Дисертації з теми "Stellar feedbacks"

Les conditions de formation des étoiles est un sujet central en astrophysique. Le taux de formation stellaire (SFR) est relié à la masse de gaz moléculaire par la relation de Schmidt-Kennicutt. Une étoile modifie son nuage parent grâce aux vents, jets et à son rayonnement, balayant son environnement, détruisant des sites de formation d’étoiles, mais pouvant aussi en compresser et déstabiliser, déclenchant la formation de nouvelles étoiles. Ma thèse s’est concentrée sur la rétroaction radiative, largement dominée par celle des étoiles massives. Cela crée une région ionisée en expansion au plus près de l’étoile, suivie d’une région où l’hydrogène moléculaire est dissocié (photodissociation region en anglais, ou PDR), trop chaude pour former des étoiles. De nombreux modèles physico-chimiques des PDRs cherchent un état stationnaire, négligeant la dynamique du gaz. Des observations Herschel en CO excité et ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) en CH+ et SH+ ont changé la vision stationnaire de la structure des PDRs en soulignant le rôle de la dynamique du gaz. Le bord des nuages se trouve être à haute pression, fortement corrélée à l’intensité du champ UV incident. Le mécanisme de photo-évaporation peut reproduire ces caractéristiques: avec l’évaporation à haute vitesse du gaz chaud ionisé, l’effet fusée fait se propager une onde de pression dans le nuage, expliquant les hautes pressions observées. Par l’érosion du nuage, la frontière avec le milieu ionisé, le front d’ionisation (IF), avance dans le milieu neutre. Les modèles PDRs tant numériques que théoriques doivent être mis à jour pour prendre en compte cette propagation de l’IF. Nous avons d’abord construit un modèle semi-analytique de la transition entre le gaz atomique et moléculaire (H/H2) tenant compte de l’avancement de l’IF. Nous avons montré que la largeur de la région atomique est réduite comparé à des modèles statiques. Elle peut même disparaître si la vitesse de l’IF dépasse une valeur seuil, menant à la fusion de l’IF et de la transition H/H2. Nous avons trouvé des formules pour estimer ce seuil ainsi que la colonne densité totale de H atomique. En comparant notre théorie avec des observations de PDRs, nous avons montré que les effets de la dynamique sont forts, en particulier pour les PDRs faiblement illuminées comme la nébuleuse de la Tête de Cheval. En préparation des observations JWST de H2, nous avons implémenté le calcul des populations des niveaux de H2 dans le code Hydra, un code hydro-dynamique dépendant du temps modélisant les PDRs en photo-évaporation. L’étude précédente nous a permis de conclure que les effets dynamiques amène du H2 dans une région plus chaude et plus illuminée. Le rapprochement de la transition H/H2 réduit l'intensité absorbée par les poussière, qui est alors convertie en pompage UV de H2 (amplification d'un facteur 6 trouvé pour la Barre d'Orion mais peu efficace dans la Tête de Cheval). En addition, nous avons étudié des observations ALMA de la Tête de Cheval à haute résolution spatiale montrant une grande proximité entre l’IF et la molécule CO, présente habituellement profondément dans le nuage. Nous trouvons une borne supérieure à la largeur de la région atomique à quelques centaines d’unités astronomiques. Nous trouvons que le code PDR statique et stationnaire de Meudon reproduit la largeur de la région atomique sous la contrainte, tout comme les modèles dynamiques. Ces observations ne permettent donc pas de contraindre les effets dynamiques.Nous avons effectué une étude d’observations à haute résolution spectrale de raies d’émission de H2 faites par le spectrographe IGRINS. Nous montrons que les rapports de raies contraignent peu les conditions physiques, mais que le peuplement des états de H2 est fortement influé par des relaxations induites par collision, contrairement à l'image classique d'une cascade majoritairement radiative après pompage UV
The conditions of formation of stars is a fundamental question of astrophysics. The star formation rate (SFR) is linked to the mass of molecular gas by the Schmidt-Kennicutt relation. However, a star applies some feedbacks on its parent cloud in the form of winds, jets and radiation. They sweep their environment, destroying other star formation sites, but can also compress and destabilize them, triggering the formation of new stars. My thesis focused on the radiative feedback, which is vastly dominated by the one of massive stars. It creates an expanding region where the gas is ionized close to the star, followed by a region where the chemistry is dominated by photons capable of dissociating molecular hydrogen (photodissociation region, or PDR) which includes a layer of atomic hydrogen, which is too hot to form stars. Its width informs us about the fraction of gaz unable to form stars. Numerous models describe the physics and chemistry of PDRs by looking for a stationary state, and neglecting the gas dynamics. However, new observations made by Hershel in excited CO, and by the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in CH+ and SH+ have changed the stationary vision of PDR structure by highlighting the role of the gas dynamics. The edge of clouds is found to be a high-pressure environment, which is strongly correlated to the impinging UV field intensity. The photo-evaporation mechanism is capable of reproducing those features: with the high-speed evaporation of hot ionized gas, the rocket effect makes a pressure wave propagate inside the cloud, explaining the high pressures observed. By the erosion of the cloud, the border withe the ionized medium, the ionization front (IF) advances into the neutral medium. PDR models have to be updated to take into account the propagation of the IF.We built a semi-analytical model of the transition between atomic and molecular gas (H/H2) including the advancing IF. We obtained that the width of the atomic region is reduced compared to static models. It can also disappear if the IF velocity exceeds a threshold value, leading to the merging of the IF and the H/H2 transition. We found analytical formulas to estimate this threshold as well as the total column density of atomic H. By comparing our theory to PDRs observations, we showed that the dynamical effects are strong, especially in the case of weakly illuminated PDRs such as the Horsehead.To prepare for the JWST observations of H2, we have implemented the computation of H2 levels in the Hydra code, which is a hydro-dynamic, time dependent code that models the physics and chemistry of photo-evaporating PDRs. The precedent study allowed to conclude that dynamical effects bring some H2 in a hotter and more illuminated region. The reduction of the IF-H/H2 distance reduces the intensity absorbed by dust, which is then converted to UV-pumping of H2 (amplification by a factor 6 for the Orion Bar, but not efficient in the Horsehead).In addition, we studied ALMA observations of the Horsehead with high spatial resolution. They show a great proximity between the IF and the CO line emission, usually present deep in the cloud. We find an upper limit of a few hundred astronomical units for the width of the atomic region. We find that isobaric, static and stationary Meudon PDR models reproduce the width of the atomic region within the limit found, and so does the dynamical models. These observations therefore do not allow us ton constrain dynamical effects.We performed a study on high spectral resolution observations of rotation-vibration lines of H2 made by the IGRINS spectrograph. We show that the line ratios do not constrain well the physical conditions, but that the population of the states of H2 are much influenced by relaxation rates induced by collisions, unlike the classical picture of a cascade mainly dominated by radiation after the UV pumping

