Gas blown away from galactic disks by supernova (SN) feedback plays a key role in galaxy evolution. We investigate outflows utilizing the solar neighborhood model of our high-resolution, local ...galactic disk simulation suite, TIGRESS. In our numerical implementation, star formation and SN feedback are self-consistently treated and well resolved in the multiphase, turbulent, magnetized interstellar medium. Bursts of star formation produce spatially and temporally correlated SNe that drive strong outflows, consisting of hot ( ) winds and warm ( ) fountains. The hot gas at distance from the midplane has mass and energy fluxes nearly constant with d. The hot flow escapes our local Cartesian box barely affected by gravity, and is expected to accelerate up to terminal velocity of . The mean mass and energy loading factors of the hot wind are 0.1 and 0.02, respectively. For warm gas, the mean outward mass flux through is comparable to the mean star formation rate, but only a small fraction of this gas is at velocity . Thus, the warm outflows eventually fall back as inflows. The warm fountain flows are created by expanding hot superbubbles at at larger d neither ram pressure acceleration nor cooling transfers significant momentum or energy flux from the hot wind to the warm outflow. The velocity distribution at launching near is a better representation of warm outflows than a single mass loading factor, potentially enabling development of subgrid models for warm galactic winds in arbitrary large-scale galactic potentials.
ABSTRACT We use numerical simulations to analyze the evolution and properties of superbubbles (SBs), driven by multiple supernovae (SNe), that propagate into the two-phase (warm/cold), cloudy ...interstellar medium (ISM). We consider a range of mean background densities and intervals between SNe , and follow each SB until the radius reaches , where H is the characteristic ISM disk thickness. Except for embedded dense clouds, each SB is hot until a time when the shocked warm gas at the outer front cools and forms an overdense shell. Subsequently, diffuse gas in the SB interior remains at , with an expansion velocity (both highest for low ). At late times, the warm shell gas velocities are several tens to . While shell velocities are too low to escape from a massive galaxy, they are high enough to remove substantial mass from dwarfs. Dense clouds are also accelerated, reaching a few to tens of . We measure the mass in hot gas per SN, , and the total radial momentum of the bubble per SN, . After , (highest for low ), while (highest for high ). If galactic winds in massive galaxies are loaded by the hot gas in SBs, we conclude that the mass-loss rates would generally be lower than star formation rates. Only if the SN cadence is much higher than usual in galactic disks, as may occur for nuclear starbursts, can SBs breakout while hot and expel up to 10 times the mass locked up in stars. The momentum injection values, , are consistent with requirements to control star formation rates within galaxies at observed levels.
UV radiation feedback from young massive stars plays a key role in the evolution of giant molecular clouds (GMCs) by photoevaporating and ejecting the surrounding gas. We conduct a suite of radiation ...hydrodynamic simulations of star cluster formation in marginally bound, turbulent GMCs, focusing on the effects of photoionization and radiation pressure on regulating the net star formation efficiency (SFE) and cloud lifetime. We find that the net SFE depends primarily on the initial gas surface density, 0, such that the SFE increases from 4% to 51% as 0 increases from 13 to . Cloud destruction occurs within 2-10 Myr after the onset of radiation feedback, or within 0.6-4.1 freefall times (increasing with 0). Photoevaporation dominates the mass loss in massive, low surface density clouds, but because most photons are absorbed in an ionization-bounded Strömgren volume, the photoevaporated gas fraction is proportional to the square root of the SFE. The measured momentum injection due to thermal and radiation pressure forces is proportional to , and the ejection of neutrals substantially contributes to the disruption of low mass and/or high surface density clouds. We present semi-analytic models for cloud dispersal mediated by photoevaporation and by dynamical mass ejection, and show that the predicted net SFE and mass loss efficiencies are consistent with the results of our numerical simulations.
We present the fourth simulation of the Cholla Galactic OutfLow Simulations suite. Using a physically motivated prescription for clustered supernova feedback, we successfully drive a multiphase ...outflow from a disk galaxy. The high resolution (<5 pc) across a relatively large domain (20 kpc) allows us to capture the hydrodynamic mixing and dynamical interactions between the hot and cool (T ∼ 104 K) phases in the outflow, which in turn leads to direct evidence of a qualitatively new mechanism for cool gas acceleration in galactic winds. We show that mixing of momentum from the hot phase to the cool phase accelerates the cool gas to 800 km s−1 on kiloparsec scales, with properties inconsistent with the physical models of ram pressure acceleration or bulk cooling from the hot phase. The mixing process also affects the hot phase, modifying its radial profiles of temperature, density, and velocity from the expectations of radial supersonic flow. This mechanism provides a physical explanation for the high-velocity, blueshifted, low-ionization absorption lines often observed in the spectra of starburst and high-redshift galaxies.
