How to model supernovae in simulations of star and galaxy formation

Philip F. Hopkins; Andrew Wetzel; Dušan Kereš; Claude André Faucher-Giguère; Eliot Quataert; Michael Boylan-Kolchin; Norman Murray; Christopher C. Hayward; Kareem El-Badry

doi:10.1093/mnras/sty674

How to model supernovae in simulations of star and galaxy formation

Philip F. Hopkins^*, Andrew Wetzel, Dušan Kereš, Claude André Faucher-Giguère, Eliot Quataert, Michael Boylan-Kolchin, Norman Murray, Christopher C. Hayward, Kareem El-Badry

^*Corresponding author for this work

Physics and Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

153 Scopus citations

Abstract

We study the implementation of mechanical feedback from supernovae (SNe) and stellar mass loss in galaxy simulations, within the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. We present the FIRE-2 algorithm for coupling mechanical feedback, which can be applied to any hydrodynamics method (e.g. fixed-grid, moving-mesh, and mesh-less methods), and black hole as well as stellar feedback. This algorithm ensures manifest conservation of mass, energy, and momentum, and avoids imprinting 'preferred directions' on the ejecta. We show that it is critical to incorporate both momentum and thermal energy of mechanical ejecta in a self-consistent manner, accounting for SNe cooling radii when they are not resolved. Using idealized simulations of single SN explosions, we show that the FIRE-2 algorithm, independent of resolution, reproduces converged solutions in both energy and momentum. In contrast, common 'fully thermal' (energy-dump) or 'fully kinetic' (particle-kicking) schemes in the literature depend strongly on resolution: when applied at mass resolution ≳100M_⊙, they diverge by orders of magnitude from the converged solution. In galaxy-formation simulations, this divergence leads to orders-of-magnitude differences in galaxy properties, unless those models are adjusted in a resolution-dependent way. We show that all models that individually time-resolve SNe converge to the FIRE-2 solution at sufficiently high resolution (< 100M_⊙). However, in both idealized single-SN simulations and cosmological galaxy-formation simulations, the FIRE-2 algorithm converges much faster than other sub-grid models without re-tuning parameters.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1578-1603
Number of pages	26
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume	477
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty674
State	Published - Jun 21 2018

Funding

We thank our referee, Joakim Rosdahl, for a number of insightful comments. Support for PFH and co-authors was provided by an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, NASA ATP Grant NNX14AH35G, and NSF Collaborative Research Gr ant #1411920 and CAREER grant #1455342. AW was supported by a Caltech-Carnegie Fellowship, in part through the Moore Center for Theoretical Cosmology and Physics at Caltech, and by NASA through grant HST-GO-14734 from STScI. CAFG was supported by NSF through grants AST-1412836 and AST-1517491, and by NASA through grant NNX15AB22G. DK was supported by NSF Grant AST1412153 and a Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. The Flatiron Institute is supported by the Simons Foundation. Numerical calculations were run on the Caltech compute cluster ‘Wheeler,’ allocations TG-AST120025, TG-AST130039 and TG-AST150080 granted by the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) supported by the NSF, and the NASA HEC Program through the NAS Division at Ames Research Center and the NCCS at Goddard Space Flight Center. We thank our referee, Joakim Rosdahl, for a number of insightful comments. Support for PFH and co-authors was provided by an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, NASA ATP Grant NNX14AH35G, and NSF Collaborative Research Gr ant #1411920 and CAREER grant #1455342. AW was supported by a Caltech-Carnegie Fellowship, in part through the Moore Center for Theoretical Cosmology and Physics at Caltech, and by NASA through grant HST-GO-14734 from STScI. CAFG was supported by NSF through grants AST-1412836 and AST-1517491, and by NASA through grant NNX15AB22G. DK was supported by NSF Grant AST1412153 and a Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. The Flatiron Institute is supported by the Simons Foundation. Numerical calculations were run on the Caltech compute cluster 'Wheeler, ' allocations TG-AST120025, TG-AST130039 and TG-AST150080 granted by the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) supported by the NSF, and the NASA HEC Program through the NAS Division at Ames Research Center and the NCCS at Goddard Space Flight Center

Keywords

Cosmology: Theory
Galaxies: Active
Galaxies: Evolution
Galaxies: Formation
Stars: Formation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1093/mnras/sty674

