The Impact of Enhanced Halo Resolution on the Simulated Circumgalactic Medium

Abstract

Traditional cosmological hydrodynamics simulations fail to spatially resolve the circumgalatic medium (CGM), the reservoir of tenuous gas surrounding a galaxy and extending to its virial radius. We introduce the technique of Enhanced Halo Resolution (EHR), enabling more realistic physical modeling of the simulated CGM by consistently forcing gas refinement to smaller scales throughout the virial halo of a simulated galaxy. We investigate the effects of EHR in the Tempest simulations, a suite of Enzo-based cosmological zoom simulations following the evolution of an L* galaxy, resolving spatial scales of 500 comoving pc out to 100 comoving kpc in galactocentric radius. Among its many effects, EHR (1) changes the thermal balance of the CGM, increasing its cool gas content and decreasing its warm/hot gas content; (2) preserves cool gas structures for longer periods; and (3) enables these cool clouds to exist at progressively smaller size scales. Observationally, this results in a boost in "low ions" like H I and a drop in "high ions" like O VI throughout the CGM. These effects of EHR do not converge in the Tempest simulations, but extrapolating these trends suggests that the CGM in reality is a mist consisting of ubiquitous, small, long-lived, cool clouds suspended in a hot medium at the virial temperature of the halo. Additionally, we explore the physical mechanisms to explain why EHR produces the above effects, proposing that it works both by (1) better sampling the distribution of CGM phases enabling runaway cooling in the denser, cooler tail of the phase distribution; and (2) preventing cool gas clouds from artificially mixing with the ambient hot halo and evaporating. Evidence is found for both EHR mechanisms occurring in the Tempest simulations.

arXiv comment19 pages, 13 figures, submitted to ApJ. Simulation movies available at http://chummels.org/tempest

References in corpus (85)

• The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
• Simulating the joint evolution of quasars, galaxies and their large-scale distribution
• The EAGLE project: Simulating the evolution and assembly of galaxies and their environments
• E pur si muove: Galiliean-invariant cosmological hydrodynamical simulations on a moving mesh
• GADGET: A code for collisionless and gasdynamical cosmological simulations
• Physical Models of Galaxy Formation in a Cosmological Framework
• A Multi-Code Analysis Toolkit for Astrophysical Simulation Data
• Radiative transfer in a clumpy universe: IV. New synthesis models of the cosmic UV/X-ray background
• GIZMO: A New Class of Accurate, Mesh-Free Hydrodynamic Simulation Methods
• FIRE-2 Simulations: Physics versus Numerics in Galaxy Formation
• The Circumgalactic Medium
• Introducing the Illustris Project: the evolution of galaxy populations across cosmic time
• The Structure and Kinematics of the Circum-Galactic Medium from Far-UV Spectra of z~2-3 Galaxies
• A model for cosmological simulations of galaxy formation physics
• Enzo: An Adaptive Mesh Refinement Code for Astrophysics
• How supernova feedback turns dark matter cusps into cores
• Reconciling dwarf galaxies with LCDM cosmology: Simulating a realistic population of satellites around a Milky Way-mass galaxy
• Fundamental differences between SPH and grid methods
• The COS-Halos Survey: Physical Conditions and Baryonic Mass in the Low-Redshift Circumgalactic Medium
• The Large, Oxygen-Rich Halos of Star-Forming Galaxies Are A Major Reservoir of Galactic Metals
• The Auriga Project: the properties and formation mechanisms of disc galaxies across cosmic time
• On the evolution of the HI column density distribution in cosmological simulations
