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Register a new userEvolution of giant molecular clouds across cosmic time
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Giant molecular clouds (GMCs) are well-studied in the local Universe, however, exactly how their properties vary during galaxy evolution is poorly understood due to challenging resolution requirements, both observational and computational. We present the first time-dependent analysis of giant molecular clouds in a Milky Way-like galaxy and an LMC-like dwarf galaxy of the FIRE-2 (Feedback In Realistic Environments) simulation suite, which have sufficient resolution to predict the bulk properties of GMCs in cosmological galaxy formation self-consistently. We show explicitly that the majority of star formation outside the galactic center occurs within self-gravitating gas structures that have properties consistent with observed bound GMCs. We find that the typical cloud bulk properties such as mass and surface density do not vary more than a factor of 2 in any systematic way after the first Gyr of cosmic evolution within a given galaxy from its progenitor. While the median properties are constant, the tails of the distributions can briefly undergo drastic changes, which can produce very massive and dense self-gravitating gas clouds. Once the galaxy forms, we identify only two systematic trends in bulk properties over cosmic time: a steady increase in metallicity produced by previous stellar populations and a weak decrease in bulk cloud temperatures. With the exception of metallicity we find no significant differences in cloud properties between the Milky Way-like and dwarf galaxies. These results have important implications for cosmological star and star cluster formation and put especially strong constraints on theories relating the stellar initial mass function to cloud properties.
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We calculate the hydrogen and helium-ionizing radiation escaping star-forming molecular clouds, as a function of the star cluster mass and compactness, using a set of high-resolution radiation-magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of star formation in self-gravitating, turbulent molecular clouds. In these simulations, presented in He, Ricotti and Geen (2019), the formation of individual massive stars are well resolved, and their UV radiation feedback and lifetime on the main sequence are modeled self-consistently. We find that the escape fraction of ionizing radiation from molecular clouds, $langle f_{rm esc}^{scriptscriptstyle rm MC}rangle$, decreases with increasing mass of the star cluster and with decreasing compactness. Molecular clouds with densities typically found in the local Universe have negligible $langle f_{rm esc}^{scriptscriptstyle rm MC}rangle$, ranging between $0.5%$ to $5%$. Ten times denser molecular clouds have $langle f_{rm esc}^{scriptscriptstyle rm MC}rangle approx 10%-20%$, while $100times$ denser clouds, which produce globular cluster progenitors, have $langle f_{rm esc}^{scriptscriptstyle rm MC}rangle approx 20%-60%$. We find that $langle f_{rm esc}^{scriptscriptstyle rm MC}rangle$ increases with decreasing gas metallicity, even when ignoring dust extinction, due to stronger radiation feedback. However, the total number of escaping ionizing photons decreases with decreasing metallicity because the star formation efficiency is reduced. We conclude that the sources of reionization at $z>6$ must have been very compact star clusters forming in molecular clouds about $100times$ denser than in todays Universe, which leads to a significant production of old globular clusters progenitors.
We present predictions for the evolution of radio emission from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). We use a model that follows the evolution of Supermassive Black Hole (SMBH) masses and spins, within the latest version of the GALFORM semi-analytic model of galaxy formation. We use a Blandford-Znajek type model to calculate the power of the relativistic jets produced by black hole accretion discs, and a scaling model to calculate radio luminosities. First, we present the predicted evolution of the jet power distribution, finding that this is dominated by objects fuelled by hot halo accretion and an ADAF accretion state for jet powers above $10^{32}mathrm{W}$ at $z=0$, with the contribution from objects fuelled by starbursts and in a thin disc accretion state being more important for lower jet powers at $z=0$ and at all jet powers at high redshifts ($zgeq3$). We then present the evolution of the jet power density from the model. The model is consistent with current observational estimates of jet powers from radio luminosities, once we allow for the significant uncertainties in these observational estimates. Next, we calibrate the model for radio emission to a range of observational estimates of the $z=0$ radio luminosity function. We compare the evolution of the model radio luminosity function to observational estimates for $0<z<6$, finding that the predicted evolution is similar to that observed. Finally, we explore recalibrating the model to reproduce luminosity functions of core radio emission, finding that the model is in approximate agreement with the observations.
