Star Formation In Galactic Disks Research Articles

Cosmic-Ray Acceleration of Galactic Outflows in Multiphase Gas

We investigate the dynamical interaction between cosmic rays (CRs) and the multiphase interstellar medium (ISM) using numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations with a two-moment CR solver and TIGRESS simulations of star-forming galactic disks. We previously studied the transport of CRs within TIGRESS outputs using a “postprocessing” approach, and we now assess the effects of the MHD backreaction to CR pressure. We confirm our previous conclusion that there are three quite different regimes of CR transport in multiphase ISM gas, while also finding that simulations with “live MHD” predict a smoother CR pressure distribution. The CR pressure near the midplane is comparable to other pressure components in the gas, but the scale height of CRs is far larger. Next, with a goal of understanding the role of CRs in driving galactic outflows, we conduct a set of controlled simulations of the extraplanar region above z = 500 pc, with imposed boundary conditions flowing from the midplane into this region. We explore a range of thermal and kinematic properties for the injected thermal gas, encompassing both hot, fast-moving outflows, and cooler, slower-moving outflows. The boundary conditions for CR energy density and flux are scaled from the supernova rate in the underlying TIGRESS model. Our simulations reveal that CRs efficiently accelerate extraplanar material if the latter is mostly warm/warm-hot gas, in which CRs stream at the Alfvén speed, and the effective sound speed increases as density decreases. In contrast, CRs have very little effect on fast, hot outflows where the Alfvén speed is small, even when the injected CR momentum flux exceeds the injected MHD momentum flux.

Ram Pressure Stripping of the Multiphase ISM: A Detailed View from TIGRESS Simulations

Ram pressure stripping (RPS) is a process that removes the interstellar medium (ISM) quickly, playing a vital role in galaxy evolution. Previous RPS studies have treated the ISM as single-phase or lack the resolution and physical processes to properly capture the full multiphase ISM. To improve this simplification, we introduce an inflowing, hot intracluster medium (ICM) into a self-consistently modeled ISM in a local patch of star-forming galactic disks using the TIGRESS framework. Our simulations reveal that the workings of RPS are not only direct acceleration of the ISM by ICM ram pressure but also mixing-driven momentum transfer involving significant phase transition and radiative cooling. The hot ICM passes through the low-density channels of the porous, multiphase ISM; shreds the cool ISM; and creates mixing layers. The ICM momentum is transferred through the mixing layers while populating the intermediate-temperature gas and radiating thermal energy away. The mixed gas extends beyond galactic disks and forms stripped tails that cool back unless the ICM fluxes are large enough to prevent cooling until they escape the simulation domain. The mixing-driven momentum transfer predicts that the more ICM mixes in, the faster the ISM moves, resulting in the anticorrelation of outflow velocity and gas metallicity of the stripped ISM. The compression of the ISM disks due to the ICM ram pressure enhances star formation rates up to 50% compared to the model without ICM. With the ICM ram pressure higher than the disk anchoring pressure, star formation is quenched within ∼100 Myr.

Cosmic-Ray Transport in Varying Galactic Environments

We study the propagation of mildly relativistic cosmic rays (CRs) in multiphase interstellar medium environments with conditions typical of nearby disk galaxies. We employ the techniques developed in Armillotta et al. to postprocess three high-resolution TIGRESS magnetohydrodynamic simulations modeling local patches of star-forming galactic disks. Together, the three simulations cover a wide range of gas surface density, gravitational potential, and star formation rate (SFR). Our prescription for CR propagation includes the effects of advection by the background gas, streaming along the magnetic field at the local ion Alfvén speed, and diffusion relative to the Alfvén waves, with the diffusion coefficient set by the balance between streaming-driven Alfvén wave excitation and damping mediated by local gas properties. We find that the combined transport processes are more effective in environments with higher SFR. These environments are characterized by higher-velocity hot outflows (created by clustered supernovae) that rapidly advect CRs away from the galactic plane. As a consequence, the ratio of midplane CR pressure to midplane gas pressures decreases with increasing SFR. We also use the postprocessed simulations to make predictions regarding the potential dynamical impacts of CRs. The relatively flat CR pressure profiles near the midplane argue that they would not provide significant support against gravity for most of the ISM mass. However, the CR pressure gradients are larger than the other pressure gradients in the extraplanar region (∣z∣ > 0.5 kpc), suggesting that CRs may affect the dynamics of galactic fountains and/or winds. The degree of this impact is expected to increase in environments with lower SFR.

