Published in

Oxford University Press (OUP), Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2019

DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz3129

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Radiative Stellar Feedback in Galaxy Formation: Methods and Physics

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Abstract Radiative feedback (RFB) from stars plays a key role in galaxies, but remains poorly-understood. We explore this using high-resolution, multi-frequency radiation-hydrodynamics (RHD) simulations from the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. We study ultra-faint dwarf through Milky Way mass scales, including H+He photo-ionization; photo-electric, Lyman Werner, Compton, and dust heating; and single+multiple scattering radiation pressure (RP). We compare distinct numerical algorithms: ray-based LEBRON (exact when optically-thin) and moments-based M1 (exact when optically-thick). The most important RFB channels on galaxy scales are photo-ionization heating and single-scattering RP: in all galaxies, most ionizing/far-UV luminosity (∼1/2 of lifetime-integrated bolometric) is absorbed. In dwarfs, the most important effect is photo-ionization heating from the UV background suppressing accretion. In MW-mass galaxies, meta-galactic backgrounds have negligible effects; but local photo-ionization and single-scattering RP contribute to regulating the galactic star formation efficiency and lowering central densities. Without some RFB (or other “rapid” FB), resolved GMCs convert too-efficiently into stars, making galaxies dominated by hyper-dense, bound star clusters. This makes star formation more violent and “bursty” when SNe explode in these hyper-clustered objects: thus, including RFB “smoothes” SFHs. These conclusions are robust to RHD methods, but M1 produces somewhat stronger effects. Like in previous FIRE simulations, IR multiple-scattering is rare (negligible in dwarfs, $∼ 10\%$ of RP in massive galaxies): absorption occurs primarily in “normal” GMCs with AV ∼ 1.

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