skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: The AGORA High-resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project. VI. Similarities and Differences in the Circumgalactic Medium

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal
ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ; ; ; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo more »; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ORCiD logo; ; ; « less

Abstract We analyze the circumgalactic medium (CGM) for eight commonly-used cosmological codes in the AGORA collaboration. The codes are calibrated to use identical initial conditions, cosmology, heating and cooling, and star formation thresholds, but each evolves with its own unique code architecture and stellar feedback implementation. Here, we analyze the results of these simulations in terms of the structure, composition, and phase dynamics of the CGM. We show properties such as metal distribution, ionization levels, and kinematics are effective tracers of the effects of the different code feedback and implementation methods, and as such they can be highly divergent between simulations. This is merely a fiducial set of models, against which we will in the future compare multiple feedback recipes for each code. Nevertheless, we find that the large parameter space these simulations establish can help disentangle the different variables that affect observable quantities in the CGM, e.g., showing that abundances for ions with higher ionization energy are more strongly determined by the simulation’s metallicity, while abundances for ions with lower ionization energy are more strongly determined by the gas density and temperature.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Contributing Organization:
AGORA Collaboration
Grant/Contract Number:
AC0205CH11231; AC02-76SF00515; NAS5-26555; HST-AR-14578; HST-AR-15800; HST-AR-16633; HST-GO-16703
OSTI ID:
2283806
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2322468
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal Vol. 962 Journal Issue: 1; ISSN 0004-637X
Publisher:
American Astronomical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (99)

E pur si muove: Galilean-invariant cosmological hydrodynamical simulations on a moving mesh journal January 2010
MUSE Analysis of Gas around Galaxies (MAGG) – V. Linking ionized gas traced by C iv and Si iv absorbers to Ly α emitting galaxies at z ≈ 3.0–4.5 journal July 2023
Constraining the primordial magnetic field with dwarf galaxy simulations journal November 2020
High Angular Momentum Halo Gas: A Feedback and Code-independent Prediction of LCDM journal June 2017
Cosmological simulations of the same spiral galaxy: the impact of baryonic physics journal October 2020
Chemical enrichment in cosmological, smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations journal October 2009
Ly α blobs from cold streams undergoing Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities journal September 2020
The Large, Oxygen-Rich Halos of Star-Forming Galaxies Are a Major Reservoir of Galactic Metals journal November 2011
HST/COS SPECTRA OF THREE QSOs THAT PROBE THE CIRCUMGALACTIC MEDIUM OF A SINGLE SPIRAL GALAXY: EVIDENCE FOR GAS RECYCLING AND OUTFLOW journal February 2013
CGM properties in VELA and NIHAO simulations; the OVI ionization mechanism: dependence on redshift, halo mass, and radius journal January 2019
Massive central galaxies of galaxy groups in the Romulus simulations: an overview of galaxy properties at z = 0 journal June 2022
The Cos-Halos Survey: an Empirical Description of Metal-Line Absorption in the Low-Redshift Circumgalactic Medium journal January 2013
The 2017 Release of Cloudy text January 2017
The AGORA High-resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project. III. Cosmological Zoom-in Simulation of a Milky Way–mass Halo journal August 2021
Project AMIGA: A Minimal Covering Factor for Optically Thick Circumgalactic Gas around the Andromeda Galaxy journal September 2017
Introducing the FirstLight project: UV luminosity function and scaling relations of primeval galaxies journal June 2017
The dynamical and chemical evolution of dwarf spheroidal galaxies with GEAR journal February 2012