Diffuse Ionized Gas in Simulations of Multiphase, Star-forming Galactic Disks

Abstract It has been hypothesized that photons from young, massive star clusters are responsible for maintaining the ionization of diffuse warm ionized gas seen in both the Milky Way and other disk galaxies. For a theoretical investigation of the warm ionized medium (WIM), it is crucial to solve radiation-transfer equations where the interstellar medium (ISM) and clusters are modeled self-consistently. To this end, we employ a solar neighborhood model of Three-phase Interstellar Medium in Galaxies Resolving Evolution with Star Formation and Supernova Feedback (TIGRESS), a magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the multiphase, star-forming ISM, and post-process the simulation with an adaptive ray tracing method to transfer UV radiation from star clusters. We find that the WIM volume filling factor is highly variable, and sensitive to the rate of ionizing photon production and ISM structure. The mean WIM volume filling factor rises to ∼0.15 at . Approximately half of ionizing photons are absorbed by gas and half by dust; the cumulative ionizing photon escape fraction is 1.1%. Our time-averaged synthetic line profile matches Wisconsin Mapper observations on the redshifted (outflowing) side, but has insufficient intensity on the blueshifted side. Our simulation matches the Dickey–Lockman neutral density profile well, but only a small fraction of snapshots have high-altitude WIM density consistent with Reynolds Layer estimates. We compute a clumping correction factor that is remarkably constant with distance from the midplane and time; this can be used to improve estimates of ionized gas mass and mean electron density from observed surface brightness profiles in edge-on galaxies.

Size Scaling of Clump Instabilities in Turbulent, Feedback-regulated Disks

Abstract We explore the scaling between the size of star-forming clumps and rotational support in massively star-forming galactic disks. The analysis relies on simulations of a clumpy galaxy at z = 2 and the observed DYnamics of Newly Assembled Massive Objects (DYNAMO) sample of rare clumpy analogs at z ≈ 0.1 to test a predictive clump size scaling proposed by Fisher et al. in the context of the violent disk instability (VDI) theory. We here determine the clump sizes using a recently presented two-point estimator, which is robust against resolution/noise effects, hierarchical clump substructure, clump–clump overlap and other galactic substructure. After verifying Fisher’s clump scaling relation for the DYNAMO observations, we explore whether this relation remains characteristic of the VDI theory, even if realistic physical processes, such as local asymmetries and stellar feedback, are included in the model. To this end, we rely on hydrodynamic zoom-simulations of a Milky Way-mass galaxy with four different feedback prescriptions. We find that, during its marginally stable epoch at z = 2, this mock galaxy falls on the clump scaling relation, although its position on this relation depends on the feedback model. This finding implies that Toomre-like stability considerations approximately apply to large (∼kpc) instabilities in marginally stable turbulent disks, irrespective of the feedback model, but also emphasizes that the global clump distribution of a turbulent disk depends strongly on feedback.

Numerical Simulations of Multiphase Winds and Fountains from Star-forming Galactic Disks. I. Solar Neighborhood TIGRESS Model