• HOP: A New Group-Finding Algorithm for N-body Simulations
• Galaxy Evolution in Cosmological Simulations with Outflows II: Metallicities and Gas Fractions
• The COS-Halos Survey: Rationale, Design, and A Census of Circumgalactic Neutral Hydrogen
• The COS-Halos Survey: An Empirical Description of the Metal-Line Absorption in the Low-Redshift Circumgalactic Medium
• Thermal Instability in Gravitationally-Stratified Plasmas: Implications for Multi-Phase Structure in Clusters and Galaxy Halos
• Thermal Instability & the Feedback Regulation of Hot Halos in Clusters, Groups, and Galaxies
• The Gaseous Environment of High-z Galaxies: Precision Measurements of Neutral Hydrogen in the Circumgalactic Medium of z ~ 2-3 Galaxies in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey
• Grackle: a Chemistry and Cooling Library for Astrophysics
• A physical model for cosmological simulations of galaxy formation: multi-epoch validation
• Absorption line systems in simulated galaxies fed by cold streams
• The growth and entrainment of cold gas in a hot wind
• The cosmological origin of the Tully-Fisher relation
• A Characteristic Scale for Cold Gas
• Figuring Out Gas & Galaxies in Enzo (FOGGIE). I. Resolving Simulated Circumgalactic Absorption at 2 < z < 2.5
• Cosmological simulations of the circumgalactic medium with 1 kpc resolution: enhanced HI column densities
• A Global Model For Circumgalactic and Cluster-Core Precipitation
• The Bimodal Metallicity Distribution of the Cool Circumgalactic Medium at z<1
• An Origin for Multi-Phase Gas in Galactic Winds and Halos
• Cooling, AGN Feedback and Star Formation in Simulated Cool-Core Galaxy Clusters
• Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics with particle splitting, applied to self-gravitating collapse
• The abundance, distribution, and physical nature of highly ionized oxygen OVI, OVII, and OVIII in IllustrisTNG
• The Impact of Star Formation Feedback on the Circumgalactic Medium
• The survival of gas clouds in the Circumgalactic Medium of Milky Way-like galaxies
• The Hidden Mass and Large Spatial Extent of a Poststarburst Galaxy Outflow
• Three Modes of Metal-Enriched Star Formation in the Early Universe
• The Gaseous Extent of Galaxies and the Origin of \lya Absorption Systems. III. Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of \lya-Absorbing Galaxies at z < 1
• MAGICC haloes: confronting simulations with observations of the circumgalactic medium at z=0
• Constraints on Hydrodynamical Subgrid Models from Quasar Absorption Line Studies of the Simulated Circumgalactic Medium
• The Role of Cosmic Ray Transport in Shaping the Simulated Circumgalactic Medium
• The Galaxy Environment of O VI Absorption Systems
• The Population of Weak MgII Absorbers. II The Properties of Single-Cloud Systems
• Zooming in on accretion - II. Cold Circumgalactic Gas Simulated with a super-Lagrangian Refinement Scheme
• Metal-enriched, sub-kiloparsec gas clumps in the circumgalactic medium of a faint z = 2.5 galaxy
• Quasars Probing Quasars VII. The Pinnacle of the Cool Circumgalactic Medium Surrounds Massive z~2 Galaxies
• Hydrogen and Metal Line Absorption Around Low-Redshift Galaxies in Cosmological Hydrodynamic Simulations
• A Quantification of the Butterfly Effect in Cosmological Simulations and Implications for Galaxy Scaling Relations
• A Universal Density Structure for Circum-Galactic Gas
• The Impact of Galactic Feedback on the Circumgalactic Medium
• Simulations of radiative turbulent mixing layers
• The physics of multiphase gas flows: fragmentation of a radiatively cooling gas cloud in a hot wind
• The origin of metals in the circum-galactic medium of massive galaxies at z=3
• Cholla : A New Massively-Parallel Hydrodynamics Code For Astrophysical Simulation
• Role of Cosmic Rays in the Circumgalactic Medium