This thesis contains a study of the mechanical feedback from winds and supernovae on inhomogeneous molecular material left over from the formation of a massive stellar cluster. Firstly, the mechanical input from a cluster with three massive O-stars into a giant molecular cloud (GMC) clump containing 3240M⊙ of molecular material within a 4 pc radius is investigated using a 3D hydrodynamcial model. The cluster wind blows out of the molecular clump along low-density channels, into which denser clump material is entrained. The densest regions are surprisingly resistant to ablation by the cluster wind, in part due to shielding by other dense regions close to the cluster. Nonetheless, molecular material is gradually removed by the cluster wind during which mass-loading factors in excess of several hundred are obtained. Because the clump is very porous, 60-75% of the injected wind energy escapes the simulation domain. After 4.4Myrs the massive stars in the simulation start to explode as supernovae. The highly structured environment into which the SN energy is released allows even weaker coupling to the remaining dense material and practically all of the SN energy reaches the wider environment. Secondly, the X-ray emission from the simulated stellar cluster is presented. The GMC clump causes short–lived attenuation effects on the X-ray emission of the cluster. However, once most of the material has been ablated away by the winds the remaining dense clumps do not have a noticable effect on the attenuation compared with the assumed interstellar medium (ISM) column. The evolution of the X-ray luminosity and spectra are presented, and synthetic images of the emission are generated. The X-ray luminosity is initially high whilst the winds are “bottled up”, but reduce to a near constant value once the GMC clump has been mostly destroyed. The luminosity decreases slighly during the red supergiant phase of the stars due to the depressurization of the hot gas. However, the luminosity dramatically increases during the Wolf-Rayet stage of each star. The X-ray luminosity is enhanced by 2-3 orders of magnitude for at least 466 yrs after each supernova explosion, at which time the blast wave leaves the grid. Comparisons between the simulated cluster and both theoretical models and observations of young stellar clusters are presented. Thirdly, the radio emission from the simulated cluster is presented. Similar to the X-ray emission, the thermal radio emission is intially high when the winds are confined in the GMC clump and reduce as the material is ablated away. The evolution of the radio flux density and spectra are presented, and synthetic images of the emission are generated. The radio emission is compared with the X-ray results throughout the evolution of the cluster. The flux density increases during the RSG phase, and remains high during the WR phgase of the stars. The radio flux density is enhanced by three orders of magnitude during the first supernova explosion. Comparisons between the simulated cluster and observations of young stellar clusters are made. Finally, a preliminary investigation of the interaction of stellar winds within a massive cluster are presented. The hydrodynamcial simulations examine the energy and mass input of a stellar cluster into the ISM.

Questo lavoro di tesi si propone di esaminare la simulazione di una galassia isolata simile alla Via Lattea e, in particolare, di analizzare i processi di feedback dovuto ad esplosioni di supernove, il meccanismo responsabile della generazione di outflow gassosi dal disco. Scopo della tesi è quello di testare la validità dei risultati ottenuti dalla simulazione (generata dal recente modello di feedback SMUGGLE presente nel codice a griglia mobile AREPO) dal punto di vista della formazione stellare, del tasso di esplosioni di supernove e dei fenomeni di outflow di gas su scala galattica. Sono stati indagati vari andamenti evolutivi delle proprietà cinematiche del gas, della formazione stellare e dell'efficienza di rilascio di energia/impulso da parte delle supernove al fine di ricercare relazioni che mettano in luce lo stretto legame tra questi processi astrofisici. La simulazione è stata in grado di generare fenomeni di esplusione di gas in maniera auto-consistente e, in combinazione con l'esaurirsi del gas a causa della formazione stellare, ha condotto la galassia a regolare il suo tasso di formazione stellare e quello relativo alle esplosioni di supernove a dei livelli in accordo con le osservazioni. Inoltre la simulazione è stata in grado di riprodurre la relazione osservativa di Kennicutt-Schmidt. Infine questo lavoro di tesi ha evidenziato una possibile connessione tra la variazione del tasso di densita' superficiale di formazione stellare (SFRD) e l'ammontare di massa di gas esplusa dal disco. Ciò è stato fatto al fine di valutare l'esistenza di un possibile valore critico per la SFRD tale per cui, al di sopra di questa soglia, si possano chiaramente osservare fenomeni di espulsione di gas su scala galattica. I risultati ottenuti però non mostrano evidenze dell'esistenza di un tale valore e che ulteriori approfondimenti e simulazioni di confronto sono necessari per avvalorare questi risultati preliminari.

