activity about 1 - 3 Myr ago, which was active for a duration of ~ 0.1 - 0.5 Myr. The bipolar jets were ejected into the Galactic halo along the rotation axis of the Gala…
The enhanced star formation in the inner 100 pc of the Galaxy launches a superwind at ~1600 km s$^{-1}$ for M82-like parameters. The ram pressure of the wind is very low compared to more powerful starburst winds. I show that halo gas stops the wind a few kpc from the Galactic Centre. I suggest that the termination shock accelerates cosmic rays, and that the resulting Inverse Compton gamma rays are visible as the Fermi Bubbles. The Bubbles are then wind bubbles, which the starburst can inflate within 10 Myr. They can remain in steady state as long as the starburst lasts. The shock may accelerat…
We report the discovery of shocked molecular and ionized gas resulting from jet-driven feedback in the compact radio galaxy 4C 31.04 using near-IR imaging spectroscopy. 4C 31.04 is a $\sim 100$ pc double-lobed Compact Steep Spectrum source believed to be a very young AGN. It is hosted by a giant elliptical with a $\sim 10^{9}~\rm M_\odot$ multi-phase gaseous circumnuclear disc. We used high spatial resolution, adaptive optics-assisted $H$- and $K$-band integral field Gemini/NIFS observations to probe (1) the warm ($\sim 10^3~\rm K$) molecular gas phase, traced by ro-vibrational transitions of …
I put forth a scenario of jet-driven jittering-jets in cooling flows in galaxies and clusters of galaxies. By uplifting cool gas from the center of the cluster jets and the bubbles they inflate cause the direction of later jets to substantially change. Some uplifted cool clumps fall back to feed the active galactic nucleus, in what is termed the cold feedback mechanism, but with an average angular momentum that is largely inclined to that of the original jets. The proposed jittering jets scenario allows, over the cooling time of the intracluster medium (ICM), the heating by the mixing of hot j…
Feedback processes by active galactic nuclei in the centres of galaxy clusters appear to prevent large-scale cooling flows and impede star formation. However, the detailed heating mechanism remains uncertain. One promising heating scenario invokes the dissipation of Alfvén waves that are generated by streaming cosmic rays (CRs). In order to study this idea, we use three-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamical simulations with the AREPO code that follow the evolution of jet-inflated bubbles that are filled with CRs in a turbulent cluster atmosphere. We find that a single injection event produces the…
We analyze three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of the interaction of jets and the bubbles they inflate with the intra-cluster medium (ICM), and show that the heating of the ICM by mixing hot bubble gas with the ICM operates over tens of millions of years, and hence can smooth the sporadic activity of the jets. The inflation process of hot bubbles by propagating jets forms many vortices, and these vortices mix the hot bubble gas with the ICM. The mixing, hence the heating of the ICM, starts immediately after the jets are launched, but continues for tens of millions of years. We suggest…
We investigate whether the swirling cold front in the core of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies has affected the outer buoyant bubbles that originated from jets from the Active Galactic Nucleus in the central galaxy NGC1275. The inner bubbles and the Outer Southern bubble lie along a North-South axis through the nucleus, whereas the Outer Northern bubble appears rotated about 45 deg from that axis. Detailed numerical simulations of the interaction indicates that the Outer Northern bubble may have been pushed clockwise accounting for its current location. Given the common occurrence of cold front…
The nature and origin of the Fermi bubbles detected in the inner Galaxy remain elusive. In this paper, we briefly discuss some recent theoretical and observational developments, with a focus on the AGN jet model. Analogous to radio lobes observed in massive galaxies, the Fermi bubbles could be naturally produced by a pair of opposing jets emanating nearly along the Galaxy's rotation axis from the Galactic center. Our two-fluid hydrodynamic simulations reproduce quite well the bubble location and shape, and interface instabilities at the bubble surface could be effectively suppressed by shear v…