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title = "How to model supernovae in simulations of star and galaxy formation",

abstract = "We study the implementation of mechanical feedback from supernovae (SNe) and stellar mass loss in galaxy simulations, within the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. We present the FIRE-2 algorithm for coupling mechanical feedback, which can be applied to any hydrodynamics method (e.g. fixed-grid, moving-mesh, and mesh-less methods), and black hole as well as stellar feedback. This algorithm ensures manifest conservation of mass, energy, and momentum, and avoids imprinting 'preferred directions' on the ejecta. We show that it is critical to incorporate both momentum and thermal energy of mechanical ejecta in a self-consistent manner, accounting for SNe cooling radii when they are not resolved. Using idealized simulations of single SN explosions, we show that the FIRE-2 algorithm, independent of resolution, reproduces converged solutions in both energy and momentum. In contrast, common 'fully thermal' (energy-dump) or 'fully kinetic' (particle-kicking) schemes in the literature depend strongly on resolution: when applied at mass resolution ≳100M⊙, they diverge by orders of magnitude from the converged solution. In galaxy-formation simulations, this divergence leads to orders-of-magnitude differences in galaxy properties, unless those models are adjusted in a resolution-dependent way. We show that all models that individually time-resolve SNe converge to the FIRE-2 solution at sufficiently high resolution (< 100M⊙). However, in both idealized single-SN simulations and cosmological galaxy-formation simulations, the FIRE-2 algorithm converges much faster than other sub-grid models without re-tuning parameters.",

keywords = "Cosmology: Theory, Galaxies: Active, Galaxies: Evolution, Galaxies: Formation, Stars: Formation",

author = "Hopkins, {Philip F.} and Andrew Wetzel and Du{\v s}an Kere{\v s} and Faucher-Gigu{\`e}re, {Claude Andr{\'e}} and Eliot Quataert and Michael Boylan-Kolchin and Norman Murray and Hayward, {Christopher C.} and Kareem El-Badry",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.",

year = "2018",

month = jun,

day = "21",

doi = "10.1093/mnras/sty674",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "477",

pages = "1578--1603",

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T1 - How to model supernovae in simulations of star and galaxy formation

AU - Hopkins, Philip F.

AU - Wetzel, Andrew

AU - Kereš, Dušan

AU - Faucher-Giguère, Claude André

AU - Quataert, Eliot

AU - Boylan-Kolchin, Michael

AU - Murray, Norman

AU - Hayward, Christopher C.

AU - El-Badry, Kareem

PY - 2018/6/21

Y1 - 2018/6/21

N2 - We study the implementation of mechanical feedback from supernovae (SNe) and stellar mass loss in galaxy simulations, within the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. We present the FIRE-2 algorithm for coupling mechanical feedback, which can be applied to any hydrodynamics method (e.g. fixed-grid, moving-mesh, and mesh-less methods), and black hole as well as stellar feedback. This algorithm ensures manifest conservation of mass, energy, and momentum, and avoids imprinting 'preferred directions' on the ejecta. We show that it is critical to incorporate both momentum and thermal energy of mechanical ejecta in a self-consistent manner, accounting for SNe cooling radii when they are not resolved. Using idealized simulations of single SN explosions, we show that the FIRE-2 algorithm, independent of resolution, reproduces converged solutions in both energy and momentum. In contrast, common 'fully thermal' (energy-dump) or 'fully kinetic' (particle-kicking) schemes in the literature depend strongly on resolution: when applied at mass resolution ≳100M⊙, they diverge by orders of magnitude from the converged solution. In galaxy-formation simulations, this divergence leads to orders-of-magnitude differences in galaxy properties, unless those models are adjusted in a resolution-dependent way. We show that all models that individually time-resolve SNe converge to the FIRE-2 solution at sufficiently high resolution (< 100M⊙). However, in both idealized single-SN simulations and cosmological galaxy-formation simulations, the FIRE-2 algorithm converges much faster than other sub-grid models without re-tuning parameters.

AB - We study the implementation of mechanical feedback from supernovae (SNe) and stellar mass loss in galaxy simulations, within the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. We present the FIRE-2 algorithm for coupling mechanical feedback, which can be applied to any hydrodynamics method (e.g. fixed-grid, moving-mesh, and mesh-less methods), and black hole as well as stellar feedback. This algorithm ensures manifest conservation of mass, energy, and momentum, and avoids imprinting 'preferred directions' on the ejecta. We show that it is critical to incorporate both momentum and thermal energy of mechanical ejecta in a self-consistent manner, accounting for SNe cooling radii when they are not resolved. Using idealized simulations of single SN explosions, we show that the FIRE-2 algorithm, independent of resolution, reproduces converged solutions in both energy and momentum. In contrast, common 'fully thermal' (energy-dump) or 'fully kinetic' (particle-kicking) schemes in the literature depend strongly on resolution: when applied at mass resolution ≳100M⊙, they diverge by orders of magnitude from the converged solution. In galaxy-formation simulations, this divergence leads to orders-of-magnitude differences in galaxy properties, unless those models are adjusted in a resolution-dependent way. We show that all models that individually time-resolve SNe converge to the FIRE-2 solution at sufficiently high resolution (< 100M⊙). However, in both idealized single-SN simulations and cosmological galaxy-formation simulations, the FIRE-2 algorithm converges much faster than other sub-grid models without re-tuning parameters.

KW - Cosmology: Theory

KW - Galaxies: Active

KW - Galaxies: Evolution

KW - Galaxies: Formation

KW - Stars: Formation

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JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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ER -

How to model supernovae in simulations of star and galaxy formation

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