In this thesis we address the problem of understanding the star formation process in giant molecular clouds in a galactic context. Most simulations of molecular clouds to date use an oversimplified set of initial conditions (turbulent spheres/boxes or colliding flows). Full galactic scale models are able to generate molecular clouds with complex morphologies and velocity fields but they fail to reproduce in detail the effects that occur at sub-pc scales (e.g. stellar feedback). Our goal is to build the bridge between these two scenarios, and to model the star formation process in molecular clouds produced in a galactic context. We extract our molecular clouds from full-scale galactic simulations, hence we need to increase the resolution by two orders of magnitude. We introduce the details of the program used to simulate molecular clouds in Chapter 2, and describe in detail the method we follow to increase the resolution of the galactic clouds. In Chapter 3 we compare our simulated galactic clouds with the more conventional approach of using turbulent spheres. We create turbulent spheres to match the virial state of three galactic clouds. We perform isothermal simulations and find that the velocity field inherited from the full-scale galactic simulations plays an important role in the star formation process. Clouds affected by strong galactic shear produce less stars compared with clouds that are compressed. We define (and test) a set of parameters to characterise the dynamical state of our clouds. To include stellar feedback in our simulations we need to introduce a cooling/heating algorithm. In Chapter 4 we analyse how the different velocity fields of our clouds change the temperature distribution even in the absence of feedback. To study the formation of molecules we need to model the chemistry of H2 in our clouds. We also add CO chemistry, and produce synthetic observations of our clouds. The effect of feedback from winds and supernovae in galactic clouds is studied in Chapter 5. We analyse the effect of winds in clouds with very different velocity fields. We find that the effect of winds is stronger in highly virialised, high star forming clouds, with clouds with weak galactic shear, compared to unbound shear-dominated clouds. The steady and continuous action of the winds appears to have a greater effect than the supernovae. In summary, the inherited properties from the galaxy have an impact on many relevant processes in star formation, influencing gravitational collapse, the formation of filamentary structures, the temperature field of the cloud, and have a considerable effect on the impact of feedback in the clouds.

Remarkable progress has been made over the last few decades in furthering our understanding of the growth of cosmic structure. Nonetheless, there remains a great deal of uncertainty regarding the precise details of the complex baryonic physics that regulate galaxy formation. Any theory of star formation in galaxies must encompass the radiative cooling of gas into dark matter haloes, the formation of a turbulent, multiphase interstellar medium (ISM), the efficiency with which molecular gas is able to collapse into cores and ultimately stars, and the subsequent interaction of those stars with the gas through ionizing radiation, winds and supernova (SN) explosions. Given the highly non-linear nature of the problem, numerical simulations provide an invaluable tool with which to study galaxy formation. Yet, even with contemporary computational resources, the inherently large dynamical range of spatial scales that must be tackled makes the development of such models extremely challenging, inevitably leading to the adoption of `subgrid' approximations at some scale. In this thesis, I explore new methods of incorporating the physics of star formation and stellar feedback into high resolution hydrodynamic simulations of galaxies. I first describe a new implementation of star formation and SN feedback that I have developed for the state-of-the-art moving mesh code Arepo. I carry out a detailed study into various classes of subgrid SN feedback schemes commonly adopted in the literature, including injections of thermal and/or kinetic energy, two parametrizations of delayed cooling feedback and a 'mechanical' feedback scheme that injects the appropriate amount of momentum depending on the relevant scale of the SN remnant (SNR) resolved. All schemes make use of individually time-resolved SN events. Adopting isolated disk galaxy setups at different resolutions, with the highest resolution runs reasonably resolving the Sedov-Taylor phase of the SNR, I demonstrate that the mechanical scheme is the only physically well-posed method of those examined, is efficient at suppressing star formation, agrees well with the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation and leads to converged star formation rates and galaxy morphologies with increasing resolution without fine tuning any parameters. However, I find that it is difficult to produce outflows with high enough mass loading factors at all but the highest resolution. I discuss the various possible solutions to this effect, including improved modelling of star formation. Moving on to a more self-consistent setup, I carry out a suite of cosmological zoom-in simulations of low mass haloes at very high resolution, performed to z = 4, to investigate the ability of SN feedback models to produce realistic galaxies. The haloes are selected in a variety of environments, ranging from voids to crowded locations. In the majority of cases, SN feedback alone has little impact at early times even in low mass haloes ($\sim10^{10}\,\mathrm{M_\odot}$ at z = 0). This appears to be due largely to the build up of very dense gas prior to SN events, suggesting that other mechanisms (such as other stellar feedback processes) are required to regulate ISM properties before SNe occur. The effectiveness of the feedback also appears to be strongly dependent on the merger history of the halo. Finally, I describe a new scheme to drive turbulence in isolated galaxy setups. The turbulent structure of the ISM very likely regulates star formation efficiencies on small scales, as well as affecting the clustering of SNe. The large range of potential drivers of ISM turbulence are not fully understood and are, in any case, unlikely to arise ab initio in a whole galaxy simulation. I therefore neglect these details and adopt a highly idealised approach, artificially driving turbulence to produce an ISM structure of my choice. This enables me to study the effects of a given level of ISM turbulence on global galaxy properties, such as the fragmentation scale of the disk and the impact on SN feedback efficiencies. I demonstrate this technique in the context of simulations of isolated dwarfs, finding that moderate levels of turbulent driving in combination with SN feedback can produce a steady-state of star formation rates and global galaxy properties, rather than the extremely violent SN feedback that is produced by a rapidly fragmenting disk.

