AGN feedback is responsible for maintaining plasma in global thermal balance in extended halos of elliptical galaxies and galaxy clusters. Local thermal instability in the hot gas leads to the formation of precipitating cold gas clouds that feed the central supermassive black holes, thus heating the hot gas and maintaining global thermal equilibrium. We perform three dimensional MHD simulations of self-regulated AGN feedback in a Perseus-like galaxy cluster with the aim of understanding the impact of the feedback physics on the turbulence properties of the hot and cold phases of the ICM. We find that, in general, the cold phase velocity structure function (VSF) is steeper than the prediction from Kolmogorov's theory. We attribute the physical origin of the steeper slope of the cold phase VSF to the driving of turbulent motions primarily by the gravitational acceleration acting on the ballistic clouds. We demonstrate that, in the pure hydrodynamical case, the precipitating cold filaments may be the dominant agent driving turbulence in the hot ICM. The arguments in favor of this hypothesis are that: (i) the cold phase mass dominates over hot gas mass in the inner cool core; (ii) hot and cold gas velocities are spatially correlated; (iii) both the cold and hot phase velocity distributions are radially biased. We show that, in the MHD case, the turbulence in the ambient hot medium (excluding the jet cone regions) can also be driven by the AGN jets. The driving is then facilitated by enhanced coupling due to magnetic fields of the ambient gas and the AGN jets. In the MHD case, turbulence may thus be driven by a combination of AGN jet stirring and filament motions. We conclude that future observations, including those from high spatial and spectral resolution X-ray missions, may help to constrain self-regulated AGN feedback by quantifying the multi-temperature VSF in the ICM.
Quasar absorption-line studies in the ultraviolet (UV) can uniquely probe the nature of the multiphase cool-warm (10^4 < T < 10^6 K) gas in and around galaxy clusters, promising to provide unprecedented insights into 1) interactions between the circumgalactic medium (CGM) associated with infalling galaxies and the hot (T > 10^6 K) X-ray emitting intracluster medium (ICM), 2) the stripping of metal-rich gas from the CGM, and 3) a multiphase structure of the ICM with a wide range of temperatures and metallicities. In this work, we present results from a high-resolution simulation of a ~10^14 sol…
We provide an analytic framework for interpreting observations of multiphase circumgalactic gas that is heavily informed by recent numerical simulations of thermal instability and precipitation in cool-core galaxy clusters. We start by considering the local conditions required for the formation of multiphase gas via two different modes: (1) uplift of ambient gas by galactic outflows, and (2) condensation in a stratified stationary medium in which thermal balance is explicitly maintained. Analytic exploration of these two modes provides insights into the relationships between the local ratio of…
Using high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy clusters, we study the interaction between the brightest cluster galaxy, its supermassive black hole (BH) and the intracluster medium (ICM). We create initial conditions for which the ICM is in hydrostatic equilibrium within the gravitational potential from the galaxy and an NFW dark matter halo. Two free parameters associated with the thermodynamic profiles determine the cluster gas fraction and the central temperature, where the latter can be used to create cool-core or non-cool-core systems. Our simulations include radiative cooling…
We conduct two kinds of homogeneous isotropic turbulence simulations relevant for the intracluster medium (ICM): (i) pure turbulence runs without radiative cooling; (ii) turbulent heating$+$radiative cooling runs with global thermal balance. For pure turbulence runs in the subsonic regime, the rms density and surface brightness (SB) fluctuations vary as the square of the rms Mach number ($\mathcal{M}_{\text{rms}}$). However, with thermal balance, the density and SB fluctuations $(δSB/SB)$ are much larger. These scalings have implications for translating SB fluctuations into a turbulent velocit…
We consider a model of the circumgalactic medium (CGM) in which feedback maintains a constant ratio of cooling time to freefall time throughout the halo, so that the entire CGM is marginally unstable to multiphase condensation. This 'precipitation model' is motivated by observations of multiphase gas in the cores of galaxy clusters and the halos of massive ellipticals. We derive from the model density and temperature profiles for the CGM around galaxies with masses similar to the Milky Way. After taking into consideration the geometrical position of our solar system in the Milky Way, we show t…
