Turbulence and Star Formation Suppression in Elliptical Galaxies: The Role of Active Galactic Nucleus Jet Wind Interaction

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Guo, Minhang, Ji, Suoqing, Yuan, Feng, Zhu, Bocheng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Guo, Minhang
Ji, Suoqing
Yuan, Feng
Zhu, Bocheng
author_facet Guo, Minhang
Ji, Suoqing
Yuan, Feng
Zhu, Bocheng
contents Winds and jets are symbiotic when the accretion rate is low, according to black hole accretion theory. Both components are potentially important for active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback, but previous works typically include only jets with free parameters. We perform hydrodynamical simulations of an isolated elliptical galaxy with both jets and winds included. The key features discriminating our simulations from others are that our simulations resolve the Bondi radius for reliable black hole accretion rate calculation and use parameters from GRMHD simulations. By selectively activating jets and winds, we examine their individual and combined effects. We find that effective AGN feedback, which is capable of generating strong turbulence and subsequently increasing central gas entropy and suppressing cool gas condensation and star formation, occurs only when both jets and winds operate simultaneously. The physical mechanism is the interaction between winds and jets: this interaction produces strong shear at their interface, leading to turbulence via the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. In contrast, neither jets nor winds alone can generate strong turbulence due to the insufficient shear. The turbulence produced by wind-jet interaction is predominantly solenoidal in nature, giving rise to a broad energy spectrum approximately following a Kolmogorov-like power law and a dissipation rate $\sim 10^{-27}\,\mathrm{erg\,cm^{-3}\,s^{-1}}$ in the interstellar medium, consistent with observations. Our findings highlight the importance of simultaneously considering both jets and winds in studying the effects of AGN feedback in the evolution of elliptical galaxies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_27301
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Turbulence and Star Formation Suppression in Elliptical Galaxies: The Role of Active Galactic Nucleus Jet Wind Interaction
Guo, Minhang
Ji, Suoqing
Yuan, Feng
Zhu, Bocheng
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
Fluid Dynamics
Winds and jets are symbiotic when the accretion rate is low, according to black hole accretion theory. Both components are potentially important for active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback, but previous works typically include only jets with free parameters. We perform hydrodynamical simulations of an isolated elliptical galaxy with both jets and winds included. The key features discriminating our simulations from others are that our simulations resolve the Bondi radius for reliable black hole accretion rate calculation and use parameters from GRMHD simulations. By selectively activating jets and winds, we examine their individual and combined effects. We find that effective AGN feedback, which is capable of generating strong turbulence and subsequently increasing central gas entropy and suppressing cool gas condensation and star formation, occurs only when both jets and winds operate simultaneously. The physical mechanism is the interaction between winds and jets: this interaction produces strong shear at their interface, leading to turbulence via the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. In contrast, neither jets nor winds alone can generate strong turbulence due to the insufficient shear. The turbulence produced by wind-jet interaction is predominantly solenoidal in nature, giving rise to a broad energy spectrum approximately following a Kolmogorov-like power law and a dissipation rate $\sim 10^{-27}\,\mathrm{erg\,cm^{-3}\,s^{-1}}$ in the interstellar medium, consistent with observations. Our findings highlight the importance of simultaneously considering both jets and winds in studying the effects of AGN feedback in the evolution of elliptical galaxies.
title Turbulence and Star Formation Suppression in Elliptical Galaxies: The Role of Active Galactic Nucleus Jet Wind Interaction
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems
Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.27301