One of the key questions in the field of star formation is the role of stellar feedback on the subsequent star formation process. The W3 giant molecular cloud complex at the western border of the W4 super bubble is thought to be influenced by the massive stars in W4. This paper presents a study of the star formation activity within AFGL. 333, a similar to 104 M-circle dot cloud within W3, using deep JHK(s) photometry obtained from the NOAO Extremely Wide Field Infrared Imager combined with Spitzer IRAC and MIPS photometry. Based on the infrared excess, we identify 812 candidate young stellar objects (YSOs) in the complex, of which 99 are Class I and 713 are Class II sources. The stellar density analysis of YSOs reveals three major stellar aggregates within AFGL. 333, namely AFGL. 333 Main, AFGL. 333 NW1 and AFGL. 333 NW2. The disk fraction within AFGL. 333 is estimated to be similar to 50%-60%. We use the extinction map made from the H - K-s colors of the background stars and CO data to understand the cloud structure and to estimate the cloud mass. From the stellar and cloud mass associated with AFGL. 333, we infer that the region is currently forming stars with an efficiency of similar to 4.5% and at a rate of similar to 2-3M(circle dot) Myr(-1) pc(-2). In general, the star formation activity within AFGL. 333 is comparable to that of nearby low mass star-forming regions. We do not find any strong evidence to suggest that the stellar feedback from the massive stars of nearby W4 super bubble has affected the global star formation properties of the AFGL. 333 region.

Stellar feedback refers to the injection of energy, momentum and mass into the interstellar medium (ISM) by massive stars. This feedback owes to a combination of ionising radiation, radiation pressure, stellar winds and supernovae and is likely responsible both for the inefficiency of star formation in galaxies, and the observed super-sonic turbulence of the ISM. In this thesis, I study how stellar feedback shapes the ISM thereby regulating galaxy evolution. In particular, I focus on three key questions: (i) How does stellar feedback shape the gas density distribution of the ISM? (ii) How does feedback change or influence the distribution of the kinetic energy in the ISM? and (iii) What role does feedback play in determining the star formation efficiency of giant molecular clouds (GMCs)? To answer these questions, I run high resolution (dx~4.6 pc) numerical simulations of three isolated galaxies, both with and without stellar feedback. I compare these simulations to observations of six galaxies from The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS) using power spectra, and I use clump finding techniques to identify GMCs in my simulations and calculate their properties. I find that the kinetic energy power spectra in stellar feedback- regulated galaxies, regardless of the galaxy's mass and size, show scalings in excellent agreement with supersonic turbulence on scales below the thickness of the HI layer. I show that feedback influences the gas density field, and drives gas turbulence, up to large (kiloparsec) scales. This is in stark contrast to the density fields generated by large-scale gravity-only driven turbulence (i.e. without stellar feedback). Simulations with stellar feedback are able to reproduce the internal properties of GMCs such as: mass, size and velocity dispersion. Finally, I demonstrate that my simulations naturally reproduce the observed scatter (3.5-4 dex) in the star formation efficiency per free-fall time of GMCs, despite only employing a simple Schmidt star formation law. I conclude that the neutral gas content of galaxies carries signatures of stellar feedback on all scales and that stellar feedback is, therefore, key to regulating the evolution of galaxies over cosmic time.

Ionising radiation is present in a variety of astrophysical problems, and it is particularly important for shaping the process of star formation in molecular clouds, containing hot, high-mass stars. In order to account for the effects of ionising radiation within numerical models of star formation, we need to combine a hydrodynamics method with a radiative transfer method and obtain a radiation hydrodynamics scheme (RHD). In this thesis I achieve live radiation hydrodynamics by coupling the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) code Phantom with the Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer (MCRT) code CMacIonize. Since SPH is particle-based and MCRT is grid-based, I construct an unstructured, Voronoi grid in order to establish a link between the two codes. In areas with large density gradients, a Voronoi grid based purely on the SPH particle positions achieves insufficient resolution, and therefore I propose a novel algorithm for inserting a small number of additional grid cells to improve the local resolution. Furthermore, the MCRT calculations require the knowledge of an average density for each Voronoi cell. To address this, I develop an analytic density mapping from SPH to a Voronoi grid, by deriving an expression for the integrals of a series of kernel functions over the volume of a random polyhedron. Finally, I demonstrate the validity of the live RHD through the benchmark test of D-type expansion of an H II region, where good agreement is shown with the existing literature. The RHD implementation is then used to perform a proof-of-concept simulation of a collapsing cloud, which produces high-mass stars and is subsequently partially ionised by them. The presented code is a valuable tool for future star formation studies, and it can be used for modelling a broad range of additional astronomical problems involving ionising radiation and hydrodynamics.

