Magnetic field amplification in cosmological zoom simulations from dwarf galaxies to galaxy groups

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pakmor, Ruediger, Bieri, Rebekka, van de Voort, Freeke, Werhahn, Maria, Fattahi, Azadeh, Guillet, Thomas, Pfrommer, Christoph, Springel, Volker, Talbot, Rosie Y.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866914635504943104
author Pakmor, Ruediger
Bieri, Rebekka
van de Voort, Freeke
Werhahn, Maria
Fattahi, Azadeh
Guillet, Thomas
Pfrommer, Christoph
Springel, Volker
Talbot, Rosie Y.
author_facet Pakmor, Ruediger
Bieri, Rebekka
van de Voort, Freeke
Werhahn, Maria
Fattahi, Azadeh
Guillet, Thomas
Pfrommer, Christoph
Springel, Volker
Talbot, Rosie Y.
contents Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in the Universe. Recently, cosmological simulations of galaxies have successfully begun to incorporate magnetic fields and their evolution in galaxies and their haloes. However, so far they have mostly focused on Milky Way-like galaxies. Here we analyse a sample of high resolution cosmological zoom simulations of disc galaxies in haloes with mass $M_\mathrm{200c}$ from $10^{10}\,\mathrm{M}_\odot$ to $10^{13}\,\mathrm{M}_\odot$, simulated with the Auriga galaxy formation model. We show that with sufficient numerical resolution the magnetic field amplification and saturation is converged. The magnetic field strength reaches equipartition with turbulent energy density for galaxies in haloes with $M_\mathrm{200c}\gtrsim 10^{11.5}\,\mathrm{M_\odot}$. For galaxies in less massive haloes, the magnetic field strength saturates at a fraction of equipartition that decreases with decreasing halo mass. For our lowest mass haloes, the magnetic field saturates significantly below $10\%$ of equipartition. We quantify the resolution we need to obtain converged magnetic field strengths and discuss our resolution requirements also in the context of the IllustrisTNG cosmological box simulations. We show that, at $z=0$, rotation-dominated galaxies in our sample exhibit for the most part an ordered large scale magnetic field, with fewer field reversals in more massive galaxies. Finally, we compare the magnetic fields in our cosmological galaxies at $z=0$ with simulations of isolated galaxies in a collapsing halo setup. Our results pave the way for detailed studies of cosmic rays and other physical processes in similar cosmological galaxy simulations that crucially depend on the strength and structure of magnetic fields.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2309_13104
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Magnetic field amplification in cosmological zoom simulations from dwarf galaxies to galaxy groups
Pakmor, Ruediger
Bieri, Rebekka
van de Voort, Freeke
Werhahn, Maria
Fattahi, Azadeh
Guillet, Thomas
Pfrommer, Christoph
Springel, Volker
Talbot, Rosie Y.
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in the Universe. Recently, cosmological simulations of galaxies have successfully begun to incorporate magnetic fields and their evolution in galaxies and their haloes. However, so far they have mostly focused on Milky Way-like galaxies. Here we analyse a sample of high resolution cosmological zoom simulations of disc galaxies in haloes with mass $M_\mathrm{200c}$ from $10^{10}\,\mathrm{M}_\odot$ to $10^{13}\,\mathrm{M}_\odot$, simulated with the Auriga galaxy formation model. We show that with sufficient numerical resolution the magnetic field amplification and saturation is converged. The magnetic field strength reaches equipartition with turbulent energy density for galaxies in haloes with $M_\mathrm{200c}\gtrsim 10^{11.5}\,\mathrm{M_\odot}$. For galaxies in less massive haloes, the magnetic field strength saturates at a fraction of equipartition that decreases with decreasing halo mass. For our lowest mass haloes, the magnetic field saturates significantly below $10\%$ of equipartition. We quantify the resolution we need to obtain converged magnetic field strengths and discuss our resolution requirements also in the context of the IllustrisTNG cosmological box simulations. We show that, at $z=0$, rotation-dominated galaxies in our sample exhibit for the most part an ordered large scale magnetic field, with fewer field reversals in more massive galaxies. Finally, we compare the magnetic fields in our cosmological galaxies at $z=0$ with simulations of isolated galaxies in a collapsing halo setup. Our results pave the way for detailed studies of cosmic rays and other physical processes in similar cosmological galaxy simulations that crucially depend on the strength and structure of magnetic fields.
title Magnetic field amplification in cosmological zoom simulations from dwarf galaxies to galaxy groups
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.13104