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Register a new userThe formation of dusty cold gas filaments from galaxy cluster simulations
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Yu Qiu
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Galaxy clusters are the most massive collapsed structures in the universe whose potential wells are filled with hot, X-ray emitting intracluster medium. Observations however show that a significant number of clusters (the so-called cool-core clusters) also contain large amounts of cold gas in their centres, some of which is in the form of spatially extended filaments spanning scales of tens of kiloparsecs. These findings have raised questions about the origin of the cold gas, as well as its relationship with the central active galactic nucleus (AGN), whose feedback has been established as a ubiquitous feature in such galaxy clusters. Here we report a radiation hydrodynamic simulation of AGN feedback in a galaxy cluster, in which cold filaments form from the warm, AGN-driven outflows with temperatures between $10^4$ and $10^7$ K as they rise in the cluster core. Our analysis reveals a new mechanism, which, through the combination of radiative cooling and ram pressure, naturally promotes outflows whose cooling time is shorter than their rising time, giving birth to spatially extended cold gas filaments. Our results strongly suggest that the formation of cold gas and AGN feedback in galaxy clusters are inextricably linked and shed light on how AGN feedback couples to the intracluster medium.
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Over the last decades, cosmological simulations of galaxy formation have been instrumental for advancing our understanding of structure and galaxy formation in the Universe. These simulations follow the non-linear evolution of galaxies modeling a variety of physical processes over an enormous range of scales. A better understanding of the physics relevant for shaping galaxies, improved numerical methods, and increased computing power have led to simulations that can reproduce a large number of observed galaxy properties. Modern simulations model dark matter, dark energy, and ordinary matter in an expanding space-time starting from well-defined initial conditions. The modeling of ordinary matter is most challenging due to the large array of physical processes affecting this matter component. Cosmological simulations have also proven useful to study alternative cosmological models and their impact on the galaxy population. This review presents a concise overview of the methodology of cosmological simulations of galaxy formation and their different applications.
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