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The fates of the circumgalactic medium in the FIRE simulations

Murray, Norman; Chan, T.K.; El-Badry, Kareem; Wetzel, Andrew; Esmerian, Clarke; Kereš, Dušan; Stern, Jonathan; Anglés-Alcázar, Daniel; Faucher-Giguère, Claude-André; Hafen, Zachary

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Authors

Norman Murray

Kareem El-Badry

Andrew Wetzel

Clarke Esmerian

Dušan Kereš

Jonathan Stern

Daniel Anglés-Alcázar

Claude-André Faucher-Giguère

Zachary Hafen



Abstract

We analyse the different fates of the circumgalactic medium (CGM) in FIRE-2 cosmological simulations, focusing on the redshifts z = 0.25 and 2 representative of recent surveys. Our analysis includes 21 zoom-in simulations covering the halo mass range Mh(z = 0) ∼ 1010–1012 M. We analyse both where the gas ends up after first leaving the CGM (its ‘proximate’ fate) and its location at z = 0 (its ‘ultimate’ fate). Of the CGM at z = 2, about half is found in the ISM or stars of the central galaxy by z = 0 in Mh(z = 2) ∼ 5 × 1011 M haloes, but most of the CGM in lower mass haloes ends up in the intergalactic medium (IGM). This is so even though most of the CGM in Mh(z = 2) ∼ 5 × 1010 M haloes first accretes on to the central galaxy before being ejected into the IGM. On the other hand, most of the CGM mass at z = 0.25 remains in the CGM by z = 0 at all halo masses analysed. Of the CGM gas that subsequently accretes on to the central galaxy in the progenitors of Mh(z = 0) ∼ 1012 M haloes, most of it is cool (T ∼ 104 K) at z = 2 but hot (∼Tvir) at z ∼ 0.25, consistent with the expected transition from cold mode to hot mode accretion. Despite the transition in accretion mode, at both z = 0.25 and 2 80 per cent of the cool gas in Mh 1011M haloes will accrete on to a galaxy. We find that the metallicity of CGM gas is typically a poor predictor of both its proximate and ultimate fates. This is because there is in general little correlation between the origin of CGM gas and its fate owing to substantial mixing while in the CGM.

Citation

Murray, N., Chan, T., El-Badry, K., Wetzel, A., Esmerian, C., Kereš, D., …Hafen, Z. (2020). The fates of the circumgalactic medium in the FIRE simulations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 494(3), 3581-3595. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa902

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 28, 2020
Online Publication Date Apr 9, 2020
Publication Date 2020-05
Deposit Date Jun 17, 2020
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 494
Issue 3
Pages 3581-3595
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa902

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. ©: 2020 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.





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