Abstract
The mixing of metals in the intergalactic gas when a galaxy with a metal-rich envelope moves through the intergalactic medium is analyzed. Two simple models for the initial distribution of metals are considered. In the first case, the metals are concentrated in a fairly thin envelope with thickness ΔR s =1 kpc, outer radius R s =31 kpc, and metallicity Z=10−3. In the second case, material with the same metallicity uniformly fills an entire spherical region of radius R s . After 2.85 Gyr, the metals are distributed over a fairly extended volume with a typical size of ⋍200 kpc in the direction of the motion of the intergalactic gas, with a mean metallicity of ⋍4.6×10−4 in metal-enriched regions. However, the distribution of metals remains extremely nonuniform, so that the main contribution to the overall metallicity is provided by metal-rich islands Z≳6×10−4 that occupy only ∼10% of the total mixing volume. Moreover, metal-free regions remain in this volume.
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