In this thesis we test and expand our current knowledge of Star Formation Laws (SF laws) in the extreme environment of dwarf irregular galaxies. We focus on the SF characteristics of our 18 galaxies sample, extending current investigations of the Schmidt-Kennicutt law to the low luminosity, low metallicity regime. The Hi data used in this project have been observed, calibrated and imaged according to the LITTLE THINGS Survey prescription to which I brought my own contribution as a member of the team. Apart from high resolution, VLA data in B, C and D array configurations, this project makes use of an extensive set of multi- wavelength data (H , FUV, 24 m, 3.6 m, V-band and K-band). Molecular gas in dwarfs is very difficult to observe, mainly because due to the low metallicity environment, we lose our only molecular tracer, the CO which becomes under luminous. Therefore the gas distribution is represented by Hi gas only. We create our Star Formation Rate (SFR) maps mainly based on FUV maps because our analysis shows that FUV is the SF tracer that allows us the most extensive sampling of the SFR surface density (SFRD) and Hi surface density relation. The main results of our study are: Whereas in spiral galaxies Bigiel et al. (2008) have found a one to one relation between star formation rate and molecular gas and no relation between the SFR and the neutral gas, in a small sample of dwarfs as well as in the outskirts of spiral galaxies Bigiel et al. (2010b) has found that SFRD does correlate with Hi surface density. We confirm the existence of the SFRD vs. Hi surface density relation in dwarf irregular galaxies and a linear fitting through all our data (all 18 galaxies combined) yields a power law relation ΣSFR ∝ Σ1.87±0.3/HI . We find that the interiors of Hi shells, at 400 pc scales, become resolved and show up in SFRD versus Hi surface density plots although within the shell interior we have SFRD values but no Hi surface density related to them. Thus, the points originating from those regions contribute significantly to the increase of the scatter in the plot. We show that by excluding those points the correlation between SFRD and Hi surface density improves between 10% and 20%. Eight of the 18 galaxies in our sample have Hi maxima higher than the 10M pc-2 value found by Bigiel et al. (2008) for spiral galaxies. Krumholz et al. (2011) predicted that the 10M pc-2 threshold is metallicity dependent in galaxies with sub-solar metallicity, however the theoretically predicted values for our galaxies only match the observed Hi maxima in one case (DDO168). We find that metallicity cannot be the only factor setting the Hi to H2 transition. In fact, we find evidence that the higher the interstellar radiation field (ISRF), the higher the Hi maximum is, hence we suggest that the ISRF should also be taken into consideration in predicting the Hi to H2 transition threshold. We find that even tighter than the SFRD vs. Hi surface density relation is the SFRD vs. V-band surface density relation. Unlike the SFRD vs. Hi surface density relation the SFRD vs. V-band surface density relation follows a power law and can be written as follows: ΣSFR ∝ (10^μv)^-0.43±0.03. The SFRD vs. V-band surface density relation suggests that the existing stars also play a role in the formation of the next generation of stars. Within our sample of dwarf galaxies the average pressure per resolution element and the SFRD are in a 1:1 linear relation: ΣSFR ∝ P_h^1.02±0.05. A similar relation has been found by Blitz & Rosolowsky (2006) for the low-pressure regimes of spiral galaxies. In conclusion we find that in the extreme environments of dwarf galaxies the metal deficiency and the lack of the classic SF stimulators (spiral arms, shear motions) do not impede the star forming process. In these galaxies, dust-shielding becomes predominantly self-shielding and there is plenty of Hi available to achieve this additional task. Existing stars assume the role of pressure enhancers, which in turn will stimulate SF without the need of spiral arms or shear motion.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: B, page: 4537. Adviser: You-Hua Chu. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 146-152) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Understanding how the baryonic physics affects the formation and evolution of galaxies is one of the most critical questions in modern astronomy. Significant progress in understanding stellar feedback and modeling them explicitly in simulations have made it possible to reproduce a wide range of observed galaxy properties. However, there are still various pieces of missing physics and uncertainties in galaxies of different mass range.

In this thesis, I will explore these missing pieces in baryonic physics on top of the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) stellar feedback in the cosmological hydrodynamic zoom-in simulations (FIRE-2 suite) and isolated galaxy simulations. These high-resolution simulations with FIRE physics capture multi-phase realistic interstellar medium (ISM) with gas cooling down to 10K, and star formations in dense clumps in giant molecular clouds. They are, therefore, an ideal tool for investigating the missing pieces in baryonic physics.

In the first part of the thesis, Chapter 2, I will focus on the discrete effects of stellar feedback like individual supernovae, hypernovae, and initial mass function (IMF) sampling in dwarfs (10⁹-10¹⁰ M_⊙). These discrete processes of stellar feedback can have maximum effects on the small galaxies without being averaged out. I will show that the discretization of supernovae (SNe) is absolutely necessary, while the effects from IMF sampling and hypernovae (HNe) is not apparent, due to the strong clustering nature of star formation.

