Metal abundances in the MACER simulations of the hot interstellar medium

Pellegrini, Silvia; Gan, Zhaoming; Ostriker, Jeremiah P.; Ciotti, Luca

doi:10.1002/asna.202023776

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Mernier et al 2017), the central Fe and Mg peaks are significantly lower than those predicted by the state-of-the-art simulations in ETGs; e.g. the MACER simulations (Pellegrini et al 2020) and the MrAGN runs of Choi et al (2020). The precise origin of these disagreements still has to be determined, but should be (at least partly) related to the complex sub-grid physics at play here.…”

Section: Central Metal Peak and Ram-pressure Strippingmentioning

confidence: 78%

The cycle of metals in the infalling elliptical galaxy NGC 1404

Mernier,

Werner,

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Hot atmospheres pervading galaxy clusters, groups, and early-type galaxies are rich in metals, produced during epochs and diffused via processes that are still to be determined. While this enrichment has been routinely investigated in clusters, metals in lower mass systems are more challenging to probe with standard X-ray exposures and spectroscopy. In this paper, we focus on very deep XMM-Newton (∼350 ks) observations of NGC 1404, a massive elliptical galaxy experiencing ram-pressure stripping of its hot atmosphere while infalling toward the centre of the Fornax cluster, with the aim to derive abundances through its hot gas extent. Importantly, we report the existence of a new fitting bias -the "double Fe bias" -leading to an underestimate of the Fe abundance when two thermal components cannot realistically model the complex temperature structure present in the outer atmosphere of the galaxy. Contrasting with the "metal conundrum" seen in clusters, the Fe and Mg masses of NGC 1404 are measured 1-2 orders of magnitude below what stars and supernovae could have reasonably produced and released. In addition, we note the remarkable Solar abundance ratios of the galaxy's halo, different from its stellar counterpart but similar to the chemical composition of the ICM of rich clusters. Completing the clusters regime, all these findings provide additional support toward a scenario of early enrichment, at play over two orders of magnitude in mass. A few peculiar and intriguing features, such as a possible double metal peak as well as an apparent ring of enhanced Si near the galaxy core, are also discussed.

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Section: Central Metal Peak and Ram-pressure Strippingmentioning

confidence: 78%

The cycle of metals in the infalling elliptical galaxy NGC 1404

Mernier,

Werner,

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…An exemplary and well modeled system is the nearby galaxy group NGC 5044, with the homonymous central galaxy dominating over the many smaller satellites. In several ETGs/BGGs analytic studies and non-cosmological HD simulations (e.g., Loewenstein and Mathews [210], Ciotti et al [173], Renzini and Ciotti [62], Brighenti and Mathews [211], Brighenti and Mathews [212], Mathews and Brighenti [213], Gaspari et al [214], Gaspari et al [215], Pellegrini et al [216]), a common implementation of Equation ( 5) is to recast it in terms of the astrophysical IGrM abundance of the ith-element (by mass in Solar unit):…”

Section: High-resolution Hydrodynamical Simulations and Small-scale Astrophysicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Metal Content of the Hot Atmospheres of Galaxy Groups

et al. 2021

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Galaxy groups host the majority of matter and more than half of all the galaxies in the Universe. Their hot (107 K), X-ray emitting intra-group medium (IGrM) reveals emission lines typical of many elements synthesized by stars and supernovae. Because their gravitational potentials are shallower than those of rich galaxy clusters, groups are ideal targets for studying, through X-ray observations , feedback effects, which leave important marks on their gas and metal contents. Here, we review the history and present status of the chemical abundances in the IGrM probed by X-ray spectroscopy. We discuss the limitations of our current knowledge, in particular due to uncertainties in the modeling of the Fe-L shell by plasma codes, and coverage of the volume beyond the central region. We further summarize the constraints on the abundance pattern at the group mass scale and the insight it provides to the history of chemical enrichment. Parallel to the observational efforts, we review the progress made by both cosmological hydrodynamical simulations and controlled high-resolution 3D simulations to reproduce the radial distribution of metals in the IGrM, the dependence on system mass from group to cluster scales, and the role of AGN and SN feedback in producing the observed phenomenology. Finally, we highlight future prospects in this field, where progress will be driven both by a much richer sample of X-ray emitting groups identified with eROSITA, and by a revolution in the study of X-ray spectra expected from micro-calorimeters onboard XRISM and ATHENA.

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“…Cooling flows from the hot halo are another proposed fueling mechanism (Nulsen & Fabian 2000). Indeed, recent work using high resolution simulations of massive ellipticals have highlighted the importance of cooling flows fueled by stellar evolution in generating AGN outbursts (Gan et al 2019;Pellegrini et al 2020;Gan et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Connection between Mergers and AGN Activity in Simulated and Observed Massive Galaxies

Sharma,

Choi,

Somerville

et al. 2021

Preprint

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We analyze a suite of 30 high resolution zoom-in cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of massive galaxies with stellar masses M * > 10 10.9 M , with the goal of better understanding merger activity in AGN, AGN activity in merging systems, SMBH growth during mergers, and the role of gas content. Using the radiative transfer code Powderday, we generate HST-WFC3 F160W mock observations of redshift 0.5 < z < 3 central galaxies, add noise properties similar to the CANDELS survey, and measure morphological properties from the synthetic images using commonly adopted non-parametric statistics. We compare the distributions of morphological properties measured from the synthetic images with a sample of inactive galaxies and X-ray selected AGN hosts from CANDELS. We study the connection between mergers and AGN activity in the simulations, the synthetic images, and the observed CANDELS sample. We find that, in both the simulations and CANDELS, even the most luminous (L bol > 10 45 erg s −1 ) AGN in our sample are no more likely than inactive galaxies (L bol < 10 43 erg s −1 ) to be found in merging systems. We also find that AGN activity is not overall enhanced by mergers, nor enhanced at any specific time in the 1 Gyr preceding and following a merger. Even gas rich major mergers (stellar mass ratio >1:4) do not necessarily enhance AGN activity or significantly grow the central SMBH. We conclude that in the simulated massive galaxies studied here, mergers are not the primary drivers of AGN.

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Metal abundances in the MACER simulations of the hot interstellar medium

Cited by 11 publications

References 35 publications

The cycle of metals in the infalling elliptical galaxy NGC 1404

The cycle of metals in the infalling elliptical galaxy NGC 1404

The Metal Content of the Hot Atmospheres of Galaxy Groups

The Connection between Mergers and AGN Activity in Simulated and Observed Massive Galaxies

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