Abstract Gas blown away from galactic disks by supernova (SN) feedback plays a key role in galaxy evolution. We investigate outflows utilizing the solar neighborhood model of our high-resolution, local galactic disk simulation suite, TIGRESS. In our numerical implementation, star formation and SN feedback are self-consistently treated and well resolved in the multiphase, turbulent, magnetized interstellar medium. Bursts of star formation produce spatially and temporally correlated SNe that drive strong outflows, consisting of hot ( ) winds and warm ( ) fountains. The hot gas at distance from the midplane has mass and energy fluxes nearly constant with d. The hot flow escapes our local Cartesian box barely affected by gravity, and is expected to accelerate up to terminal velocity of . The mean mass and energy loading factors of the hot wind are 0.1 and 0.02, respectively. For warm gas, the mean outward mass flux through is comparable to the mean star formation rate, but only a small fraction of this gas is at velocity . Thus, the warm outflows eventually fall back as inflows. The warm fountain flows are created by expanding hot superbubbles at at larger d neither ram pressure acceleration nor cooling transfers significant momentum or energy flux from the hot wind to the warm outflow. The velocity distribution at launching near is a better representation of warm outflows than a single mass loading factor, potentially enabling development of subgrid models for warm galactic winds in arbitrary large-scale galactic potentials.

When feedback fails: the scaling and saturation of star formation efficiency

We present a suite of 3D multi-physics MHD simulations following star formation in isolated turbulent molecular gas disks ranging from 5 to 500 parsecs in radius. These simulations are designed to survey the range of surface densities between those typical of Milky Way GMCs ($\sim 10^2 M_\odot\,pc^{-2}}$) and extreme ULIRG environments ($\sim 10^2 M_\odot\,pc^{-2}}$) so as to map out the scaling of the cloud-scale star formation efficiency (SFE) between these two regimes. The simulations include prescriptions for supernova, stellar wind, and radiative feedback, which we find to be essential in determining both the instantaneous per-freefall ($\epsilon_{ff}$) and integrated ($\epsilon_{int}$) star formation efficiencies. In all simulations, the gas disks form stars until a critical stellar surface density has been reached and the remaining gas is blown out by stellar feedback. We find that surface density is a good predictor of $\epsilon_{int}$, as suggested by analytic force balance arguments from previous works. SFE eventually saturates to $\sim 1$ at high surface density. We also find a proportional relationship between $\epsilon_{ff}$ and $\epsilon_{int}$, implying that star formation is feedback-moderated even over very short time-scales in isolated clouds. These results have implications for star formation in galactic disks, the nature and fate of nuclear starbursts, and the formation of bound star clusters. The scaling of $\epsilon_{ff}$ with surface density is not consistent with the notion that $\epsilon_{ff}$ is always $\sim 1\%$ on the scale of GMCs, but our predictions recover the $\sim 1\%$ value for GMC parameters similar to those found in sprial galaxies, including our own.

The extended law of star formation: the combined role of gas and stars

We present a model for the origin of the extended law of star formation in which the surface density of star formation ($\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$) depends not only on the local surface density of the gas ($\Sigma_{g}$), but also on the stellar surface density ($\Sigma_{*}$), the velocity dispersion of the stars, and on the scaling laws of turbulence in the gas. We compare our model with the spiral, face-on galaxy NGC 628 and show that the dependence of the star formation rate on the entire set of physical quantities for both gas and stars can help explain both the observed general trends in the $\Sigma_{g}-\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ and $\Sigma_{*}-\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ relations, but also, and equally important, the scatter in these relations at any value of $\Sigma_{g}$ and $\Sigma_{*}$. Our results point out to the crucial role played by existing stars along with the gaseous component in setting the conditions for large scale gravitational instabilities and star formation in galactic disks.

Thermal Pressure in the Cold Neutral Medium of Nearby Galaxies

Abstract Dynamic and thermal processes regulate the structure of the multiphase interstellar medium (ISM), and ultimately establish how galaxies evolve through star formation. Thus, to constrain ISM models and better understand the interplay of these processes, it is of great interest to measure the thermal pressure ( ) of the diffuse, neutral gas. By combining [C ii] 158 μm, H i, and CO data from 31 galaxies selected from the Herschel KINGFISH sample, we have measured thermal pressures in 534 predominantly atomic regions with typical sizes of ∼1 kiloparsec. We find a distribution of thermal pressures in the K cm−3 range. For a sub-sample of regions with conditions similar to those of the diffuse, neutral gas in the Galactic plane, we find thermal pressures that follow a log-normal distribution with a median value of P th/k ≈ 3600 K cm−3. These results are consistent with thermal pressure measurements using other observational methods. We find that increases with radiation field strength and star formation activity, as expected from the close link between the heating of the gas and the star formation rate. Our thermal pressure measurements fall in the regime where a two-phase ISM with cold and warm neutral media could exist in pressure equilibrium. Finally, we find that the midplane thermal pressure of the diffuse gas is about ∼30% of the vertical weight of the overlying ISM, consistent with results from hydrodynamical simulations of self-regulated star formation in galactic disks.