Cosmic ray pressure gradients transfer energy and momentum to extraplanar gas in disk galaxies, potentially driving significant mass loss as galactic winds. This may be particularly important for ...launching high-velocity outflows of "cool" (T 104 K) gas. We study cosmic ray-driven disk winds using a simplified semi-analytic model assuming streamlines follow the large-scale gravitational potential gradient. We consider scaled Milky Way-like potentials including a disk, bulge, and halo with a range of halo velocities VH = 50-300 and streamline footpoints with radii in the disk R0 = 1-16 kpc at a height of 1 kpc. Our solutions cover a wide range of footpoint gas velocity u0, magnetic-to-cosmic ray pressure ratio, gas-to-cosmic ray pressure ratio, and angular momentum. Cosmic ray streaming at the Alfvén speed enables the effective sound speed Ceff to increase from the footpoint to a critical point where Ceff,c = uc ∼ VH; this differs from thermal winds, in which Ceff decreases outward. The critical point is typically at a height of 1-6 kpc from the disk, increasing with VH, and the asymptotic wind velocity exceeds the escape speed of the halo. Mass-loss rates are insensitive to the footpoint values of the magnetic field and angular momentum. In addition to numerical parameter space exploration, we develop and compare to analytic scaling relations. We show that winds have mass-loss rates per unit area up to , where 0 is the footpoint cosmic ray pressure and u0 is set by the upwelling of galactic fountains. The predicted wind mass-loss rate exceeds the star formation rate for VH 200 and u0 = 50 , a typical fountain velocity.
ABSTRACT Radiation feedback from young star clusters embedded in giant molecular clouds (GMCs) is believed to be important to the control of star formation. For the most massive and dense clouds, ...including those in which super star clusters (SSCs) are born, pressure from reprocessed radiation exerted on dust grains may disperse a significant portion of the cloud mass back into the interstellar medium. Using our radiation hydrodynamics code, Hyperion, we conduct a series of numerical simulations to test this idea. Our models follow the evolution of self-gravitating, strongly turbulent clouds in which collapsing regions are replaced by radiating sink particles representing stellar clusters. We evaluate the dependence of the star formation efficiency (SFE) on the size and mass of the cloud and κ, the opacity of the gas to infrared (IR) radiation. We find that the single most important parameter determining the evolutionary outcome is κ, with needed to disrupt clouds. For , the resulting SFE is similar to empirical estimates for some SSC-forming clouds. The opacities required for GMC disruption likely apply only in dust-enriched environments. We find that the subgrid model approach of boosting the direct radiation force by a "trapping factor" equal to a cloud's mean IR optical depth can overestimate the true radiation force by factors of . We conclude that feedback from reprocessed IR radiation alone is unlikely to significantly reduce star formation within GMCs unless their dust abundances or cluster light-to-mass ratios are enhanced.
Star formation rates in the centers of disk galaxies often vastly exceed those at larger radii, whether measured by the surface density of star formation Delta *SSFR, by the star formation rate per ...unit gas mass, Delta *SSFR/ Delta *S, or even by total output. In this paper, we investigate the idea that central starbursts are self-regulated systems in which the momentum flux injected to the interstellar medium (ISM) by star formation balances the gravitational force confining the ISM gas in the disk. For most starbursts, supernovae are the largest contributor to the momentum flux, and turbulence provides the main pressure support for the predominantly molecular ISM. If the momentum feedback per stellar mass formed is p */m * ~ 3000 km s--1, the predicted star formation rate is Delta *SSFR ~ 2 Delta *pG Delta *S2 m */p * ~ 0.1 M kpc--2 yr--1( Delta *S/100 M pc--2)2 in regions where gas dominates the vertical gravity. We compare this prediction with numerical simulations of vertically resolved disks that model star formation including feedback, finding good agreement for gas surface densities in the range Delta *S ~ 102-103 M pc--2. We also compare to a compilation of star formation rates and gas contents from local and high-redshift galaxies (both mergers and normal galaxies), finding good agreement provided that the conversion factor X CO from integrated CO emission to H2 surface density decreases modestly as Delta *S and Delta *SSFR increase. Star formation rates in dense, turbulent gas are also expected to depend on the gravitational free-fall time at the corresponding mean ISM density Delta *r0; if the star formation efficiency per free-fall time is Delta *eff( Delta *r0) ~ 0.01, the turbulent velocity dispersion driven by feedback is expected to be vz = 0.4 Delta *eff( Delta *r0)p */m * ~ 10 km s--1, relatively independent of Delta *S or Delta *SSFR. Turbulence-regulated starbursts (controlled by kinetic momentum feedback) are part of the larger scheme of self-regulation; primarily atomic low- Delta *S outer disks may have star formation regulated by ultraviolet heating feedback, whereas regions at extremely high Delta *S may be regulated by feedback of stellar radiation that is reprocessed into trapped infrared.
