Cosmic ray feedback in galaxies and active galactic nuclei

Abstract

Recent cosmological simulations of galaxy formation have demonstrated that feedback by star formation, supernovae and active galactic nuclei appears to be critical in obtaining realistic disk galaxies, to slow down star formation to the small observed rates, to move gas and metals out of galaxies, and to balance radiative cooling of low-entropy gas at the centers of galaxy clusters. However the particular physical processes underlying these feedback processes still remain elusive. In particular, these simulations neglected cosmic rays (CRs) and magnetic fields, which provide a comparable pressure support in comparison to turbulence in our Galaxy, and are known to couple dynamically and thermally to the gas. We will present our recent efforts to model CR physics in the cosmological simulation code arepo and demonstrate that CRs matter on all scales relevant for galaxy formation. Presenting global simulations of galaxy formation that couple CRs to the magneto-hydrodynamics, we show how CRs can launch powerful galactic winds, which reduces the available amount of gas for star formation. In particular, we highlight the importance of the Îł-ray window in understanding the properties of galactic winds and discuss the non-thermal radio and Îł-ray emission of Milky-Way like galaxies with bubble-shaped outflows. On scales of galaxy clusters, we show that cosmic-ray heating can balance radiative cooling of the low-entropy gas at the centers of galaxy clusters and helps in mitigating the star formation of the brightest cluster galaxies. Combining low-frequency radio and Îł-ray emission of M87, the closest active galaxy interacting with the cooling cluster plasma, enable us to put forward a comprehensive, physics-based model of feedback by active galactic nuclei.