Very thin disc galaxies in the SDSS catalogue of edge-on galaxies

We study the properties of galaxies with very thin discs using a sample of 85 objects whose stellar disc radial-to-vertical scale ratio determined from photometric decomposition, exceeds nine. We present evidences of similarities between the very thin disc galaxies (VTD galaxies) and low surface brightness (LSB) disc galaxies, and conclude that both small and giant LSB galaxies may reveal themselves as VTD, edge-on galaxies. Our VTD galaxies are mostly bulgeless, and those with large radial scale length tend to have redder colors. We performed spectral observations of 22 VTD galaxies with the Dual Imaging Spectrograph on the 3.5m telescope at the Apache Point Observatory. The spectra with good resolution (R ~ 5000) allow us to determine the distance and the ionized gas rotation curve maximum for the galaxies. Our VTD galaxies have low dust content, in contrast to regular disc galaxies. Apparently, VTD galaxies reside in specific cosmological low-density environments and tend to have less connection with filaments. Comparing a toy model that assumes marginally low star formation in galactic discs with obtained gas kinematics data, we conclude that there is a threshold central surface density of about 88 Mo/pc**2, which we observe in the case of very thin, rotationally supported galactic discs.

Thermal instabilities in cooling galactic coronae: fuelling star formation in galactic discs

We investigate the means by which cold gas can accrete onto Milky Way mass galaxies from a hot corona of gas, using a new smoothed particle hydrodynamics code, 'SPHS'. We find that the 'cold clumps' seen in many classic SPH simulations in the literature are not present in our SPHS simulations. Instead, cold gas condenses from the halo along filaments that form at the intersection of supernovae-driven bubbles from previous phases of star formation. This positive feedback feeds cold gas to the galactic disc directly, fuelling further star formation. The resulting galaxies in the SPH and SPHS simulations differ greatly in their morphology, gas phase diagrams, and stellar content. We show that the classic SPH cold clumps owe to a numerical thermal instability caused by an inability for cold gas to mix in the hot halo. The improved treatment of mixing in SPHS suppresses this instability leading to a dramatically different physical outcome. In our highest resolution SPHS simulation, we find that the cold filaments break up into bound clumps that form stars. The filaments are overdense by a factor of 10-100 compared to the surrounding gas, suggesting that the fragmentation results from a physical non-linear instability driven by the overdensity. This 'fragmenting filament' mode of disc growth has important implications for galaxy formation, in particular the role of star formation in bringing cold gas into disc galaxies.

Feedback-regulated star formation in molecular clouds and galactic discs

We present a two-zone theory for feedback-regulated star formation in galactic discs, consistently connecting the galaxy-averaged star formation law with star formation proceeding in giant molecular clouds (GMCs). Our focus is on galaxies with gas surface density Sigma_g>~100 Msun pc^-2. In our theory, the galactic disc consists of Toomre-mass GMCs embedded in a volume-filling ISM. Radiation pressure on dust disperses GMCs and most supernovae explode in the volume-filling medium. A galaxy-averaged star formation law is derived by balancing the momentum input from supernova feedback with the gravitational weight of the disc gas. This star formation law is in good agreement with observations for a CO conversion factor depending continuously on Sigma_g. We argue that the galaxy-averaged star formation efficiency per free fall time, epsilon_ff^gal, is only a weak function of the efficiency with which GMCs convert their gas into stars. This is possible because the rate limiting step for star formation is the rate at which GMCs form: for large efficiency of star formation in GMCs, the Toomre Q parameter obtains a value slightly above unity so that the GMC formation rate is consistent with the galaxy-averaged star formation law. We contrast our results with other theories of turbulence-regulated star formation and discuss predictions of our model. Using a compilation of data from the literature, we show that the galaxy-averaged star formation efficiency per free fall time is non-universal and increases with increasing gas fraction, as predicted by our model. We also predict that the fraction of the disc gas mass in bound GMCs decreases for increasing values of the GMC star formation efficiency. This is qualitatively consistent with the smooth molecular gas distribution inferred in local ultra-luminous infrared galaxies and the small mass fraction in giant clumps in high-redshift galaxies.