We study the similarities of jet-medium interactions in several quite different astrophysical systems using 2D and 3D hydrodynamical numerical simulations, and find many similarities. The systems include cooling flow (CF) clusters of galaxies, core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe), planetary nebulae (PNe), and common envelope (CE) evolution. The similarities include hot bubbles inflated by jets in a bipolar structure, vortices on the sides of the jets, vortices inside the inflated bubbles, fragmentation of bubbles to two and more bubbles, and buoyancy of bubbles. The activity in many cases is regul…
We present high angular resolution observations of the HCN(1-0) emission (at ~1" or ~34 pc), together with CO J = 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 observations, toward the Seyfert 2 nucleus of M51 (NGC 5194). The overall HCN(1-0) distribution and kinematics are very similar to that of the CO lines, which have been indicated as the jet-entrained molecular gas in our past observations. In addition, high HCN(1-0)/CO(1-0) brightness temperature ratio of about unity is observed along the jets, similar to that observed at the shocked molecular gas in our Galaxy. These results strongly indicate that both diffuse an…
I conduct simple analytical estimates and conclude that mixing by vortices is a more efficient process to transfer the cosmic ray energy of jet-inflated bubbles to the intracluster medium (ICM) than streaming of cosmic rays along magnetic field lines. Jets and the bubbles they inflate transfer heat to the ambient gas in cooling flows in cluster of galaxies and in galaxies. The internal energy of the jet-inflated bubbles is dominate by very hot thermal gas and/or cosmic rays. Cosmic rays that stream along magnetic field lines that connect the bubbles with the ICM heat the ICM as their energy is…
We compare a recent study of the kinematics of optical filaments in three cooling flow clusters of galaxies with previous numerical simulations of jet-inflated hot bubbles, and conclude that the velocity structure functions of the filaments better fit direct excitation by the jets than by turbulent cascade from the largest turbulent eddies. The observed velocity structure functions of the optical filaments in the three clusters are steeper than that expected from a classical cascade in turbulent dissipation. Our three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamical simulations show that as the jets inflate bu…
The origin of the Fermi bubbles recently detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in the inner Galaxy is mysterious. In the companion paper Guo & Mathews (Paper I), we use hydrodynamic simulations to show that they could be produced by a recent powerful AGN jet event. Here we further explore this scenario to study the potential roles of shear viscosity and cosmic ray (CR) diffusion on the morphology and CR distribution of the bubbles. We show that even a relatively low level of viscosity (μ_{visc} >~ 3 g cm^{-1} s^{-1}, or ~0.1% - 1% of Braginskii viscosity in this context) could effect…
We examine the heating of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) of cooling flow clusters of galaxies by jet-inflated bubbles and conclude that mixing of hot bubble gas with the ICM is more important than turbulent heating and shock heating. We use the PLUTO hydrodynamical code in full 3D to properly account for the inflation of the bubbles and to the multiple vortices induced by the jets and bubbles. The vortices mix some hot shocked jet gas with the ICM. For the parameters used by us the mixing process accounts for about four times as much heating as that by the kinetic energy in the ICM, namely, tu…
We report new ALMA observations of the CO(3-2) line emission from the $2.1\pm0.3\times10^{10}\rm\thinspace M_{\odot}$ molecular gas reservoir in the central galaxy of the Phoenix cluster. The cold molecular gas is fuelling a vigorous starburst at a rate of $500-800\rm\thinspace M_{\odot}\rm\; yr^{-1}$ and powerful black hole activity in the form of both intense quasar radiation and radio jets. The radio jets have inflated huge bubbles filled with relativistic plasma into the hot, X-ray atmospheres surrounding the host galaxy. The ALMA observations show that extended filaments of molecular gas,…
Feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) is believed to prevent catastrophic cooling in galaxy clusters. However, how the feedback energy is transformed into heat, and how the AGN jets heat the intracluster medium (ICM) isotropically, still remain elusive. In this work, we gain insights into the relative importance of different heating mechanisms using three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations including cold gas accretion and momentum-driven jet feedback, which are the most successful models to date in terms reproducing the properties of cool cores. We find that there is net heating within …
Simulating the Formation of the Young "Fermi Bubbles" in the Circinus Galaxy
