1,275 research outputs found
On the amplification of magnetic fields in cosmic filaments and galaxy clusters
The amplification of primordial magnetic fields via a small-scale turbulent
dynamo during structure formation might be able to explain the observed
magnetic fields in galaxy clusters. The magnetisation of more tenuous
large-scale structures such as cosmic filaments is more uncertain, as it is
challenging for numerical simulations to achieve the required dynamical range.
In this work, we present magneto-hydrodynamical cosmological simulations on
large uniform grids to study the amplification of primordial seed fields in the
intracluster medium (ICM) and in the warm-hot-intergalactic medium (WHIM). In
the ICM, we confirm that turbulence caused by structure formation can produce a
significant dynamo amplification, even if the amplification is smaller than
what is reported in other papers. In the WHIM inside filaments, we do not
observe significant dynamo amplification, even though we achieve Reynolds
numbers of . The maximal amplification for large
filaments is of the order of for the magnetic energy, corresponding
to a typical field of a few starting from a primordial weak field
of G (comoving). In order to start a small-scale dynamo, we found
that a minimum of resolution elements across the virial radius of
galaxy clusters was necessary. In filaments we could not find a minimum
resolution to set off a dynamo. This stems from the inefficiency of supersonic
motions in the WHIM in triggering solenoidal modes and small-scale twisting of
magnetic field structures. Magnetic fields this small will make it hard to
detect filaments in radio observations.Comment: MNRAS accepted, in press. 18 pages, 18 Figures. New version to match
with the one published in MNRAS. Updated publication list and footnote added
to the title as obituary notic
Detecting shocked intergalactic gas with X-ray and radio observations
Detecting the thermal and non-thermal emission from the shocked cosmic gas
surrounding large-scale structures represents a challenge for observations, as
well as a unique window into the physics of the warm-hot intergalactic medium.
In this work, we present synthetic radio and X-ray surveys of large
cosmological simulations in order to assess the chances of jointly detecting
the cosmic web in both frequency ranges. We then propose best observing
strategies tailored for existing (LOFAR, MWA and XMM) or future instruments
(SKA-LOW and SKA-MID, ATHENA and eROSITA). We find that the most promising
targets are the extreme peripheries of galaxy clusters in an early merging
stage, where the merger causes the fast compression of warm-hot gas onto the
virial region. By taking advantage of a detection in the radio band, future
deep X-ray observations will probe this gas in emission, and help us to study
plasma conditions in the dynamic warm-hot intergalactic medium with
unprecedented detail.Comment: 22 pages, 25 Figures. A\&A accepted, in press. Moderate revision
compared to version 1, with a few new figure
Forecasts for the detection of the magnetised cosmic web from cosmological simulations
The cosmic web contains a large fraction of the total gas mass in the
universe but is difficult to detect at most wavelengths. Synchrotron emission
from shock-accelerated electrons may offer the chance of imaging the cosmic web
at radio wavelengths. In this work we use 3D cosmological ENZO-MHD simulations
(combined with a post-processing renormalisation of the magnetic field to
bracket for missing physical ingredients and resolution effects) to produce
models of the radio emission from the cosmic web. In post-processing we study
the capabilities of 13 large radio surveys to detect this emission. We find
that surveys by LOFAR, SKA1-LOW and MWA have a chance of detecting the cosmic
web, provided that the magnetisation level of the tenuous medium in filaments
is of the order of 1% of the thermal gas energy.Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures. A&A accepted, in press. The public repository
of radio maps for the full volumes studied in this work is available at
http://www.hs.uni-hamburg.de/DE/Ins/Per/Vazza/projects/Public_data.htm
The turbulent pressure support in galaxy clusters revisited
Due to their late formation in cosmic history, clusters of galaxies are not
fully in hydrostatic equilibrium and the gravitational pull of their mass at a
given radius is expected not to be entirely balanced by the thermal gas
pressure. Turbulence may supply additional pressure, and recent (X-ray and SZ)
hydrostatic mass reconstructions claim a pressure support of of
the total pressure at . In this work we show that, after carefully
disentangling bulk from small-scale turbulent motions in high-resolution
simulations of galaxy clusters, we can constrain which fraction of the gas
kinetic energy effectively provides pressure support in the cluster's
gravitational potential. While the ubiquitous presence of radial inflows in the
cluster can lead to significant bias in the estimate of the non-thermal
pressure support, we report that only a part of this energy effectively acts as
a source of pressure, providing a support of the order of of the
total pressure at .Comment: 5 pages, 5 pages, accepted, to appear in MNRAS Letter
