Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Dense stellar clump formation driven by strong quasar winds in the FIRE cosmological hydrodynamic simulations

Mercedes-Feliz, Jonathan; Anglés-Alcázar, Daniel; Oh, Boon Kiat; Hayward, Christopher C.; Cochrane, Rachel K.; Richings, Alexander J.; Faucher-Giguère, Claude André; Wellons, Sarah; Terrazas, Bryan A.; Moreno, Jorge; Su, Kung Yi; Hopkins, Philip F.

Authors

Jonathan Mercedes-Feliz

Daniel Anglés-Alcázar

Boon Kiat Oh

Christopher C. Hayward

Rachel K. Cochrane

Profile image of Alex Richings

Dr Alex Richings A.J.Richings@hull.ac.uk
Lecturer in Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Modelling

Claude André Faucher-Giguère

Sarah Wellons

Bryan A. Terrazas

Jorge Moreno

Kung Yi Su

Philip F. Hopkins



Abstract

We investigate the formation of dense stellar clumps in a suite of high-resolution cosmological zoom-in simulations of a massive, star-forming galaxy at z ∼ 2 under the presence of strong quasar winds. Our simulations include multiphase ISM physics from the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) project and a novel implementation of hyper-refined accretion disc winds. We show that powerful quasar winds can have a global negative impact on galaxy growth while in the strongest cases triggering the formation of an off-centre clump with stellar mass M* ∼ 107 M, effective radius R1/2 Clump ∼ 20 pc, and surface density * ∼ 104 M pc−2. The clump progenitor gas cloud is originally not star-forming, but strong ram pressure gradients driven by the quasar winds (orders of magnitude stronger than experienced in the absence of winds) lead to rapid compression and subsequent conversion of gas into stars at densities much higher than the average density of star-forming gas. The AGN-triggered star-forming clump reaches SFR ∼ 50 M yr−1 and SFR ∼ 104 M yr−1 kpc−2, converting most of the progenitor gas cloud into stars in ∼2 Myr, significantly faster than its initial free-fall time and with stellar feedback unable to stop star formation. In contrast, the same gas cloud in the absence of quasar winds forms stars over a much longer period of time (∼35 Myr), at lower densities, and losing spatial coherency. The presence of young, ultra-dense, gravitationally bound stellar clumps in recently quenched galaxies could thus indicate local positive feedback acting alongside the strong negative impact of powerful quasar winds, providing a plausible formation scenario for globular clusters.

Citation

Mercedes-Feliz, J., Anglés-Alcázar, D., Oh, B. K., Hayward, C. C., Cochrane, R. K., Richings, A. J., …Hopkins, P. F. (2024). Dense stellar clump formation driven by strong quasar winds in the FIRE cosmological hydrodynamic simulations. Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 530(3), 2795-2809. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae1021

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 10, 2024
Online Publication Date Apr 17, 2024
Publication Date May 1, 2024
Deposit Date May 9, 2024
Publicly Available Date May 10, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 530
Issue 3
Pages 2795-2809
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae1021
Keywords Galaxies: evolution; Galaxies: formation; Galaxies: star clusters: general; Quasars: general; Cosmology: theory
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4663005

Files

Publsihed article (8.7 Mb)
PDF

Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited..






You might also like



Downloadable Citations