The birth of the intracluster medium: the evolution of multiphase gas and Lyman-$α$ haloes in a simulated $z\sim3$ protocluster
University of Nottingham（诺丁汉大学）；The University of Texas at Dallas（德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校）；Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik（马克斯·普朗克天体物理学研究所）；University of Cambridge（剑桥大学）
Cluster galaxies moving through the intracluster medium (ICM) are expected to lose some of their interstellar medium (ISM) through ISM-ICM interactions. We perform high resolution (40 pc) three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of a galaxy undergoing ram pressure stripping including radiative cooling in order to investigate stripping of a multiphase medium. The clumpy, multiphase ISM is self-consistently produced by the inclusion of radiative cooling, and spans six orders of magnitude in gas density. We find no large variations in the amount of gas lost whether or not cooling is involved,…
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 Inter-Galactic Medium (IGM) and outflows 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 h…
Star formation in the universe's largest galaxies---the ones at the centers of galaxy clusters---depends critically on the thermodynamic state of their hot gaseous atmospheres. Central galaxies with low-entropy, high-density atmospheres frequently contain multiphase star-forming gas, while those with high-entropy, low-density atmospheres never do. The dividing line between these two populations in central entropy, and therefore central cooling time, is amazingly sharp. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the dichotomy. One points out that thermal conduction can prevent radiative cooli…
Most of the massive elliptical galaxies in the universe stopped forming stars billions of years ago, even though plenty of hot gas remains available for star formation. Here we present compelling evidence indicating that quenching of star formation depends on both black-hole feedback and Type Ia supernova heating. We analyze Chandra X-ray observations of ten massive ellipticals, five with extended, potentially star-forming multiphase gas and five single-phase ellipticals with no star formation. The ratio of cooling time to freefall time at 1--10 kpc in the multiphase galaxies is tc/tff ~10, in…
We perform a suite of simulations with realistic gravity and thermal balance in shells to quantify the role of the ratio of cooling time to the free-fall time ($t_{\rm cool}/t_{\rm ff}$) and the amplitude of density perturbations ($δρ/ρ$) in the production of multiphase gas in the circumgalactic medium (CGM). Previous idealized simulations, focussing on small amplitude perturbations in the intracluster medium (ICM), found that cold gas can condense out of the hot ICM in global thermal balance when the background $t_{\rm cool}/t_{\rm ff} \lesssim 10$. Recent observations suggest the presence of…
Abundant observational evidence indicates that the cooling time t_cool of the hot ambient medium pervading a massive galaxy does not drop much below 10 times the freefall time t_ff at any radius. Theoretical models have accounted for this finding by hypothesizing that cold clouds start to condense out of the ambient medium when t_cool/t_ff < 10 and fuel a strong black-hole feedback response that reheats the ambient gas, but those models have not yet been able to provide a simple explanation for the origin of the critical t_cool/t_ff ratio. This paper explores a heuristic model for condensation…
We have initiated a programme to study the physical/dynamical state of gas in galaxy clusters and the impact of the cluster environment on gaseous halos of individual galaxies using X-ray imaging and UV absorption line spectroscopy of background QSOs. Here we report results from the analysis Chandra and XMM-Newton archival data of five galaxy clusters with such QSOs, one of which has an archival UV spectrum. We characterize the gravitational masses and dynamical states, as well as the hot intracluster medium (ICM) properties of these clusters. Most clusters are dynamically disturbed clusters b…
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…
We present new, deep, narrow- and broad-band Hubble Space Telescope observations of seven of the most star-forming brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). Continuum-subtracted [O II] maps reveal the detailed, complex structure of warm ($T \sim 10^4$ K) ionized gas filaments in these BCGs, allowing us to measure spatially-resolved star formation rates (SFRs) of ~60-600 Msun/yr. We compare the SFRs in these systems and others from the literature to their intracluster medium (ICM) cooling rates (dM/dt), measured from archival Chandra X-ray data, finding a best-fit relation of log(SFR) = (1.67+/-0.17) …