In the second part of the thesis, Chapter 3-4, I will focus on fluid microphysics, exploring their effects on galaxy properties and their interplay with stellar feedback in sub-L* galaxies. I will demonstrate that, once the stellar feedback is explicitly implemented as FIRE stellar feedback model, fluid microphysics such as magnetic fields, conduction, and viscosity only have minor effects on the galaxy properties like star formation rate (SFR), phase structure, or outflows. Stellar feedback also strongly alters the amplifications and morphology of the magnetic fields, resulting in much more randomly-oriented field lines. However, despite the stellar feedback, the amplification of magnetic fields in ISM gas is primarily dominated by flux-freezing compression.

In the final part of my thesis, I focus on the massive cluster ellipticals of 10¹²-10¹⁴ M_⊙, where the physical mechanisms that regulate the observation-inferred cooling flows are highly uncertain -- the classic "cooling flow problem". I showed that solutions in the literature not associated with an active galactic nucleus (AGN), including stellar feedback, the cosmic ray from stellar feedback, magnetic fields, conduction, and morphological quenching, cannot possibly quench the galaxies, mostly because of the insufficient energy and the limited size of the affected region. After ruling out the non-AGN feedback solutions to the cooling flow problem, I will go into the most accessible, and perhaps promising solution: "AGN feedback", exploring the generic classes of AGN feedback models proposed in the literature. I am going to show that enhancing turbulence and injecting cosmic ray are probably the most important aspects of AGN feedback in galaxy quenching. Since they provide non-thermal pressure support that stably suppresses the core density, they can stably reduce the cooling flows without overheating the galactic cores.

Aiming at understanding the role of stellar feedback in galaxy evolution, I present a study of the hot interstellar medium in several representative galaxies, based primarily on X-ray observations as well as theoretical modelling. I find that, in the massive disk galaxies NGC2613 and M104, the observed amount of hot gas is much less than that predicted by current galaxy formation models. Such a discrepancy suggests a lack of appropriate treatments of stellar/AGN feedback in these models. I also find that stellar feedback, primarily in the form of mass loss from evolved stars and energy released from supernovae, and presumably consumed by the hot gas, is largely absent from the inner regions of M104, a galaxy of a substantial content of evolved stars but little current star formation. A natural understanding of this phenomenon is that the hot gas is in the form of a galactic-scale outflow, by which the bulk of the stellar feedback is transported to the outer regions and perhaps into the intergalactic space. A comparison between the observed sub-galactic gas structures and model predictions indicate that this outflow is probably subsonic rather than being a classical supersonic galactic wind. Such outflows are likely prevalent in most early-type galaxies of intermediate masses in the present-day universe and thus play a crucial role in the evolution of such galaxies. For the first time I identify the presence of diffuse hot gas in and around the bulge of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), our well-known neighbor. Both the morphology and energetics of the hot gas suggest that it is also in the form of a large-scale outflow. Assisted with multiwavelength observations toward the circumnuclear regions of M31, I further reveal the relation between the hot gas and other cooler phases of the interstellar medium. I suggest that thermal evaporation, mostly likely energized by Type Ia supernovae, acts to continuously turn cold gas into hot, a process that naturally leads to the inactivity of the central supermassive blackhole as well as the launch of the hot gas outflow. Such a mechanism plays an important role in regulating the multi-phase interstellar medium in the circumnuclear environment and transporting stellar feedback to the outer galactic regions.

Aiming at understanding the role of stellar feedback in galaxy evolution, I present a study of the hot interstellar medium in several representative galaxies, based primarily on X-ray observations as well as theoretical modelling. I find that, in the massive disk galaxies NGC2613 and M104, the observed amount of hot gas is much less than that predicted by current galaxy formation models. Such a discrepancy suggests a lack of appropriate treatments of stellar/AGN feedback in these models. I also find that stellar feedback, primarily in the form of mass loss from evolved stars and energy released from supernovae, and presumably consumed by the hot gas, is largely absent from the inner regions of M104, a galaxy of a substantial content of evolved stars but little current star formation. A natural understanding of this phenomenon is that the hot gas is in the form of a galactic-scale outflow, by which the bulk of the stellar feedback is transported to the outer regions and perhaps into the intergalactic space. A comparison between the observed sub-galactic gas structures and model predictions indicate that this outflow is probably subsonic rather than being a classical supersonic galactic wind. Such outflows are likely prevalent in most early-type galaxies of intermediate masses in the present-day universe and thus play a crucial role in the evolution of such galaxies. For the first time I identify the presence of diffuse hot gas in and around the bulge of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), our well-known neighbor. Both the morphology and energetics of the hot gas suggest that it is also in the form of a large-scale outflow. Assisted with multiwavelength observations toward the circumnuclear regions of M31, I further reveal the relation between the hot gas and other cooler phases of the interstellar medium. I suggest that thermal evaporation, mostly likely energized by Type Ia supernovae, acts to continuously turn cold gas into hot, a process that naturally leads to the inactivity of the central supermassive blackhole as well as the launch of the hot gas outflow. Such a mechanism plays an important role in regulating the multi-phase interstellar medium in the circumnuclear environment and transporting stellar feedback to the outer galactic regions.

