Cosmic evolution of the CIV in high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations

Abstract

We investigate the properties of triply ionized Carbon (CIV) in the Intergalactic Medium using a set of high-resolution and large box-size cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of a $\Lambda$CDM model. We rely on a modification of the GADGET-2 code that self-consistently follows the metal enrichment mechanism by means of a detailed chemical evolution model. We focus on several numerical implementations of galactic feedback: galactic winds in the energy driven and momentum driven prescriptions and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) powered by gas accretion onto massive black holes. We extract mock IGM transmission spectra in neutral hydrogen (HI) and CIV and perform Voigt profile fitting. The results are then compared with high-resolution quasar (QSO) spectra obtained with the UVES spectrograph at the VLT and the HIRES spectrograph at Keck. We find that feedback has little impact on statistics related to the neutral hydrogen, while CIV is more affected by galactic winds and/or AGN feedback. When the same analysis is performed over observed and simulated CIV lines, we find reasonables good agreement between data and simulations over the column density range $N_{\mathrm{CIV}}=10^{12.5-15}$ cm${}^{-2}$. Also the CIV line-widths distribution appears to be in agreement with the observed values, while the HI Doppler parameters, $b_{\mathrm{HI}}$, are in general too large showing that the diffuse cosmic web is heated more than what is inferred by observations. The simulation without feedback fails in reproducing the CIV systems at high column densities at all redshift, while the AGN feedback case agrees with observations only at $z<3$, when this form of feedback is particularly effective. We also present scatter plots in the $b-N$ and in the $N_{\mathrm{CIV}}-N_{\mathrm{HI}}$ planes, showing that there is rough agreement between observations and simulations only when feedback is taken into account.

22 pages, 20 figures, minor revisions, accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (19)

• Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Interpretation
• Chemical enrichment in cosmological, smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations
• Cosmological Simulations of Intergalactic Medium Enrichment from Galactic Outflows
• Direct cosmological simulations of the growth of black holes and galaxies
• Mass, Metal, and Energy Feedback in Cosmological Simulations
• Chemical enrichment of galaxy clusters from hydrodynamical simulations
• Evolution of the Intergalactic Opacity: Implications for the Ionizing Background, Cosmic Star Formation, and Quasar Activity
• Simulations of Cosmic Chemical Enrichment
• The nature and evolution of the highly ionized near-zones in the absorption spectra of z~6 quasars
• An improved measurement of the flux distribution of the Ly-alpha forest in QSO absorption spectra: the effect of continuum fitting, metal contamination and noise properties
• A downturn in intergalactic CIV as redshift 6 is approached
• Simulations of cosmic ray feedback by AGN in galaxy clusters
• Intergalactic CIV absorption at redshifts 5.4 to 6
• The enrichment history of cosmic metals
• A combined analysis of 3D Weak Lensing, Lyman-alpha forest and WMAP year three data
• Galactic Wind Signatures around High Redshift Galaxies
• Where are the Cosmic Metals at z~3?
• Cosmic evolution of metal densities: the enrichment of the Inter-Galactic Medium
• Tracing the gas at redshift 1.7-3.5 with the Lyman-alpha forest: the FLO approach

Cited by in corpus (43)

• The Evolution of the Intergalactic Medium
• Bimodality of low-redshift circumgalactic O VI in non-equilibrium EAGLE zoom simulations
• How supernova explosions power galactic winds
• Constraints on Hydrodynamical Subgrid Models from Quasar Absorption Line Studies of the Simulated Circumgalactic Medium
• The intergalactic medium over the last 10 billion years I: Lyman alpha absorption and physical conditions
• Simulating cosmic metal enrichment by the first galaxies
• The intergalactic medium over the last 10 billion years II: Metal-line absorption and physical conditions
• Metals in the IGM approaching the re-ionization epoch: results from X-shooter at the VLT
• The impact of feedback from galaxy formation on the Lyman-alpha transmitted flux
• AGN proximity zone fossils and the delayed recombination of metal lines
• Quasar outflows at $z\ge 6$: the impact on the host galaxies
• Galactic Winds and Extended Lya Emission from the Host Galaxies of High Column Density QSO Absorption Systems
• Kinetic or thermal AGN feedback in simulations of isolated and merging disk galaxies calibrated by the M-sigma relation
• Testing the effect of galactic feedback on the IGM at z ~ 6 with metal-line absorbers
• Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Growth and Feedback in Dwarf Galaxies at High Redshifts
• Galactic Winds in Cosmological Simulations of the Circumgalactic Medium
• The Lyman alpha forest flux probability distribution at z>3
• The Reionization of Carbon
• The filling factor of intergalactic metals at redshift z=3
• Metals in the z~3 intergalactic medium: results from an ultra-high signal-to-noise ratio UVES quasar spectrum
• Origin of Cosmic Chemical Abundances
• The evolution of the Si IV content in the Universe from the epoch of reionization to cosmic noon
• Galactic outflow and diffuse gas properties at z>=1 using different baryonic feedback models
• Simulated star formation rate functions at z~4-7, and the role of feedback in high-z galaxies
• Large-scale environment of z~5.7 CIV absorption systems I: projected distribution of galaxies
• Rest-frame UV line emission from the intergalactic medium at 2<z<5
• Large-scale environment of $z\sim 5.7$ CIV absorption systems -II. Spectroscopy of Lyman-$\alpha$ emitters
• Examining the Decline in the C IV Content of the Universe over 4.3 < z < 6.3 using the E-XQR-30 Sample
• Faint LAEs near z>4.7 CIV absorbers revealed by MUSE
• The impact of spatial fluctuations in the ultra-violet background on intergalactic carbon and silicon
• Gas distribution, metal enrichment, and baryon fraction in Gaussian and non-Gaussian universes
• The stellar mass function and star formation rate-stellar mass relation of galaxies at z ~ 4 - 7
• Simulated metal and HI absorption lines at the conclusion of Reionization
• Simulating the Carbon Footprint of Galactic Halos
• A galaxy as the source of a Civ absorption system close to the epoch of reionization
• Metal Enrichment in the Reionization Epoch
• ColdSIM predictions of [C II] emission in primordial galaxies
• Chemo-dynamical simulations of dwarf galaxy evolution
• Theoretical study of an LAE-CIV absorption pair at z = 5.7
• Absorption systems at $z\sim 2$ as a probe of the circum galactic medium: a probabilistic approach
• The large-scale distribution of ionized metals in IllustrisTNG
• The clustering of C IV and Si IV at the end of reionisation: A perspective from the E-XQR-30 survey
• Can UVB variations reconcile simulated quasar absorption lines at high redshift?