Over the past decade increasingly robust estimates of the dense molecular gas content in galaxy populations between redshift 0 and the peak of cosmic galaxy/star formation from redshift 1-3 have become available. This rapid progress has been possible due to the advent of powerful ground-based, and space telescopes for combined study of several millimeter to far-IR, line or continuum tracers of the molecular gas and dust components. The main conclusions of this review are: 1. Star forming galaxies contained much more molecular gas at earlier cosmic epochs than at the present time. 2. The galaxy integrated depletion time scale for converting the gas into stars depends primarily on z or Hubble time, and at a given z, on the vertical location of a galaxy along the star-formation rate versus stellar mass main-sequence (MS) correlation. 3. Global rates of galaxy gas accretion primarily control the evolution of the cold molecular gas content and star formation rates of the dominant MS galaxy population, which in turn vary with the cosmological expansion. A second key driver may be global disk fragmentation in high-z, gas rich galaxies, which ties local free-fall time scales to galactic orbital times, and leads to rapid radial matter transport and bulge growth. Third, the low star formation efficiency inside molecular clouds is plausibly set by super-sonic streaming motions, and internal turbulence, which in turn may be driven by conversion of gravitational energy at high-z, and/or by local feedback from massive stars at low-z. 4. A simple gas regulator model is remarkably successful in predicting the combined evolution of molecular gas fractions, star formation rates, galactic winds, and gas phase metallicities.
High redshift galaxies permit the study of the formation and evolution of X-ray binary populations on cosmological timescales, probing a wide range of metallicities and star-formation rates. In this paper, we present results from a large scale population synthesis study that models the X-ray binary populations from the first galaxies of the universe until today. We use as input to our modeling the Millennium II Cosmological Simulation and the updated semi-analytic galaxy catalog by Guo et al. (2011) to self-consistently account for the star formation history and metallicity evolution of the universe. Our modeling, which is constrained by the observed X-ray properties of local galaxies, gives predictions about the global scaling of emission from X-ray binary populations with properties such as star-formation rate and stellar mass, and the evolution of these relations with redshift. Our simulations show that the X-ray luminosity density (X-ray luminosity per unit volume) from X-ray binaries in our Universe today is dominated by low-mass X-ray binaries, and it is only at z>2.5 that high-mass X-ray binaries become dominant. We also find that there is a delay of ~1.1 Gyr between the peak of X-ray emissivity from low-mass Xray binaries (at z~2.1) and the peak of star-formation rate density (at z~3.1). The peak of the X-ray luminosity from high-mass X-ray binaries (at z~3.9), happens ~0.8 Gyr before the peak of the star-formation rate density, which is due to the metallicity evolution of the Universe.
We report the analysis of the Fermi-Large Area Telescope data from six nearby giant molecular clouds (MCs) belonging to the Gould Belt and the Aquila Rift regions. The high statistical {gamma}-ray spectra above 3 GeV well described by power laws make it possible to derive precise estimates of the cosmic-ray (CR) distribution in the MCs. The comparison of {gamma}-ray spectra of Taurus, Orion A, and Orion B clouds with the model expected from Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) CR measurements confirms these clouds as passive clouds, immersed in an AMS-02-like CR spectrum. A similar comparison of Aquila Rift, Rho Oph, and Cepheus spectra yields significant deviation in both spectral indices and absolute fluxes, which can imply an additional acceleration of CRs throughout the entire clouds. Besides, the theoretical modeling of the excess {gamma}-ray spectrum of these clouds, assuming {pi}0-decay interaction of CRs in the cloud, gives a considerable amount of an enhanced CR energy density and it shows a significant deviation in spectral shapes compared to the average AMS-02 CR spectrum between 30 GeV and 10 TeV. We suggest that this variation in the CR spectrum of Cepheus could be accounted for by an efficient acceleration in the shocks of winds of OB associations, while in Rho Oph, similar acceleration can be provided by multiple T-Tauri stars populated in the whole cloud. In the case of Aquila Rift, the excess in absolute CR flux could be related to an additional acceleration of CRs by supernova remnants or propagation effects in the cloud.
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