THE AGORA HIGH-RESOLUTION GALAXY SIMULATIONS COMPARISON PROJECT. II. ISOLATED DISK TEST journal December 2016
CGM2 I: The Extent of the Circumgalactic Medium Traced by Neutral Hydrogen journal April 2021
Adaptive techniques for clustered N-body cosmological simulations journal March 2015
The Circum-Galactic Medium of Massive Spirals. II. Probing the Nature of Hot Gaseous Halo around the Most Massive Isolated Spiral Galaxies journal December 2017
Bimodality of low-redshift circumgalactic O vi in non-equilibrium eagle zoom simulations journal May 2016
The baryonic assembly of dark matter haloes: Baryonic halo assembly journal September 2011
The effect of magnetic fields on properties of the circumgalactic medium journal January 2021
Cosmological Simulations with TreeSPH journal July 1996
The galaxy–halo size relation of low-mass galaxies in FIRE journal December 2021
The Agora High-Resolution Galaxy Simulations Comparison Project journal December 2013
Computational issues in chemo-dynamical modelling of the formation and evolution of galaxies journal March 2016
Cosmological hydrodynamics with adaptive mesh refinement: A new high resolution code called RAMSES journal April 2002
Hydrogen Emission from the Ionized Gaseous Halos of Low-Redshift Galaxies journal December 2016
How Metals Are Transported in and out of a Galactic Disk: Dependence on the Hydrodynamic Schemes in Numerical Simulations journal August 2021
The Rate of Star Formation. journal January 1959
Probing Feedback via IGM tomography and the Lyα Forest with Subaru PFS, TMT/ELT, and JWST journal June 2021
Pushing back the limits: detailed properties of dwarf galaxies in a ΛCDM universe journal August 2018
The sizes and kinematic structure of absorption systems towards the lensed quasar APM08279+5255 journal January 2004
Cosmological simulations of the circumgalactic medium with 1 kpc resolution: enhanced H i column densities journal October 2018
Gasoline2: a modern smoothed particle hydrodynamics code journal June 2017
A general class of Lagrangian smoothed particle hydrodynamics methods and implications for fluid mixing problems journal November 2012
Galaxy simulation with dust formation and destruction journal November 2016
The maximum accretion rate of hot gas in dark matter haloes journal January 2020
Figuring Out Gas & Galaxies in Enzo (FOGGIE). I. Resolving Simulated Circumgalactic Absorption at 2 ≤ z ≤ 2.5 journal March 2019
The CGM2 Survey: Circumgalactic O vi from Dwarf to Massive Star-forming Galaxies journal March 2022
NINE-YEAR WILKINSON MICROWAVE ANISOTROPY PROBE ( WMAP ) OBSERVATIONS: COSMOLOGICAL PARAMETER RESULTS journal September 2013
Cool and gusty, with a chance of rain: dynamics of multiphase CGM around massive galaxies in the Romulus simulations journal September 2023
claytonstrawn/agora_analysis: v4.0 software November 2023
The Circumgalactic Medium journal August 2017
A superbubble feedback model for galaxy simulations journal June 2014
Osaka feedback model: isolated disc galaxy simulations journal January 2019
Galaxies in a simulated ΛCDM Universe - I. Cold mode and hot cores journal May 2009
The Auriga Project: the properties and formation mechanisms of disc galaxies across cosmic time journal January 2017
Bringing Simulation and Observation Together to Better Understand the Intergalactic Medium journal July 2014
The Cos-Halos Survey: Origins of the Highly Ionized Circumgalactic Medium of Star-Forming Galaxies journal December 2016
Enzo: an Adaptive mesh Refinement code for Astrophysics journal March 2014
grackle: a chemistry and cooling library for astrophysics journal December 2016
Star formation and feedback in smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations – I. Isolated galaxies journal November 2006
simba: Cosmological simulations with black hole growth and feedback journal April 2019
The co-evolution of molecular hydrogen and the grain size distribution in an isolated galaxy journal May 2022
Dust diffusion in SPH simulations of an isolated galaxy journal May 2022
The Cosmic Ultraviolet Baryon Survey (CUBS) – I. Overview and the diverse environments of Lyman limit systems at z < 1 journal June 2020
The 2013 Release of Cloudy preprint January 2013
Distinguishing between photoionized and collisionally ionized gas in the circumgalactic medium journal December 2022