IONIZED ABSORBERS AS EVIDENCE FOR SUPERNOVA-DRIVEN COOLING OF THE LOWER GALACTIC CORONA

We show that the ultraviolet absorption features, newly discovered in HST spectra, are consistent with being formed in a layer that extends a few kpc above the disk of the Milky Way. In this interface between the disk and the Galactic corona, high-metallicity gas ejected from the disk by supernova feedback can mix efficiently with the virial-temperature coronal material. The mixing process triggers the cooling of the lower corona down to temperatures encompassing the characteristic range of the observed absorption features, producing a net supernova-driven gas accretion onto the disk at a rate of a few Msun/yr. We speculate that this mechanism explains how the hot-mode of cosmological accretion feeds star formation in galactic disks.

FEEDBACK-REGULATED STAR FORMATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE KENNICUTT-SCHMIDT LAW

We derive a metallicity dependent relation between the surface density of the star formation rate (Sigma_{SFR}) and the gas surface density (Sigma_{g}) in a feedback regulated model of star formation in galactic disks. In this model, star formation occurs in gravitationally bound protocluster clumps embedded in larger giant molecular clouds with the protocluster clump mass function following a power law function with a slope of -2. Metallicity dependent feedback is generated by the winds of OB stars (M > 5 Msol) that form in the clumps. The quenching of star formation in clumps of decreasing metallicity occurs at later epochs due to weaker wind luminosities, thus resulting in higher final star formation efficiencies (SFE_{exp}). By combining SFE_{exp} with the timescales on which gas expulsion occurs, we derive the metallicity dependent star formation rate per unit time in this model as a function of Sigma_{g}. This is combined with the molecular gas fraction in order to derive the global dependence of Sigma_{SFR} on Sigma_{g}. The model reproduces very well the observed star formation laws extending from low gas surface densities up to the starburst regime. Furthermore, our results show a dependence of $\Sigma_{SFR}$ on metallicity over the entire range of gas surface densities in contrast to other models, and can also explain part of the scatter in the observations. We provide a tabulated form of the star formation laws that can be easily incorporated into numerical simulations or semi-analytical models of galaxy formation and evolution.

The relationship between past and present star formation in galactic disks from CCD surface photometry

We present some results of a major new multiband imaging survey of 34 nearby southern spiral galaxies. Images in V, I, Hα, and the adjacent red continuum have been obtained using a CCD and focal reducer on the 1.0 and 2.3 m telescopes at Siding Spring Observatory. Surface photometry using the GASP software package is used first to derive the disk orientation parameters, then to provide deprojected radial surface brightness profiles for each galaxy in V and I, as well as the continuum- subtracted Hα, which traces the present-day rate of massive star formation. In the outer disk, the Hα profile can be reasonably well fitted by an exponential disk, but with a scale length much longer than the V scale length, which itself tends to be slightly longer than the I scale length. An almost universal relationship is observed in the disk between the Hα surface brightness and the I-band surface brightness at a given radius, with any residual offset from the mean trend being a weak function of the morphological type. Thus the rate of massive star formation per unit area in the disk is closely related to the old stellar mass surface density at each radius, and to the mean H I surface density in the disk as a whole. This forms the basis for a law of (or rather, a constraint on) massive star formation in the disks of spiral galaxies, one that has a surprising degree of independence from both galactic dynamics and molecular gas content.