Supernova explosions, active galactic nuclei jets, galaxy--galaxy interactions and cluster mergers can drive turbulence in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) and in the intracluster medium (ICM). However, the exact nature of turbulence forced by these sources and its impact on the different statistical properties of the CGM/ICM and their global thermodynamics is still unclear. To investigate the effects of different types of forcing, we conduct high resolution ($1008^3$ resolution elements) idealised hydrodynamic simulations with purely solenoidal (divergence-free) forcing, purely compressive (cu…
The central regions of cool-core galaxy clusters harbour multiphase gas, with gas temperatures ranging from $10$ $\mathrm{K}$--$10^7$$\mathrm{K}$. Feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) jets prevents the gas from undergoing a catastrophic cooling flow. However, the exact mechanism of this feedback energy input is unknown, mainly due to the lack of velocity measurements of the hot phase gas. However, recent observations have measured the velocity structure functions ($\mathrm{VSF}$s) of the cooler molecular ($\sim10$$\mathrm{K}$) and H$α$ filaments ($\sim10^4$$\mathrm{K}$) and used them to…
Turbulence in the intracluster medium (ICM) is driven by active galactic nuclei (AGNs) jets, by mergers, and in the wakes of infalling galaxies. It not only governs gas motion but also plays a key role in the ICM thermodynamics. Turbulence can help seed thermal instability by generating density fluctuations, and mix the hot and cold phases together to produce intermediate temperature gas ($10^4$--$10^7$ $\mathrm{K}$) with short cooling times. We conduct high resolution ($384^3$--$768^3$ resolution elements) idealised simulations of the multiphase ICM and study the effects of turbulence strengt…
We present an archival analysis of Chandra X-ray observations for twelve nearby early-type galaxies hosting radio sources with radio power $>10^{23} \, \rm{W}~\rm{Hz}^{-1}$ at 1.4 GHz, similar to the radio power of the radio source in NGC 4261. Previously, in a similar analysis of eight nearby X-ray and optically-bright elliptical galaxies, Werner et al. 2012, found that NGC 4261 exhibited unusually low central gas entropy compared to the full sample. In the central 0.3 kpc of NGC 4261, the ratio of cooling time to freefall time ($t_{\rm{cool}}/t_{\rm ff}$) is less than $10$, indicating that c…
Great Balls of Fire: Star Formation in Gas Clouds Accelerated by a Hot Wind
Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute（计算天体物理中心，Flatiron研究所）；Departamento de Física, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María（费德里科·萨马亚技术大学物理系）；Millennium Nucleus for Galaxies (MINGAL)（星系千年核心（MINGAL））；INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova（意大利国家天体物理研究所帕多瓦天文台）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia ‘Galileo Galilei’, Universit ‘a di Padova（帕多瓦大学伽利略·伽利莱物理与天文学系）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia ”Augusto Righi”, Università di Bologna（博洛尼大学奥古斯托·里基物理与天文学系）
We perform global linear stability analysis and idealized numerical simulations in global thermal balance to understand the condensation of cold gas from hot/virial atmospheres (coronae), in particular the intracluster medium (ICM). We pay particular attention to geometry (e.g., spherical versus plane-parallel) and the nature of the gravitational potential. Global linear analysis gives a similar value for the fastest growing thermal instability modes in spherical and Cartesian geometries. Simulations and observations suggest that cooling in halos critically depends on the ratio of the cooling …
The brightest galaxy in the nearby Perseus cluster, NGC1275, is surrounded by a network of filaments. These were first observed through their Halpha emission but are now known to have a large molecular component with a total mass approaching 10^11Msun of gas. The filaments are embedded in hot intracluster gas and stretch over 80 kpc. They have an unusual low excitation spectrum which is well modelled by collisional heating and ionization by secondary electrons. Here we note that the surface radiative flux from the outer filaments is close to the energy flux impacting on them from particles in …
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…
BlackHoleWeather -- Jet-regulated chaotic cold accretion across the meso scale: Variability and kinematics
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia（摩德纳和雷焦艾米利亚大学）；Universidad de Santiago de Chile（智利圣地亚哥大学）；CIRAS, Universidad de Santiago de Chile（智利圣地亚哥大学 CIRAS）；INAF – Astronomical Observatory of Rome（意大利国家天体物理研究所罗马天文台）；Universidad Diego Portales（迭戈帕托莱斯大学）；NASA Ames Research Center（美国宇航局艾姆斯研究中心）
