Gas Accretion Can Drive Turbulence in Galaxies
The driving of turbulence in galaxies is deeply connected with the physics of feedback, star formation, outflows, accretion, and radial transport in disks. The velocity dispersion of gas in galaxies therefore offers a promising observational window into these processes. However, the relative importa...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acb53e |
| _version_ | 1797696422464716800 |
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| author | John C. Forbes Razieh Emami Rachel S. Somerville Shy Genel Dylan Nelson Annalisa Pillepich Blakesley Burkhart Greg L. Bryan Mark R. Krumholz Lars Hernquist Stephanie Tonnesen Paul Torrey Viraj Pandya Christopher C. Hayward |
| author_facet | John C. Forbes Razieh Emami Rachel S. Somerville Shy Genel Dylan Nelson Annalisa Pillepich Blakesley Burkhart Greg L. Bryan Mark R. Krumholz Lars Hernquist Stephanie Tonnesen Paul Torrey Viraj Pandya Christopher C. Hayward |
| author_sort | John C. Forbes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The driving of turbulence in galaxies is deeply connected with the physics of feedback, star formation, outflows, accretion, and radial transport in disks. The velocity dispersion of gas in galaxies therefore offers a promising observational window into these processes. However, the relative importance of each of these mechanisms remains controversial. In this work we revisit the possibility that turbulence on galactic scales is driven by the direct impact of accreting gaseous material on the disk. We measure this effect in a disk-like star-forming galaxy in IllustrisTNG, using the high-resolution cosmological magnetohydrodynamical simulation TNG50. We employ Lagrangian tracer particles with a high time cadence of only a few million years to identify accretion and other events. The energies of particles are measured by stacking the events in bins of time around the event. The average effect of each event is measured by fitting explicit models for the kinetic and turbulent energies as a function of time. These measurements are corroborated by cross-correlating the turbulent energy with other time series and searching for signals of causality, i.e., asymmetries across zero time lag. We find that accretion contributes to the large-scale turbulent kinetic energy even if it does not dominate in this ∼5 × 10 ^9 M _⊙ stellar mass galaxy. Extrapolating this finding to a range of galaxy masses, we find that there are regimes where energy from direct accretion may dominate the turbulent energy budget, particularly in disk outskirts, galaxies less massive than the Milky Way, and at redshift ∼2. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:26:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9a1677ede4f84555b3d3be95ec02f732 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:26:08Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-9a1677ede4f84555b3d3be95ec02f7322023-09-03T13:36:38ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572023-01-01948210710.3847/1538-4357/acb53eGas Accretion Can Drive Turbulence in GalaxiesJohn C. Forbes0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1975-4449Razieh Emami1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2791-5011Rachel S. Somerville2Shy Genel3Dylan Nelson4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8421-5890Annalisa Pillepich5https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1065-9274Blakesley Burkhart6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5817-5944Greg L. Bryan7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2630-9228Mark R. Krumholz8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3893-854XLars Hernquist9Stephanie Tonnesen10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8710-9206Paul Torrey11https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5653-0786Viraj Pandya12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2499-9205Christopher C. Hayward13https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4073-3236Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA ; jforbes@flatironinstitute.orgCenter for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USACenter for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA ; jforbes@flatironinstitute.orgCenter for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA ; jforbes@flatironinstitute.org; Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University , New York, NY 10027, USAZentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg , ITA, Albert-Ueberle-Str. 2, D-69120 Heidelberg, GermanyMax-Planck-Institut fur Astronomie , Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, GermanyCenter for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA ; jforbes@flatironinstitute.org; Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University , 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USACenter for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA ; jforbes@flatironinstitute.org; Department of Astronomy, Columbia University , 550 W 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USAResearch School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University , Canberra, ACT 2611, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence for Astronomy in Three Dimensions (ASTRO-3D) , Canberra, ACT 2611, AustraliaCenter for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USACenter for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA ; jforbes@flatironinstitute.orgDepartment of Astronomy, University of Florida , Gainesville, FL 32611, USADepartment of Astronomy, Columbia University , 550 W 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USACenter for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA ; jforbes@flatironinstitute.orgThe driving of turbulence in galaxies is deeply connected with the physics of feedback, star formation, outflows, accretion, and radial transport in disks. The velocity dispersion of gas in galaxies therefore offers a promising observational window into these processes. However, the relative importance of each of these mechanisms remains controversial. In this work we revisit the possibility that turbulence on galactic scales is driven by the direct impact of accreting gaseous material on the disk. We measure this effect in a disk-like star-forming galaxy in IllustrisTNG, using the high-resolution cosmological magnetohydrodynamical simulation TNG50. We employ Lagrangian tracer particles with a high time cadence of only a few million years to identify accretion and other events. The energies of particles are measured by stacking the events in bins of time around the event. The average effect of each event is measured by fitting explicit models for the kinetic and turbulent energies as a function of time. These measurements are corroborated by cross-correlating the turbulent energy with other time series and searching for signals of causality, i.e., asymmetries across zero time lag. We find that accretion contributes to the large-scale turbulent kinetic energy even if it does not dominate in this ∼5 × 10 ^9 M _⊙ stellar mass galaxy. Extrapolating this finding to a range of galaxy masses, we find that there are regimes where energy from direct accretion may dominate the turbulent energy budget, particularly in disk outskirts, galaxies less massive than the Milky Way, and at redshift ∼2.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acb53eGalaxy physicsGalaxy processesGalaxy dynamicsGalaxy formationHigh-redshift galaxiesDisk galaxies |
| spellingShingle | John C. Forbes Razieh Emami Rachel S. Somerville Shy Genel Dylan Nelson Annalisa Pillepich Blakesley Burkhart Greg L. Bryan Mark R. Krumholz Lars Hernquist Stephanie Tonnesen Paul Torrey Viraj Pandya Christopher C. Hayward Gas Accretion Can Drive Turbulence in Galaxies The Astrophysical Journal Galaxy physics Galaxy processes Galaxy dynamics Galaxy formation High-redshift galaxies Disk galaxies |
| title | Gas Accretion Can Drive Turbulence in Galaxies |
| title_full | Gas Accretion Can Drive Turbulence in Galaxies |
| title_fullStr | Gas Accretion Can Drive Turbulence in Galaxies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gas Accretion Can Drive Turbulence in Galaxies |
| title_short | Gas Accretion Can Drive Turbulence in Galaxies |
| title_sort | gas accretion can drive turbulence in galaxies |
| topic | Galaxy physics Galaxy processes Galaxy dynamics Galaxy formation High-redshift galaxies Disk galaxies |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acb53e |
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