• Flickering AGN can explain the strong circumgalactic O VI observed by COS-Halos
• Trident: a universal tool for generating synthetic absorption spectra from astrophysical simulations
• The extent of chemically enriched gas around star-forming dwarf galaxies
• QSO Absorption Systems Detected in Ne VIII: High-Metallicity Clouds with a Large Effective Cross Section
• Column Density Profiles of Multi-Phase Gaseous Halos
• Precipitation-Regulated Star Formation in Galaxies
• The COS Absorption Survey of Baryon Harbors (CASBaH): Warm-hot Circumgalactic Gas Reservoirs Traced by Ne VIII Absorption
• The Properties of the Circumgalactic Medium in Red and Blue Galaxies: Results from the COS-GASS+COS-Halos Surveys
• A Survey of MgII Absorption at 2 < z < 6 with Magellan / FIRE: I: Sample and Evolution of the MgII Frequency
• On the Spatial and Kinematic Distributions of Mg II Absorbing Gas in <z>=0.7 Galaxies
• The incidence of cool gas in ~ 1e13 Msun halos
• On the model of the circumgalactic mist: the implications of cloud sizes in galactic winds and halos
• Introducing CGOLS: The Cholla Galactic OutfLow Simulation Suite
• Growth and Evolution of Thermal Instabilities in Idealized Galaxy-Cluster Cores
• Cos observations of metal line and broad lyman alpha absorption in the multi-phase o vi and ne viii system toward he 02226-4110
• Adaptive Mesh Refinement Simulations of Galaxy Formation: Exploring Numerical and Physical Parameters
• Galaxies Probing Galaxies in PRIMUS - II. The Coherence Scale of the Cool Circumgalactic Medium
• Detection of Two Intervening Ne VIII Absorbers Probing Warm Gas at z~0.6
• Hydrodynamic Shielding and the Survival of Cold Streams
• Simulating the Carbon Footprint of Galactic Halos

Cited by in corpus (135)

• Resolving small-scale cold circumgalactic gas in TNG50
• Properties of the Circumgalactic Medium in Cosmic Ray-Dominated Galaxy Halos
• How cold gas continuously entrains mass and momentum from a hot wind
• Multiphase Gas and the Fractal Nature of Radiative Turbulent Mixing Layers
• Hydrodynamical simulations of the galaxy population: enduring successes and outstanding challenges
• Galactic outflow rates in the EAGLE simulations
• First results from SMAUG: Characterization of Multiphase Galactic Outflows from a Suite of Local Star-Forming Galactic Disk Simulations
• Interaction of a cold cloud with a hot wind: the regimes of cloud growth and destruction and the impact of magnetic fields
• The Column Density, Kinematics, and Thermal State of Metal-Bearing Gas within the Virial Radius of z~2 Star-Forming Galaxies in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey
• Gas accretion and galactic fountain flows in the Auriga cosmological simulations: angular momentum and metal re-distribution
• Predictions for the Angular Dependence of Gas Mass Flow Rate and Metallicity in the Circumgalactic Medium
• Lyman Radiation Hydrodynamics of Turbulent H II Regions in Molecular Clouds: A Physical Origin of LyC Leakage and the Associated Ly$\alpha$ Spectra
• Survival and mass growth of cold gas in a turbulent, multiphase medium
• Cooling flow solutions for the circumgalactic medium
• The Impact of Cosmic Rays on Thermal Instability in the Circumgalactic Medium
• Instability of Supersonic Cold Streams Feeding Galaxies IV: Survival of Radiatively Cooling Streams
• Simulating Groups and the IntraGroup Medium: The Surprisingly Complex and Rich Middle Ground Between Clusters and Galaxies
• Radiative Mixing Layers: Insights from Turbulent Combustion
• Project AMIGA: The Circumgalactic Medium of Andromeda
• Magnetising the circumgalactic medium of disk galaxies
• Circumgalactic Mg II Emission from an Isotropic Starburst Galaxy Outflow Mapped by KCWI
• Is Multiphase Gas Cloudy or Misty?
