Fountain-driven gas accretion by the Milky Way

Abstract

Accretion of fresh gas at a rate of ~ 1 M_{sun} yr^{-1} is necessary in star-forming disc galaxies, such as the Milky Way, in order to sustain their star-formation rates. In this work we present the results of a new hydrodynamic simulation supporting the scenario in which the gas required for star formation is drawn from the hot corona that surrounds the star-forming disc. In particular, the cooling of this hot gas and its accretion on to the disc are caused by the passage of cold galactic fountain clouds through the corona.

2 pages, 1 figure. To appear in the proceedings of the conference "Assembling the Puzzle of the Milky Way", Le Grand-Bornand 17-22 April 2011, European Physical Journal, editors C. Reylé, A. Robin and M. Schultheis

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Galaxies in the Illustris simulation as seen by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey - I: Bulge+disc decompositions, methods, and biases
• Galactic Gas Flows from Halo to Disk: Tomography and Kinematics at the Milky Way's Disk-Halo Interface
• Extraplanar H II Regions in Spiral Galaxies. I. Low-Metallicity Gas Accreting through the Disk-Halo Interface of NGC 4013