OBSERVATIONS OF AGN FEEDBACK HAVE BEEN REVOLUTIONIZED IN RECENT YEARS BY THE DIRECT DETECTION OF GALAXY-SCALE OUTFLOWS DRIVEN BY SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES. THESE AGN-DRIVEN GALACTIC WINDS ARE NOW OBSERVED IN SEVERAL OBSERVATIONAL WINDOWS INCLUDING EMISSION AND ABSORPTION IN THE UV OPTICAL X-RAY RADIO AND FAR IR. THE OUTFLOWS ARE ROUTINELY OBSERVED IN SEVERAL MOLECULES INDICATING THAT EVEN THE COLD AND DENSE GAS THAT CAN FORM STARS IS DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY AGN FEEDBACK. HOWEVER THE BASIC PHYSICS OF THESE OUTFLOWS HOW TO INTERPRET THEIR OBSERVATIONAL SIGNATURES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON GALAXY EVOLUTION REMAIN POORLY UNDERSTOOD. BUILDING ON PILOT STUDIES WE WILL USE TWO COMPLEMENTARY TYPES OF SIMULATIONS TO ADDRESS THESE QUESTIONS AND MAKE PREDICTIONS TESTABLE BY SEVERAL NASA OBSERVATORIES. FIRST WE WILL USE CONTROLLED NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTS TO DEVELOP A ROBUST UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICAL PROCESSES INVOLVED. WE HAVE RECENTLY SIMULATED FOR THE FIRST TIME THE FORMATION OF NEW MOLECULES IN COOLING AGN WIND SHOCKS PROVIDING AN EXPLANATION FOR OBSERVED MOLECULAR OUTFLOWS. IN THAT PILOT STUDY AN AMBIENT MEDIUM WITH UNIFORM DENSITY AND CONSTANT DUST ABUNDANCE WERE ASSUMED. NEXT WE WILL AUGMENT OUR TIME-DEPENDENT CHEMISTRY NETWORK TO SELF-CONSISTENTLY FOLLOW THE DESTRUCTION AND GROWTH OF DUST GRAINS A MAJOR UNCERTAINTY SINCE DUST IS ESSENTIAL FOR EFFICIENT MOLECULE FORMATION. WE WILL STUDY HOW WIND PROPAGATION AND MOLECULAR CHEMISTRY ARE AFFECTED BY INHOMOGENEITIES IN THE AMBIENT MEDIUM. WE WILL ALSO STUDY FOR THE FIRST TIME THE EFFECTS OF THERMAL CONDUCTION AND MAGNETIC FIELDS ON AGN WIND DYNAMICS. IN STELLAR WIND BUBBLES THERMAL CONDUCTION STRONGLY AFFECTS THE DYNAMICS BUT CONDUCTION HAS SO FAR BEEN NEGLECTED IN AGN-DRIVEN WIND MODELS. AFTER GAINING A SOLID UNDERSTANDING OF THE BASIC PHYSICS WE WILL EXTEND OUR MODELS TO FULLY DYNAMIC SIMULATIONS OF REALISTIC GALAXIES WITH A MULTIPHASE ISM. SUCH SIMULATIONS ARE NEEDED TO UNDERSTAND HOW AGN OUTFLOWS AFFECT GALAXIES AND TO MAKE DETAILED PREDICTIONS THAT CAN BE DIRECTLY COMPARED TO OBSERVATIONS. IN THESE REALISTIC GALAXY SIMULATIONS AGN OUTFLOWS INTERACT SELF-CONSISTENTLY WITH STELLAR FEEDBACK. WE WILL INCLUDE NON-EQUILIBRIUM ISM CHEMISTRY IN A SUBSET OF THESE REALISTIC GALAXY SIMULATIONS WHICH WILL ENABLE US TO QUANTIFY HOW THE MASS AND ENERGY OF AGN OUTFLOWS IS PARTITIONED BETWEEN DIFFERENT PHASES INCLUDING MOLECULAR GAS. OUR SIMULATION SUITE WILL INCLUDE QUASARS FUELED BY GALAXY MERGERS LOWER-LUMINOSITY SEYFERTS AND TYPICAL STAR-FORMING GALAXIES. WE WILL INVESTIGATE BOTH THE NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE EFFECTS OF AGN WINDS ON STAR FORMATION. WE WILL CALIBRATE THE ENERGETICS OF OUR AGN WIND MODELS BY COMPARING OUR SIMULATIONS WITH OBSERVATIONS OF GALAXY-SCALE OUTFLOWS. WE WILL THEN EVOLVE FULLY COSMOLOGICAL SIMULATIONS INCLUDING OBSERVATIONALLY-CALIBRATED AGN WINDS TO STUDY THE EFFECTS OF AGN FEEDBACK NOT ONLY ON GALAXIES BUT ALSO ON THEIR GASEOUS HALOS ("PREVENTIVE" FEEDBACK).
$439,609FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Northwestern University, Evanston IL