Motivated by the desire to investigate two of the largest outstanding problems in galactic evolution -- stellar feedback and galactic chemical evolution -- we develop the first set of galaxy-scale simulations that simultaneously follow star formation with individual stars and their associated multi-channel stellar feedback and multi-element metal yields. We developed these simulations to probe the way in which stellar feedback, including stellar winds, stellar radiation, and supernovae, couples to the interstellar medium (ISM), regulates star formation, and drives outflows in dwarf galaxies. We follow the evolution of the individual metal yields associated with these stars in order to trace how metals mix within the ISM and are ejected into the circumgalactic and intergalactic media (CGM, IGM) through outflows. This study is directed with the ultimate goal of leveraging the ever increasing quality of stellar abundance measurements within our own Milky Way galaxy and in nearby dwarf galaxies to understand galactic evolution. Our simulations follow the evolution of an idealized, isolated, low mass dwarf galaxy (Mvir ∼ 10^9 M ) for ∼ 500 Myr using the adaptive mesh refinement hydrodynamics code Enzo. We implemented a new star formation routine which deposits stars individually from 1 M to 100 M . Using tabulated stellar properties, we follow the stellar feedback from each star. For massive stars (M∗ > 8 M ) we follow their stellar winds, ionizing radiation (using an adaptive ray-tracing radiative transfer method), the FUV radiation which leads to photoelectric heating of dust grains, Lyman-Werner radiation, which leads to H2 dissociation, and core collapse supernovae. In addition, we follow the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) winds of low-mass stars (M∗ < 8 M ) and Type Ia supernovae. We investigate how this detailed model for stellar feedback drives the evolution of low mass galaxies. We find agreement with previous studies that these low mass dwarf galaxies exhibit bursty, irregular star formation histories with significant feedback-driven winds. Using these simulations, we investigate the role that stellar radiation feedback plays in the evolution of low mass dwarf galaxies. In this regime, we find that the local effects of stellar radiation (within ~ 10 pc of the massive, ionizing source star) act to regulate star formation by rapidly destroying cold, dense gas around newly formed stars. For the first time, we find that the long-range radiation effects far from the birth sites are vital for carving channels of diffuse gas in the ISM which dramatically increase the effect of supernovae. We find this effect is necessary to drive strong winds with significant mass loading factors and has a significant impact on the metal content of the ISM. Focusing on the evolution of individual metals within this galaxy, it remains an outstanding question as to what degree (if any) metal mixing processes in a multi-phase ISM influence observed stellar abundance patterns. To address this issue, we characterize the time evolution of the metal mass fraction distributions of each of the tracked elements in our simulation in each phase of the ISM. For the first time, we demonstrate that there are significant differences in how individual metals are sequestered in each gas phase (from cold, neutral gas up to hot, ionized gas) that depend upon the energetics of the enrichment sources that dominate the production of a given metal species. We find that AGB wind elements have much broader distributions (i.e. are poorly mixed) as compared to elements released in supernovae. In addition, we demonstrate that elements dominated by AGB wind production are retained at a much higher fraction than elements released in core collapse supernovae (by a factor of ~ 5). We expand upon these findings with a more careful study of how varying the energy and spatial location of a given enrichment event changes how its metal yields mix within the ISM. We play particular attention to events that could be associated with different channels of r-process enrichment (for example, neutron star - neutron star mergers vs. hypernovae) as a way to characterize how mixing / ejection differences may manifest themselves in observed abundance patterns in low mass dwarf galaxies. We find that -- on average -- the injection energy of a given enrichment source and the galaxy's global SFR at the time of injection play the strongest roles in regulating the mixing and ejection behavior of metals. Lower energy events are retained at a greater fraction and are more inhomogeneously distributed than metals from more energetic sources. However, the behavior of any single source varies dramatically, particularly for the low energy enrichment events. We further characterize the effect of radial position and local ISM density on the evolution of metals from single enrichment events. Finally, we summarize how this improved physical model of galactic chemical evolution that demonstrates that metal mixing and ejection from galaxies is not uniform across metal species can be used to improve significantly upon current state of the art galactic chemical evolution models. These improvements stand to help improve our understanding of galactic chemical evolution and reconcile outstanding disagreements between current models and observations.

A methodology for numerical magnetohydrodynamics simulations of star cluster formation, accounting for all mechanisms of stellar feedback from massive stars, is developed and used to address a range of problems regarding the formation of stars and star clusters in giant molecular clouds (GMCs). These studies culminate in a new theoretical framework that connects properties of GMCs to those of the star clusters that form in them.

The simulation methodology is established and tested, and the problem of the star formation efficiency (SFE) of molecular clouds is addressed. It is found that SFE is set by the balance of feedback and gravity, with very weak dependence upon other factors. A simple dimensional scaling law with cloud surface density emerges from the complex interplay of different feedback physics. Parameter space is found where feedback must fail, and the SFE is high, and the implications of this prediction are explored.

The star clusters formed in the simulations are found to resemble observed young, massive star clusters in the form of their surface brightness profiles, leading to the hypothesis that this structure is a result of the star formation process. It is shown that the shallow, power-law density profiles characteristic of young clusters is predicted by the hierarchical star formation scenario. It is shown that the SFE law, when coupled to an analytic cloud collapse model, predicts that gas should be exhausted by highly-efficient star formation at a stellar surface density of ∼ 10⁵ − 10⁶ Msun pc^-2, consistent with the maximum observed.

A new suite of simulations is developed to specifically model GMCs in the Milky Way. It is found that the picture of feedback-disrupted star formation is able to account for both the normalization and the scatter in the measured SFE of GMCs in the Milky Way, the first theory to do so.