• The Keck Baryonic Structure Survey: Using foreground/background galaxy pairs to trace the structure and kinematics of circumgalactic neutral hydrogen at $z\sim 2$
• Massive Warm/Hot Galaxy Coronae: II. Isentropic Model
• First results from SMAUG: Uncovering the Origin of the Multiphase Circumgalactic Medium with a Comparative Analysis of Idealized and Cosmological Simulations
• CGM${}^2$ I: The Extent of the Circumgalactic Medium Traced by Neutral Hydrogen
• The Nature of High ${[\mathrm{OIII}]}_{88\mu \mathrm{m}}$/${[\mathrm{CII}]}_{158\mu \mathrm{m}}$ Galaxies in the Epoch of Reionization: Low Carbon Abundance and a Top-Heavy IMF?
• Resolving shocks and filaments in galaxy formation simulations: effects on gas properties and star formation in the circumgalactic medium
• The COS CGM Compendium. III: Metallicity and Physical Properties of the Cool Circumgalactic Medium at z<1
• On the model of the circumgalactic mist: the implications of cloud sizes in galactic winds and halos
• Galactic inflow and wind recycling rates in the EAGLE simulations
• AGN-driven outflows and the formation of Ly$\alpha$ nebulae around high-z quasars
• The Low Redshift Circumgalactic Medium in Simba
• How Do Supernovae Impact the Circumgalactic Medium? I. Large-Scale Fountains Around a Milky Way-Like Galaxy
• The impact of magnetic fields on cold streams feeding galaxies
• Spectral shapes of the Lyman-alpha emission from galaxies: I. blueshifted emission and intrinsic invariance with redshift
• Ubiquitous Molecular Outflows in z > 4 Massive, Dusty Galaxies II. Momentum-Driven Winds Powered by Star Formation in the Early Universe
• First results from SMAUG: The need for preventative stellar feedback and improved baryon cycling in semi-analytic models of galaxy formation
• Figuring Out Gas & Galaxies in Enzo (FOGGIE). II. Emission from the z=3 Circumgalactic Medium
• How runaway stars boost galactic outflows
• Properties of the Simulated Circumgalactic Medium
• A systematic study of the escape of LyC and Ly$\alpha$ photons from star-forming, magnetized turbulent clouds
• RAMSES-RTZ: Non-Equilibrium Metal Chemistry and Cooling Coupled to On-The-Fly Radiation Hydrodynamics
• Figuring Out Gas & Galaxies In Enzo (FOGGIE). IV. The Stochasticity of Ram Pressure Stripping in Galactic Halos
• The Nature of Ionized Gas in the Milky Way Galactic Fountain
• Constraining Magnetic Fields in the Circumgalactic Medium
• Cosmic Ray Driven Outflows from the Large Magellanic Cloud: Contributions to the LMC Filament
• SUPER. VI. A giant molecular halo around a z~2 quasar
• Lyman-αabsorption beyond the disk of simulated spiral galaxies
• Lyman-alpha transmission properties of the intergalactic medium in the CoDaII simulation
• A Comparison of Circumgalactic MgII Absorption between the TNG50 Simulation and the MEGAFLOW Survey
• Figuring Out Gas & Galaxies in Enzo (FOGGIE). III. The Mocky Way: Investigating Biases in Observing the Milky Way's Circumgalactic Medium
• Thermal Instability in the CGM of $L_{\star }$ Galaxies: Testing "Precipitation" Models with the FIRE Simulations
• KODIAQ-Z: Metals and Baryons in the Cool Intergalactic and Circumgalactic Gas at 2.2<z<3.6
• Figuring Out Gas & Galaxies In Enzo (FOGGIE) VI: The Circumgalactic Medium of $L^{\ast }$ Galaxies is Supported in an Emergent, Non-Hydrostatic Equilibrium