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院上海天文台）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Tianfu Cosmic Ray Research Center（天府宇宙线研究中心）；School of Physics, Henan Normal University（河南师范大学物理学院）；Center for Theoretical Physics, Henan Normal University（河南师范大学理论物理中心）；Centre for Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire（赫特福德大学天体物理研究中心）；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma（意大利国家天体物理研究所罗马天文台）；Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院紫金山天文台）
We studied the nearby, interacting galaxy NGC 5195 (M51b) in the radio, optical and X-ray bands. We mapped the extended, low-surface-brightness features of its radio-continuum emission; determined the energy content of its complex structure of shock-ionized gas; constrained the current activity level of its supermassive nuclear black hole. In particular, we combined data from the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network (~1-pc scale), from our new e-MERLIN observations (~10-pc scale), and from the Very Large Array (~100-1000-pc scale), to obtain a global picture of energy injection i…
We analyze our earlier three-dimensional hydrodynamical numerical simulation of jet-inflated bubbles in cooling flow clusters, and find that dense gas that was not heated by the jets' activity and that resides around the hot jet-inflated bubbles can be identified as uplifted gas as observed in some clusters. During the build up of the dense gas around the hot bubble, mixing of hot bubble gas with other regions of the intracluster medium (ICM) heats the ICM. The vortices that mix the ICM with the hot bubble gas also excite shock waves, sound waves, and turbulence. Sound waves, shocks, turbulenc…
We simulate the evolution of dense-cool clumps embedded in the intra-cluster medium (ICM) of cooling flow clusters of galaxies in response to multiple jet-activity cycles, and find that the main heating process of the clumps is mixing with the hot shocked jets' gas, the bubbles, while shocks have a limited role. We use the PLUTO hydrodynamical code in two dimensions with imposed axisymmetry, to follow the thermal evolution of the clumps. We find that the inflation process of hot bubbles, that appear as X-ray deficient cavities in observations, is accompanied by complicated induced vortices ins…
We compare the velocity dispersion of the intracluster medium (ICM) of the Perseus cluster of galaxies as observed by the Hitomi X-ray telescope to our three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of jet-inflated bubbles in cluster cooling flows, and conclude that the observations support the mixing-heating mechanism of the ICM. In the mixing-heating mechanism the ICM is heated by mixing of hot bubble gas with the ICM. This mixing is caused by vortices that are formed during the inflation process of the bubble. Sound waves and turbulence are also excited by the vortices, but they contribute le…
We present ALMA and MUSE observations of the Brightest Cluster Galaxy in Abell 2597, a nearby (z=0.0821) cool core cluster of galaxies. The data map the kinematics of a three billion solar mass filamentary nebula that spans the innermost 30 kpc of the galaxy's core. Its warm ionized and cold molecular components are both cospatial and comoving, consistent with the hypothesis that the optical nebula traces the warm envelopes of many cold molecular clouds that drift in the velocity field of the hot X-ray atmosphere. The clouds are not in dynamical equilibrium, and instead show evidence for inflo…
We report the detection of a new Galactic bubble at the interface between the halo and the Galactic disc. We suggest that the nearby Lupus complex and parts of the Ophiuchus complex constitute the denser parts of the structure. This young bubble, < 3 Myr old, could be the remnant of a supernova and expands inside a larger HI loop that has been created by the outflows of the Upper Scorpius OB association. An HI cavity filled with hot X-ray gas is associated with the structure, which is consistent with the Galactic chimney scenario. The X-ray emission extends beyond the west and north-west edges…
We present new ALMA observations tracing the morphology and velocity structure of the molecular gas in the central galaxy of the cluster Abell 1795. The molecular gas lies in two filaments that extend 5 - 7 kpc to the N and S from the nucleus and project exclusively around the outer edges of two inner radio bubbles. Radio jets launched by the central AGN have inflated bubbles filled with relativistic plasma into the hot atmosphere surrounding the central galaxy. The N filament has a smoothly increasing velocity gradient along its length from the central galaxy's systemic velocity at the nucleu…