The uncertainty in the simulated SFE due to the choice of feedback prescription is quantified, by running a controlled methods study of several different prescriptions in the literature. In the cloud model simulated, the choice of prescription affects the simulated SFE at the factor of ∼ 3 level, explaining discrepancies in the literature and identifying the small-scale details of massive star formation as the main uncertainty in cluster formation simulations.

Finally, the simulation suite is extended to model massive GMCs in local spiral galaxies, and to simulate 10 random realizations at each point in parameter space, mapping out the stochastic nature of star cluster formation in GMCs. A model is calibrated to the simulation results, taking the cloud bulk properties as input parameters, and predicting the detailed properties of the star clusters formed in it. A star cluster catalogue is synthesized from observed GMCs in M83, and good agreement is found with observed star cluster properties, including the fraction of stars in bound clusters, the maximum cluster mass, and the distribution of cluster sizes.

Stellar feedback, i.e., the return of mechanical energy from supernova explosions, and massive star and AGN winds to the interstellar medium, is one of the fundamental processes that shape galaxy evolution. Yet, some of its fundamental parameters, such as the efficiency of feedback, have not been solidly constrained from an observational point of view. In this thesis, we aim at addressing this issue. First, we investigate the kinematics of Damped Ly-alpha Absorbers (DLAs) at z = 3 using high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamical simulations. Our simulations include a heuristic model for galactic outflows driven by stellar feedback to test how these components affect the kinematics of neutral gas in high redshift systems. We determine that, without outflows, our simulations fail to yield a sufficient number of DLAs with broad velocity dispersion (‘wide DLAs’), as in previous studies. With outflows, our predicted DLA kinematics are in much better agreement with observations. In the second part of the thesis, I investigate stellar feedback within 8 nearby star-forming galaxies, selected to fill the 2-dimensional parameter space of host galaxy stellar mass and star formation rate density. Here, I employ forbidden-line diagnostic diagrams, [O III](5007Å)/Hβ versus [S II](6716Å+6731Å)/Hα (or [N II](6584Å)/Hα) to separate shock–ionized from photo–ionized gas within and outside the central star forming regions in these galaxies. I find that the Hα luminosity from the shock–ionized gas correlates with the SFR density, in the sense of more luminous shocks for higher SFR density. The ratio of Hα luminosity from shocks to the total Há luminosity is related to the galaxy’s stellar mass; increasing ratios are observed for decreasing stellar mass. The accepted HST proposal (GO-12497; P.I.: Hong) will expand on the observed correlations by adding two more starbursts to our sample.

We investigate three separate topics associated with the formation and evolution of the stellar mass component in galaxy clusters. The work presented herein is based primarily on optical imaging and spectra taken with, respectively, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and Gemini North/South. We confront the result from the optical data analysis with the results from the analysis of high-resolution X-ray data taken with the Chandra and XMM-Newton space observatories. Confirming earlier results, we find that 22% of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) show central inversions in their optical color profiles (blue-cores), indicative of recent star formation or AGN activity. Based on the extended sizes of the blue-core regions we favour recent star formation. Comparison with the host cluster central entropies (and other X-ray properties) demonstrates that the source of cold gas required to fuel the recent activity in BCG cores is direct condensation from the rapidly cooling intra-cluster medium. We measure the giant-to-dwarf ratio (GDR) of red sequence galaxies in a sample of 97 clusters to constrain its evolution over the redshift range 0.05 < z < 0.55. We find that the GDR is evolving and can be parameterized by GDR=(0.88 +/- 0.15)z+(0.44 +/- 0.03). We find that the intrinsic scatter in this relation is consistent with zero, after accounting for measurement error, Poisson noise and contributions from large-scale structure. After correcting for cluster mass effects we investigate the evolution of the individual dwarf and giant populations in order to probe the source of the observed GDR evolution. Beyond z=0.25 the GDR evolution is driven by an increase in the number of dwarfs (consistent with interpretations from the literature), however, below z=0.2 the GDR evolution is caused by a significant reduction in the number of giants. We interpret this a evidence for a significant number of major mergers in the giant population at late times. This is supported by the relatively short dynamical friction timescales for these galaxies. We use velocity-broadened stellar template models to fit the optical spectra of 19 BCGs in order to measure their the line-of-sight component of their central velocity dispersions (sigma). The sigma values are combined with previous measurements of effective radii re and effective surface brightness e to investigate the properties of the BCG fundamental plane. We measure a BCG fundamental plane parameterized by log( re )= alpha log( sigma ) + beta log( e ) + gamma, with best fit parameters alpha = 1.24 +/- 0.08, beta = -0.80 +/- 0.1 and gamma = (0.3 +/- 2.0)x10-4. We constrain the intrinsic scatter in this relation to be deltaint = 0.066 +/- 0.010 in re, consistent with previous measures of the scatter in the fundamental plane for regular cluster ellipticals. Comparing the slope parameters (alpha, beta) of the BCG FP to those from previous studies of the FP for regular cluster ellipticals, we find that there is no conclusive evidence for curvature in the unified FP. We use the sigma measurements to estimate the BCG dynamical masses Mdyn. Comparing these estimates with mass proxies for the clusters (Tx, ng) we find that BCG mass is independent of cluster mass with Mdyn = (2.9 +/- 1.8)x1012 solar masses.
Graduate
0606
0605
bildfell@uvic.ca