• Thermal Instabilities and Shattering in the High-Redshift WHIM: Convergence Criteria and Implications for Low-Metallicity Strong HI Absorbers
• Virial shocks are suppressed in cosmic ray-dominated galaxy halos
• Morphological and Rotation Structures of Circumgalactic Mg II Gas in the EAGLE Simulation and the Dependence on Galaxy Properties
• The dispersion measure and scattering of FRBs: Contributions from the intergalactic medium, foreground halos, and hosts
• A New Model For Including Galactic Winds in Simulations of Galaxy Formation I: Introducing the Physically Evolved Winds (PhEW) Model
• Boosting galactic outflows with enhanced resolution
• Simba: The average properties of the circumgalactic medium of $2\le z\le 3$ quasars are determined primarily by stellar feedback
• Exploring the Physical Properties of the Cool Circumgalactic Medium with a Semi-Analytic Model
• High resolution modeling of [CII], [CI], [OIII] and CO line emission from the ISM and CGM of a star forming galaxy at z ~ 6.5
• OVI Traces Photoionized Streams With Collisionally Ionized Boundaries in Cosmological Simulations of $z\sim 1$ Massive Galaxies
• The Impact of Cosmic Rays on the Kinematics of the Circumgalactic Medium
• Revisiting the Gas Kinematics in SSA22 Lyman-$\alpha$ Blob 1 with Radiative Transfer Modeling in a Multiphase, Clumpy Medium
• Quenching in Cosmic Sheets: Tracing the Impact of Large Scale Structure Collapse on the Evolution of Dwarf Galaxies
• Cooling driven coagulation
• Evolution of Neutral Oxygen During the Epoch of Reionization and its Use in Estimating the Neutral Hydrogen Fraction
• Exploring the Milky Way Circumgalactic Medium in a Cosmological Context with a Semi-Analytic Model
• A Complex Multiphase DLA Associated with a Compact Group at z=2.431 Traces Accretion, Outflows, and Tidal Streams
• Clumpiness of Observed and Simulated Cold Circumgalactic Gas
• A Multiwavelength Study of ELAN Environments (AMUSE${}^2$). Mass budget, satellites spin alignment and gas infall in a massive $z\sim 3$ quasar host halo
• Modeling multi-phase gases in cosmological simulations using compressible multi-fluid hydrodynamics
• Ultraviolet Signatures of the Multiphase Intracluster and Circumgalactic Media in the RomulusC Simulation
• The AGORA High-resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project. VI. Similarities and Differences in the Circumgalactic Medium
• The baryon cycle of Seven Dwarfs with superbubble feedback
• The Warm Gas in the MW: A Kinematical Model
• Cold and Hot gas distribution around the Milky-Way-M31 system in the HESTIA simulations
• The Impacts of Modeling Choices on the Inference of the Circumgalactic Medium Properties from Sunyaev-Zeldovich Observations
• Probing the CGM of Low-redshift Dwarf Galaxies Using FIRE Simulations
• Calibration of a star formation and feedback model for cosmological simulations with Enzo
• Using cosmological simulations and synthetic absorption spectra to assess the accuracy of observationally derived CGM metallicities
• Radiative Turbulent Mixing Layers and the Survival of Magellanic Debris
• Entrainment of Hot Gas into Cold Streams: The Origin of Excessive Star-formation Rates at Cosmic Noon
• How Robust are the Inferred Density and Metallicity of the Circumgalactic Medium?