Constraints on models of galaxy formation from the evolution of damped Lyman alpha absorption systems

There is accumulating observational evidence suggesting that damped Ly$\alpha$ absorption systems systems are the progenitors of present-day spiral galaxies. We use the observed properties of these systems to place constraints on the history of star formation in galactic disks, and on cosmological theories of structure formation in the universe. We show that the observed increase in $\Omega_{HI}$ contributed by damped Ly$\alpha$ systems at high redshift implies that star formation must have been considerably less efficient in the past. We also show that the data can constrain cosmological models in which structure forms at late epochs. A mixed dark matter (MDM) model with $\Omega_{\nu}=0.3$ is unable to reproduce the mass densities of cold gas seen at high redshift, even in the absence of any star formation. We show that at redshifts greater than 3, this model predicts that the total baryonic mass contained in dark matter halos with circular velocities $V_c > 35$ km s$^{-1}$ is less than the observed mass of HI in damped systems. At these redshifts, the photo-ionizing background would prevent gas from dissipating and collapsing to form high column density systems in halos smaller than 35 km s$^{-1}$. MDM models are thus ruled out by the observations.

Thresholds and the chemical evolution of galactic discs

Observations by Kennicutt suggest that significant star formation in galactic discs only occurs when a criterion for disc instability is satisfied and that, when star formation is occurring, departure from the marginal state is not great. We have studied galactic disc models in which there is no star formation until the disc has a threshold surface density at which an instability criterion is satisfied. We assume that the rate of the subsequent star formation is just such as to keep the criterion marginally satisfied. Our models contain many approximations and free parameters, but they do have properties which resemble those of real galactic discs. These include a slow variation of the star formation rate with time and a slow change in both space and time of the gas random velocity. There is good general agreement with the observed stellar age/metallicity relation. After a time, at any radial position, the rate of star formation is close to a power law in the gas surface density. Because of the threshold, no stars are produced until some time after the disc starts forming and, if the model were valid, there would therefore be no luminous discs at very high red shift. Moreover, there should not be a large density of hidden matter in the form of elementary particles in the solar neighbourhood. The threshold model cannot readily explain the G-dwarf distribution in the solar neighbourhood, and it is necessary to suppose that the disc starts with a non-zero initial metallicity. The model in which gas infall proceeds on the same time-scale at all radii does not produce abundance gradients as large as those observed. There is some improvement if the infall is biased, occurring more slowly at larger radii.

A model for the bilateral interaction between dynamo action and star formation in galactic discs

Inspired by the conclusion of Ko & Parker that «star formation (SF) controls dynamo activity and hence the large-scale magnetic fields of disc galaxies», we construct a minimum model for the bilateral interaction of dynamo action and star formation activity in galactic discs, and present some preliminary results. The principal processes included are SF by self-gravitational instability of the gaseous disc and dynamo activation by SF, the latter corresponding to a realization of Ko & Parker's picture. We emphasize the bilateral nature because the magnetic field affects the self-gravitational instability

The Rate of Star Formation in Galactic Disks

A simple prescription is -presented for the rate of star formation in normal galactic disks, motivated by semi-phenomenological dynamical arguments. When energy input into the interstellar medium is included as a feedback mechanism to couple the star formation driven by disk instabilities with gaseous dissipation, one can obtain expressions for both disk surface density and the Tully-Fisher relation in good accord with observation. One plausibly expects variations at a level of order ~10% in the Tully-Fisher zero-point due to age and/or star formation history that may be correlated over supercluster scales. I also show that there is a limiting rate of star formation, maintained by the porosity of the hot component of the multiphase interstellar medium, that can be interpreted as arising in starbursts that are triggered by galaxy mergers. The predicted star formation rate is found to be sensitive to the ambient pressure and results in enhanced star formation in galaxies that are undergoing first infall at cluster peripheries (out to ~10h-l Mpc from an Abell cluster).

Massive star formation in galactic disks.

Massive star formation in galactic disks.