Abstract
Winds from massive stars have velocities of 1000 km s
−1
or more and produce hot, high-pressure gas when they shock. We develop a theory for the evolution of bubbles driven by the collective ...winds from star clusters early in their lifetimes, which involves interaction with the turbulent, dense interstellar medium of the surrounding natal molecular cloud. A key feature is the fractal nature of the hot bubble’s surface. The large area of this interface with surrounding denser gas strongly enhances energy losses from the hot interior, enabled by turbulent mixing and subsequent cooling at temperatures
T
∼ 10
4
–10
5
K, where radiation is maximally efficient. Due to the extreme cooling, the bubble radius scales differently (
) from the classical Weaver et al. solution and has expansion velocity and momentum lower by factors of 10–10
2
at given
, with pressure lower by factors of 10
2
–10
3
. Our theory explains the weak X-ray emission and low shell expansion velocities of observed sources. We discuss further implications of our theory for observations of the hot bubbles and cooled expanding shells created by stellar winds and for predictions of feedback-regulated star formation in a range of environments. In a companion paper, we validate our theory with a suite of hydrodynamic simulations.
We introduce TIGRESS, a novel framework for multi-physics numerical simulations of the star-forming interstellar medium (ISM) implemented in the Athena MHD code. The algorithms of TIGRESS are ...designed to spatially and temporally resolve key physical features, including: (1) the gravitational collapse and ongoing accretion of gas that leads to star formation in clusters; (2) the explosions of supernovae (SNe), both near their progenitor birth sites and from runaway OB stars, with time delays relative to star formation determined by population synthesis; (3) explicit evolution of SN remnants prior to the onset of cooling, which leads to the creation of the hot ISM; (4) photoelectric heating of the warm and cold phases of the ISM that tracks the time-dependent ambient FUV field from the young cluster population; (5) large-scale galactic differential rotation, which leads to epicyclic motion and shears out overdense structures, limiting large-scale gravitational collapse; (6) accurate evolution of magnetic fields, which can be important for vertical support of the ISM disk as well as angular momentum transport. We present tests of the newly implemented physics modules, and demonstrate application of TIGRESS in a fiducial model representing the solar neighborhood environment. We use a resolution study to demonstrate convergence and evaluate the minimum resolution Δ x required to correctly recover several ISM properties, including the star formation rate, wind mass-loss rate, disk scale height, turbulent and Alfvénic velocity dispersions, and volume fractions of warm and hot phases. For the solar neighborhood model, all these ISM properties are converged at Δ x ≤ 8 pc .
ABSTRACT Supernova (SN) explosions deposit prodigious energy and momentum in their environments, with the former regulating multiphase thermal structure and the latter regulating turbulence and star ...formation rates in the interstellar medium (ISM). However, systematic studies quantifying the impact of SNe in realistic inhomogeneous ISM conditions have been lacking. Using three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations, we investigate the dependence of radial momentum injection on both physical conditions (considering a range of mean density n0 = 0.1- ) and numerical parameters. Our inhomogeneous simulations adopt two-phase background states that result from thermal instability in atomic gas. Although the supernova remnant (SNR) morphology becomes highly complex for inhomogeneous backgrounds, the radial momentum injection is remarkably insensitive to environmental details. For our two-phase simulations, the final momentum produced by a single SN is given by . This is only 5% less than the momentum injection for a homogeneous environment with the same mean density, and only 30% greater than the momentum at the time of shell formation. The maximum mass in hot gas is also quite insensitive to environmental inhomogeneity. Strong magnetic fields alter the hot gas mass at very late times, but the momentum injection remains the same. Initial experiments with multiple spatially correlated SNe show a momentum per event nearly as large as single-SN cases. We also present a full numerical parameter study to assess convergence requirements. For convergence in the momentum and other quantities, we find that the numerical resolution Δ and the initial size of the SNR must satisfy , where the shell formation radius is given by for two-phase models (or 30% smaller for a homogeneous medium).
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