• Evidence for galaxy quenching in the green valley caused by a lack of a circumgalactic medium
• The magnetised and thermally unstable tails of jellyfish galaxies
• The effects of binary stars on galaxies and metal-enriched gas during reionization
• Cosmic Ray-Driven Galactic Winds with Resolved ISM and Ion-Neutral Damping
• Multi wavelength cross-correlation analysis of the simulated cosmic web
• Inflow of low-metallicity cool gas in the halo of the Andromeda galaxy
• The distribution and properties of DLAs at z $\le$ 2 in the EAGLE simulations
• APEX at the QSO MUSEUM: molecular gas reservoirs associated with $z\sim$3 quasars and their link to the extended Ly$\alpha$ emission
• The Effect of Cosmic Rays on the Observational Properties of the CGM
• The Physical Nature of Circumgalactic Medium Absorbers in Simba
• A search for dust and molecular gas in enormous Ly$\alpha$ nebulae at $z\approx 2$
• CGM${}^2$ $+$ CASBaH: The Mass Dependence of H~I Ly$\alpha$-Galaxy Clustering and the Extent of the CGM
• Physical Conditions of Five O VI Absorption Systems Towards PG $1522+101$
• The cooler past of the intracluster medium in TNG-Cluster
• The Impact of Wind Scalings on Stellar Growth and the Baryon Cycle in Cosmological Simulations
• Carbon envelopes around merging galaxies at z ~ 4.5
• MusE GAs FLOw and Wind (MEGAFLOW) XIII. Cool gas traced by MgII around isolated galaxies
• UV & Ly$\alpha$ halos of Ly$\alpha$ emitters across environments at z=2.84
• An Empirical Determination of the Dependence of the Circumgalactic Mass Cooling Rate and Feedback Mass Loading Factor on Galactic Stellar Mass
• On the Origin of High-velocity Clouds in the Galaxy
• Transverse clues on the kpc-scale structure of the circumgalactic medium as traced by C IV absorption
• Zooming in on the Circumgalactic Medium with GIBLE: Tracing the Origin and Evolution of Cold Clouds
• Distinguishing Between Photoionized and Collisionally Ionized Gas in the Circumgalactic Medium
• Seeking Self-Regulating Simulations of Idealized Milky Way-Like Galaxies
• Shattering as a source of small grains in the circum-galactic medium
• Circumgalactic Environments around Distant Quasars 3C 9 and 4C 05.84
• Stability and Ly$\alpha$ emission of Cold Stream in the Circumgalactic Medium: impact of magnetic fields and thermal conduction
• Understanding the circumgalactic medium is critical for understanding galaxy evolution
• Microphysics of Circumgalactic Turbulence Probed by Fast Radio Bursts and Quasars
• Spatial Distribution of OVI Covering Fractions in the Simulated Circumgalactic Medium
• Kinematics of MgII Absorbers from the Redshift-space Distortion Around Massive Quiescent Galaxies
• A possible relation between global CO excitation and massive molecular outflows in local ULIRGs
• CRexit: how different cosmic ray transport modes affect thermal instability in the circumgalactic medium
• Evolving beyond z=0: insights about the future of stars and the intergalactic medium
• Introducing the Descriptive Parametric Model: Gaseous Profiles for Galaxies, Groups, and Clusters
• Large-scale geometry and topology of gas fields: Effects of AGN and stellar feedback
• Harvesting the Lyα forest with convolutional neural networks
• The Circumgalactic Medium from the CAMELS Simulations: Forecasting Constraints on Feedback Processes from Future Sunyaev-Zeldovich Observations
• Constraining cosmic ray transport models using circumgalactic medium properties and observables
• Multi-cloud crushing -- the collective survival of cold clouds in galactic outflows
• A New Model For Including Galactic Winds in Simulations of Galaxy Formation II: Implementation of PhEW in Cosmological Simulations
• Following the Metals in the Intergalactic and Circumgalactic Medium over Cosmic Time
• The Thermodynamic and Kinematic Evolution of Circumgalactic Gas around $z=1$ in the IllustrisTNG model
• Constraints on cosmic rays in the Milky Way circumgalactic medium from OVIII observations
• Mainly on the Plane: Observing the Extended, Ionized Disks of Milky Way Analogs in IllustrisTNG
• The hidden circumgalactic medium
• Turbulence in the intragroup and circumgalactic medium
• Gas flows in galaxy mergers: supersonic turbulence in bridges, accretion from the circumgalactic medium, and metallicity dilution