Kavli Affiliate: Mark Vogelsberger
| First 5 Authors: Aneesh Sivasankaran, Laura Blecha, Paul Torrey, Luke Zoltan Kelley, Aklant Bhowmick
| Summary:
Feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) can strongly impact the host
galaxies by driving high-velocity winds that impart substantial energy and
momentum to the interstellar medium (ISM). In this work, we study the impact of
these winds in isolated galaxies using high-resolution hydrodynamics
simulations. Our simulations use the explicit ISM and stellar evolution model
called Stars and MUltiphase Gas in GaLaxiEs (SMUGGLE). Additionally, using a
super-Lagrangian refinement scheme, we resolve AGN feedback coupling to the ISM
at $sim$10-100 pc scales. We find that AGN feedback efficiently regulates the
growth of SMBHs. However, its effect on star formation and outflows depends
strongly on the relative strengths of AGN vs local stellar feedback and the
geometrical structure of the gas disk. When the energy injected by AGN is
subdominant to that of stellar feedback, there are no significant changes in
the star formation rates or mass outflow rates of the host galaxy. Conversely,
when the energy budget is dominated by the AGN, we see a significant decline in
the star formation rates accompanied by an increase in outflows. Galaxies with
thin gas disks like the Milky Way allow feedback to escape easily into the
polar directions without doing much work on the ISM. In contrast, galaxies with
thick and diffuse gas disks confine the initial expansion of the feedback
bubble within the disk, resulting in more work done on the ISM. Phase space
analysis indicates that outflows primarily comprise hot and diffuse gas, with a
lack of cold and dense gas.
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