Black holes, cuspy atmospheres, and galaxy formation
In cuspy atmospheres, jets driven by supermassive black holes (BHs) offset
radiative cooling. The jets fire episodically, but often enough that the cuspy
atmosphere does not move very far towards a cooling catastrophe in the
intervals of jet inactivity. The ability of energy released on the sub-parsec
scale of the BH to balance cooling on scales of several tens of kiloparsecs
arises through a combination of the temperature sensitivity of the accretion
rate and the way in which the radius of jet disruption varies with ambient
density. Accretion of hot gas does not significantly increase BH masses, which
are determined by periods of rapid BH growth and star formation when cold gas
is briefly abundant at the galactic centre. Hot gas does not accumulate in
shallow potential wells. As the Universe ages, deeper wells form, and
eventually hot gas accumulates. This gas soon prevents the formation of further
stars, since jets powered by the BH prevent it from cooling, and it mops up
most cold infalling gas before many stars can form. Thus BHs set the upper
limit to the masses of galaxies. The formation of low-mass galaxies is
inhibited by a combination of photo-heating and supernova-driven galactic
winds. Working in tandem these mechanisms can probably explain the profound
difference between the galaxy luminosity function and the mass function of dark
halos expected in the cold dark matter cosmology.Comment: To appear in Phil Trans Roy So
Turbulent pressure support and hydrostatic mass-bias in the intracluster medium
The degree of turbulent pressure support by residual gas motions in galaxy
clusters is not well known. Mass modelling of combined X-ray and Sunyaev
Zel'dovich observations provides an estimate of turbulent pressure support in
the outer regions of several galaxy clusters. Here, we test two different
filtering techniques to disentangle bulk from turbulent motions in
non-radiative high-resolution cosmological simulations of galaxy clusters using
the cosmological hydro code ENZO. We find that the radial behavior of the ratio
of non-thermal pressure to total gas pressure as a function of cluster-centric
distance can be described by a simple polynomial function. The typical
non-thermal pressure support in the centre of clusters is 5%, increasing
to 15% in the outskirts, in line with the pressure excess found in recent
X-ray observations. While the complex dynamics of the ICM makes it impossible
to reconstruct a simple correlation between turbulent motions and hydrostatic
bias, we find that a relation between them can be established using the median
properties of a sample of objects. Moreover, we estimate the contribution of
radial accelerations to the non-thermal pressure support and conclude that it
decreases moving outwards from 40% (in the core) to 15% (in the cluster's
outskirts). Adding this contribution to one provided by turbulence, we show
that it might account for the entire observed hydrostatic bias in the innermost
regions of the clusters, and for less than 80% of it at .Comment: 20 pages; 21 figures; Substantial Revision; MNRAS in pres
AGN as cosmic thermostats
We present a simple analytical model and the results of numerical simulations supporting the idea of periodical heating of cluster gas by AGN outflows. We show why, under this assumption, we are extremely unlikely to observe clusters containing gas with a temperature below about 1 keV. We review the results from numerical hydro-simulations studying the mechanisms by which AGN outflows heat the cluster gas
Untangling cosmic magnetic fields: Faraday tomography at metre wavelengths with LOFAR
14 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in "The Power of Faraday Tomography" special issue of GalaxiesThe technique of Faraday tomography is a key tool for the study ofmagnetised plasmas in the new era of broadband radio-polarisation observations. In particular, observations at metre wavelengths provide significantly better Faraday depth accuracies compared to traditional centimetre-wavelength observations. However, the effect of Faraday depolarisationmakes the polarised signal very challenging to detect at metre wavelengths (MHz frequencies). In this work, Faraday tomography is used to characterise the Faraday rotation properties of polarised sources found in data from the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS). Of the 76 extragalactic polarised sources analysed here, we find that all host a radio-loud AGN (Active Galactic Nucleus). The majority of the sources (~64%) are large FRII radio galaxies with a median projected linear size of 710 kpc and median radio luminosity at 144 MHz of 4 × 10 26 W Hz -1 (with ~13% of all sources having a linear size > 1 Mpc). In several cases, both hotspots are detected in polarisation at an angular resolution of ~20'. One such case allowed a study of intergalactic magnetic fields on scales of 3.4 Mpc. Other detected source types include an FRI radio galaxy and at least eight blazars. Most sources display simple Faraday spectra, but we highlight one blazar that displays a complex Faraday spectrum, with two close peaks in the Faraday dispersion function.Peer reviewe
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