Which AGN jets quench star formation in massive galaxies?

Kung Yi Su*, Philip F. Hopkins, Greg L. Bryan, Rachel S. Somerville, Christopher C. Hayward, Daniel Anglés-Alcázar, Claude André Faucher-Giguère, Sarah Wellons, Jonathan Stern, Bryan A. Terrazas, T. K. Chan, Matthew E. Orr, Cameron Hummels, Robert Feldmann, Dušan Kereš

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

49 Scopus citations

Abstract

Without additional heating, radiative cooling of the halo gas of massive galaxies (Milky Way-mass and above) produces cold gas or stars exceeding that observed. Heating from active galactic nucleus (AGN) jets is likely required, but the jet properties remain unclear. This is particularly challenging for galaxy simulations, where the resolution is orders-of-magnitude insufficient to resolve jet formation and evolution. On such scales, the uncertain parameters include the jet energy form [kinetic, thermal, cosmic ray (CR)]; energy, momentum, and mass flux; magnetic fields; opening angle; precession; and duty cycle. We investigate these parameters in a 1014, M⊙ halo using high-resolution non-cosmological magnetohydrodynamic simulations with the FIRE-2 (Feedback In Realistic Environments) stellar feedback model, conduction, and viscosity. We explore which scenarios qualitatively meet observational constraints on the halo gas and show that CR-dominated jets most efficiently quench the galaxy by providing CR pressure support and modifying the thermal instability. Mildly relativistic (∼MeV or ∼1010K) thermal plasma jets work but require ∼10 times larger energy input. For fixed energy flux, jets with higher specific energy (longer cooling times) quench more effectively. For this halo mass, kinetic jets are inefficient at quenching unless they have wide opening or precession angles. Magnetic fields also matter less except when the magnetic energy flux reaches ≳ 1044 erg s-1 in a kinetic jet model, which significantly widens the jet cocoon. The criteria for a successful jet model are an optimal energy flux and a sufficiently wide jet cocoon with a long enough cooling time at the cooling radius.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)175-204
Number of pages30
JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume507
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2021

Funding

We thank Eliot Quataert for useful discussion. KS acknowledges financial support from the Simons Foundation. We thank Lucy Reading-Ikkanda for preparing the summarizing cartoon Figure (Fig. 7). Support for PFH and co-authors was provided by an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, NSF Collaborative Research Grant #1715847, and CAREER grant #1455342, and NASA grants NNX15AT06G, JPL 1589742, 17-ATP17-0214. GLB acknowledges financial support from the NSF (grant AST-1615955, OAC-1835509, AST-2006176) and computing support from NSF XSEDE. RSS, CCH, and DAA were supported by the Simons Foundation through the Flatiron Institute. DAA was supported by NSF grant AST-2009687. CAFG was supported by NSF through grants AST-1715216 and CAREER award AST-1652522; by NASA through grant 17-ATP17-0067; and by a Cottrell Scholar Award and a Scialog Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. RF acknowledges financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant no 194814). DK was supported by NSF grant AST-1715101 and the Cottrell Scholar Award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement. TKC is supported by Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) astronomy consolidated grant ST/T000244/1. Numerical calculations were run on the Flatiron Institute cluster 'popeye' and 'rusty', Caltech cluster 'Wheeler', allocations from XSEDE TG-AST120025, TG-AST130039, and PRAC NSF.1713353 supported by the NSF, and NASA HEC SMD-16-7592. This work was carried out as part of the FIRE project and in collaboration with the SMAUG collaboration. SMAUG gratefully acknowledges support from the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron Institute, which is supported by the Simons Foundation.

Keywords

  • cosmic rays
  • galaxies: clusters: intracluster medium
  • galaxies: jets
  • galaxies: magnetic fields
  • methods: numerical
  • turbulence

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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