Cooling Flows as a Reference Solution for the Hot Circumgalactic Medium

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sultan, Imran, Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André, Stern, Jonathan, Rotshtein, Shaked, Byrne, Lindsey, Wijers, Nastasha
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866915278853505024
author Sultan, Imran
Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André
Stern, Jonathan
Rotshtein, Shaked
Byrne, Lindsey
Wijers, Nastasha
author_facet Sultan, Imran
Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André
Stern, Jonathan
Rotshtein, Shaked
Byrne, Lindsey
Wijers, Nastasha
contents The circumgalactic medium (CGM) in $\gtrsim 10^{12}$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ halos is dominated by a hot phase ($T \gtrsim 10^{6}$ K). While many models exist for the hot gas structure, there is as yet no consensus. We compare cooling flow models, in which the hot CGM flows inward due to radiative cooling, to the CGM of $\sim 10^{12}-10^{13}$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ halos in galaxy formation simulations from the FIRE project at $z\sim0$. The simulations include realistic cosmological evolution and feedback from stars but neglect AGN feedback. At both mass scales, CGM inflows are typically dominated by the hot phase rather than by the `precipitation' of cold gas. Despite being highly idealized, we find that cooling flows describe $\sim 10^{13}$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ halos very well, with median agreement in the density and temperature profiles of $\sim 20\%$ and $\sim 10\%$, respectively. This indicates that stellar feedback has little impact on CGM scales in those halos. For $\sim 10^{12}$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ halos, the thermodynamic profiles are also accurately reproduced in the outer CGM. For some of these lower-mass halos, cooling flows significantly overpredict the hot gas density in the inner CGM. This could be due to multidimensional angular momentum effects not well captured by our 1D cooling flow models and/or to the larger cold gas fractions in these regions. Turbulence, which contributes $\sim 10-40\%$ of the total pressure, must be included to accurately reproduce the temperature profiles. Overall, cooling flows predict entropy profiles in better agreement with the FIRE simulations than other idealized models in the literature.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_16359
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Cooling Flows as a Reference Solution for the Hot Circumgalactic Medium
Sultan, Imran
Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André
Stern, Jonathan
Rotshtein, Shaked
Byrne, Lindsey
Wijers, Nastasha
Astrophysics of Galaxies
The circumgalactic medium (CGM) in $\gtrsim 10^{12}$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ halos is dominated by a hot phase ($T \gtrsim 10^{6}$ K). While many models exist for the hot gas structure, there is as yet no consensus. We compare cooling flow models, in which the hot CGM flows inward due to radiative cooling, to the CGM of $\sim 10^{12}-10^{13}$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ halos in galaxy formation simulations from the FIRE project at $z\sim0$. The simulations include realistic cosmological evolution and feedback from stars but neglect AGN feedback. At both mass scales, CGM inflows are typically dominated by the hot phase rather than by the `precipitation' of cold gas. Despite being highly idealized, we find that cooling flows describe $\sim 10^{13}$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ halos very well, with median agreement in the density and temperature profiles of $\sim 20\%$ and $\sim 10\%$, respectively. This indicates that stellar feedback has little impact on CGM scales in those halos. For $\sim 10^{12}$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ halos, the thermodynamic profiles are also accurately reproduced in the outer CGM. For some of these lower-mass halos, cooling flows significantly overpredict the hot gas density in the inner CGM. This could be due to multidimensional angular momentum effects not well captured by our 1D cooling flow models and/or to the larger cold gas fractions in these regions. Turbulence, which contributes $\sim 10-40\%$ of the total pressure, must be included to accurately reproduce the temperature profiles. Overall, cooling flows predict entropy profiles in better agreement with the FIRE simulations than other idealized models in the literature.
title Cooling Flows as a Reference Solution for the Hot Circumgalactic Medium
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.16359