Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter ISM

Thursday, 24 September 2020, 17:23   (virtual room F)

How stellar and AGN feedback shape the physical properties of a multiphase ISM across cosmic time

Milena Valentini (1,2), K. Dolag (1,2), S. Borgani (3), G. Murante (3), A. Bressan (4), et al.
1- USM/LMU 2- Excellence Cluster ORIGINS 3- INAF/OATs 4- SISSA

Cosmological hydrodynamical simulations are a unique tool to investigate physical properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) during galaxy formation and evolution. They are especially key to study how the complex ISM of forming galaxies responds to the most energetic processes during galaxy evolution, such as stellar feedback ensuing supernova (SN) explosions and feedback from AGN (active galactic nuclei). One of the challenges of state-of-the-art cosmological simulations is to self-consistently account for physical processes spanning a wide dynamical range of scales (from ~pc to ~hundreds of kpc), thus relying on sophisticated sub-resolution models. I will present results from a suite of zoomed-in, cosmological simulations of a Milky Way-like galaxy, based on the GADGET-3 code, in which an accurate sub-resolution model is used. Our sub-resolution model describes a multiphase ISM, and features all the most relevant physical processes. I will show how sensitive the general properties of the simulated galaxies are to the way in which energy from SN explosions is injected in the ISM and to how stellar feedback triggered outflows are implemented. Moreover, I will show how the inclusion of AGN feedback impacts on the observational features of present-day disc galaxies, focussing on how feedback energy from the central black hole couples to the different phases of the ISM. I will then discuss the connection between chemical evolution and gas dynamics, comparing predictions from my simulations with observations of metal abundances in the ISM.