TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of outflows driven by active galactic nuclei on metals in and around galaxies
AU - Choi, Ena
AU - Brennan, Ryan
AU - Somerville, Rachel S.
AU - Ostriker, Jeremiah P.
AU - Hirschmann, Michaela
AU - Naab, Thorsten
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/11/20
Y1 - 2020/11/20
N2 - Metals in the hot gaseous halos of galaxies encode the history of star formation as well as the feedback processes that eject metals from the galaxies. X-ray observations suggest that massive galaxies have extended distributions of metals in their gas halos. We present predictions for the metal properties of massive galaxies and their gaseous halos from recent high-resolution zoom-in simulations that include mechanical and radiation-driven feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN). In these simulations, AGN launch high-velocity outflows, mimicking observed broad absorption line winds. By comparing two sets of simulations with and without AGN feedback, we show that our prescription for AGN feedback is capable of driving winds and enriching halo gas "inside-out" by spreading centrally enriched metals to the outskirts of galaxies, into the halo and beyond. The metal (iron) profiles of halos simulated with AGN feedback have a flatter slope than those without AGN feedback, consistent with recent X-ray observations. The predicted gas iron abundance of group scale galaxies simulated with AGN feedback is ZFe = 0.23 ZFe,⊙ at 0.5r500, which is 2.5 times higher than that in simulations without AGN feedback. In these simulations, AGN winds are also important for the metal enrichment of the intergalactic medium, as the vast majority of metals ejected from the galaxy by AGN-driven winds end up beyond the halo virial radius.
AB - Metals in the hot gaseous halos of galaxies encode the history of star formation as well as the feedback processes that eject metals from the galaxies. X-ray observations suggest that massive galaxies have extended distributions of metals in their gas halos. We present predictions for the metal properties of massive galaxies and their gaseous halos from recent high-resolution zoom-in simulations that include mechanical and radiation-driven feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN). In these simulations, AGN launch high-velocity outflows, mimicking observed broad absorption line winds. By comparing two sets of simulations with and without AGN feedback, we show that our prescription for AGN feedback is capable of driving winds and enriching halo gas "inside-out" by spreading centrally enriched metals to the outskirts of galaxies, into the halo and beyond. The metal (iron) profiles of halos simulated with AGN feedback have a flatter slope than those without AGN feedback, consistent with recent X-ray observations. The predicted gas iron abundance of group scale galaxies simulated with AGN feedback is ZFe = 0.23 ZFe,⊙ at 0.5r500, which is 2.5 times higher than that in simulations without AGN feedback. In these simulations, AGN winds are also important for the metal enrichment of the intergalactic medium, as the vast majority of metals ejected from the galaxy by AGN-driven winds end up beyond the halo virial radius.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096767992&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/abba7d
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/abba7d
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85096767992
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 904
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
IS - 1
M1 - abba7d
ER -