Properties of gas in and around galaxy haloes: Gas properties in and around haloes journal April 2012
Galaxy bimodality due to cold flows and shock heating journal May 2006
The cosmological simulation code gadget-2 journal December 2005
Moving mesh cosmology: tracing cosmological gas accretion journal January 2013
The role of cold flows and reservoirs in galaxy formation with strong feedback journal June 2014
Compaction and quenching of high-z galaxies in cosmological simulations: blue and red nuggets journal May 2015
The Origin of C iv Absorption Systems at Redshifts z < 1: Discovery of Extended C iv Envelopes around Galaxies journal July 2001
Dissipational galaxy formation. II - Effects of star formation journal June 1992
claytonstrawn/quasarscan: v3.1 software October 2023
FIRE-2 simulations: physics versus numerics in galaxy formation journal June 2018
GADGET: a code for collisionless and gasdynamical cosmological simulations journal April 2001
How do galaxies get their gas? journal October 2005
yt: A MULTI-CODE ANALYSIS TOOLKIT FOR ASTROPHYSICAL SIMULATION DATA journal December 2010
Multi-scale initial conditions for cosmological simulations: Multi-scale initial conditions journal July 2011
Hot-mode accretion and the physics of thin-disc galaxy formation journal June 2022
Key Physical Processes in the Circumgalactic Medium journal August 2023
The COS Absorption Survey of Baryon Harbors (CASBaH): Warm–Hot Circumgalactic Gas Reservoirs Traced by Ne viii Absorption journal May 2019
The COS Absorption Survey of Baryon Harbors: The Galaxy Database and Cross-correlation Analysis of O vi Systems journal July 2019
Emission from the circumgalactic medium: from cosmological zoom-in simulations to multiwavelength observables journal August 2019
SEVEN-YEAR WILKINSON MICROWAVE ANISOTROPY PROBE ( WMAP ) OBSERVATIONS: COSMOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION journal January 2011
Implementation of feedback in smoothed particle hydrodynamics: towards concordance of methods: Towards concordance of feedback methods in SPH journal October 2011
Does Circumgalactic O vi Trace Low-pressure Gas Beyond the Accretion Shock? Clues from H i and Low-ion Absorption, Line Kinematics, and Dust Extinction journal September 2018
The impact of cored density profiles on the observable quantities of dwarf spheroidal galaxies journal September 2018
O  vi traces photoionized streams with collisionally ionized boundaries in cosmological simulations of z ∼ 1 massive galaxies journal December 2020
How much metal did the first stars provide to the ultra-faint dwarfs? journal January 2023
The Rockstar Phase-Space Temporal halo Finder and the Velocity Offsets of Cluster Cores journal December 2012
Evolution of the Cool Gas in the Circumgalactic Medium of Massive Halos: A Keck Cosmic Web Imager Survey of Ly α Emission around QSOs at z ≈ 2 journal November 2019
Column Density, Kinematics, and Thermal State of Metal-bearing Gas within the Virial Radius of z ∼ 2 Star-forming Galaxies in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey journal October 2019
Resolving small-scale cold circumgalactic gas in TNG50 journal September 2020
Virialization of the Inner CGM in the FIRE Simulations and Implications for Galaxy Disks, Star Formation, and Feedback journal April 2021
Simulating galaxy formation with the IllustrisTNG model journal October 2017
SKIRT: The design of a suite of input models for Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulations journal September 2015
Satellite dwarf galaxies: stripped but not quenched journal April 2019
Radiative feedback and the low efficiency of galaxy formation in low-mass haloes at high redshift journal June 2014
Virial shocks in galactic haloes? journal October 2003
Adaptive Refinement Tree: A New High‐Resolution N ‐Body Code for Cosmological Simulations
  • Kravtsov, Andrey V.; Klypin, Anatoly A.; Khokhlov, Alexei M.
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 111, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/313015
journal July 1997
The Cos-Halos Survey: Physical Conditions and Baryonic mass in the Low-Redshift Circumgalactic Medium journal August 2014
The Impact of Enhanced Halo Resolution on the Simulated Circumgalactic Medium journal September 2019