Mapping the imprints of stellar and AGN feedback in the circumgalactic medium with X-ray microcalorimeters

Kavli Affiliate: Mark Vogelsberger

| First 5 Authors: Gerrit Schellenberger, Ákos Bogdán, John A. ZuHone, Benjamin D. Oppenheimer, Nhut Truong

| Summary:

The Astro2020 Decadal Survey has identified the mapping of the circumgalactic
medium (CGM, gaseous plasma around galaxies) as a key objective. We explore the
prospects for characterizing the CGM in and around nearby galaxy halos with
future large grasp X-ray microcalorimeters. We create realistic mock
observations from hydrodynamical simulations (EAGLE, IllustrisTNG, and Simba)
that demonstrate a wide range of potential measurements, which will address the
open questions in galaxy formation and evolution. By including all background
and foreground components in our mock observations, we show why it is
impossible to perform these measurements with current instruments, such as
X-ray CCDs, and only microcalorimeters will allow us to distinguish the faint
CGM emission from the bright Milky Way (MW) foreground emission lines.
We find that individual halos of MW mass can, on average, be traced out to
large radii, around R500, and for larger galaxies even out to R200, using the
OVII, OVIII, or FeXVII emission lines. Furthermore, we show that emission line
ratios for individual halos can reveal the radial temperature structure.
Substructure measurements show that it will be possible to relate azimuthal
variations to the feedback mode of the galaxy. We demonstrate the ability to
construct temperature, velocity, and abundance ratio maps from spectral fitting
for individual galaxy halos, which reveal rotation features, AGN outbursts, and
enrichment.

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