Mateusz Ruszkowski

CLUSTER HEATING BY VISCOUS DISSIPATION OF SOUND WAVES

We simulate the effects of viscous dissipation of waves that are generated by active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in clusters of galaxies. We demonstrate that the amount of viscous heating associated with the dissipation of these waves can offset radiative cooling rates in cooling flow clusters of galaxies. This heating mechanism leads to spatially distributed and approximately symmetrical dissipation. The heating waves reach a given distance from the cluster center on a timescale shorter than the cooling time. This means that this heating mechanism has the potential to quench cooling flows in a quasi-stable fashion. Moreover, the heating is gentle, as no strong shocks are present in the simulations. We first investigated whether a single continuous episode of AGN activity can lead to adequate dissipation to balance cooling rates. These simulations demonstrated that whereas secondary waves generated by the interaction of the rising bubble with the intracluster medium are clearly present, viscous heating associated with the dissipation of these waves is insufficient to balance radiative cooling. It is only when the central source is intermittent that the viscous dissipation of waves associated with subsequent episodes of activity can offset cooling. This suggests that the ripples observed in the Perseus Cluster can be interpreted as being due to the AGN duty cycle; i.e., they trace AGN activity history. The simulations were performed using the adaptive mesh refinement code FLASH in two dimensions.

Chaotic cold accretion on to black holes

Using 3D AMR simulations, linking the 50 kpc to the sub-pc scales over the course of 40 Myr, we systematically relax the classic Bondi assumptions in a typical galaxy hosting a SMBH. In the realistic scenario, where the hot gas is cooling, while heated and stirred on large scales, the accretion rate is boosted up to two orders of magnitude compared with the Bondi prediction. The cause is the nonlinear growth of thermal instabilities, leading to the condensation of cold clouds and filaments when t_cool/t_ff 0.2) induces the formation of thermal instabilities, even in the absence of heating, while in the transonic regime turbulent dissipation inhibits their growth (t_turb/t_cool < 1). When heating restores global thermodynamic balance, the formation of the multiphase medium is violent, and the mode of accretion is fully cold and chaotic. The recurrent collisions and tidal forces between clouds, filaments and the central clumpy torus promote angular momentum cancellation, hence boosting accretion. On sub-pc scales the clouds are channelled to the very centre via a funnel. A good approximation to the accretion rate is the cooling rate, which can be used as subgrid model, physically reproducing the boost factor of 100 required by cosmological simulations, while accounting for fluctuations. Chaotic cold accretion may be common in many systems, such as hot galactic halos, groups, and clusters, generating high-velocity clouds and strong variations of the AGN luminosity and jet orientation. In this mode, the black hole can quickly react to the state of the entire host galaxy, leading to efficient self-regulated AGN feedback and the symbiotic Magorrian relation. During phases of overheating, the hot mode becomes the single channel of accretion (with a different cuspy temperature profile), though strongly suppressed by turbulence.

Impact of tangled magnetic fields on fossil radio bubbles

There is growing consensus that feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) is the main mechanism responsible for stopping cooling flows in clusters of galaxies. AGN are known to inflate buoyant bubbles that supply mechanical power to the intracluster gas (ICM). High Reynolds number hydrodynamical simulations show that such bubbles get entirely disrupted within 100 Myr, as they rise in cluster atmospheres, which is contrary to observations. This artificial mixing has consequences for models trying to quantify the amount of heating and star formation in cool core clusters of galaxies. It has been suggested that magnetic fields can stabilize bubbles against disruption. We perform magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations of fossil bubbles in the presence of tangled magnetic fields using the high order PENCIL code. We focus on the physically-motivated case where thermal pressure dominates over magnetic pressure and consider randomly oriented fields with and without maximum helicity and a case where large scale external fields drape the bubble. We find that helicity has some stabilizing effect. However, unless the coherence length of magnetic fields exceeds the bubble size, the bubbles are quickly shredded. As observations of Hydra A suggest that lengthscale of magnetic fields may be smaller then typical bubble size, this may suggest that other mechanisms, such as viscosity, may be responsible for stabilizing the bubbles. However, since Faraday rotation observations of radio lobes do not constrain large scale ICM fields well if they are aligned with the bubble surface, the draping case may be a viable alternative solution to the problem. A generic feature found in our simulations is the formation of magnetic wakes where fields are ordered and amplified. We suggest that this effect could prevent evaporation by thermal conduction of cold Hα filaments observed in the Perseus cluster.

SHAKEN AND STIRRED: CONDUCTION AND TURBULENCE IN CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES

Uninhibited radiative cooling in clusters of galaxies would lead to excessive mass accretion rates contrary to observations. One of the key proposals to offset radiative energy losses is thermal conduction from outer, hotter layers of cool core (CC) clusters to their centers. However, thermal conduction is sensitive to magnetic field topology. In CC clusters where temperature decreases inwards, the heat buoyancy instability (HBI) leads to magnetic fields ordered preferentially in the direction perpendicular to that of gravity, which significantly reduces the level of conduction below the classical Spitzer-Braginskii value. However, the CC clusters are rarely in perfect hydrostatic equilibrium. Sloshing motions due to minor mergers and stirring motions induced by cluster galaxies or active galactic nuclei can significantly perturb the gas. The turbulent cascade can then affect the topology of the magnetic field and the effective level of thermal conduction. We perform three-dimensional adaptive mesh refinement magnetohydrodynamical simulations of the effect of turbulence on the properties of the anisotropic thermal conduction in CC clusters. We show that very weak subsonic motions, well within observational constraints, can randomize the magnetic field and significantly boost effective thermal conduction beyond the saturated values expected in the pure unperturbed HBI case. We find that the turbulent motions can essentially restore the conductive heat flow to the CC to level comparable to the theoretical maximum of ~1/3 Spitzer for a highly tangled field. Runs with radiative cooling show that the cooling catastrophe can be averted and the cluster core stabilized; however, this conclusion may depend on the central gas density. Above a critical Froude number, these same turbulent motions also eliminate the tangential bias in the velocity and magnetic field that is otherwise induced by the trapped g-modes, and possibly allow significant turbulent heat diffusion. Our results can be tested with future radio polarization measurements and have implications for efficient metal dispersal in clusters.

Three-Dimensional Simulations of Viscous Dissipation in the Intracluster Medium

We present three-dimensional simulations of viscous dissipation of active galactic nuclei (AGN)-induced gas motions and waves in clusters of galaxies. These simulations are motivated by recent detections of ripples in the Perseus and Virgo Clusters. Although the sound waves generated by buoyant bubbles decay with distance from the cluster center, we show that these waves can contribute substantially to offsetting the radiative cooling at distances significantly exceeding the bubble size. The energy flux of the waves declines more steeply with radius than the inverse-square law predicted by energy conservation, implying that dissipation plays an important role in tapping the wave energy. We show that such dispersing sound waves/weak shocks are detectable as ripples on unsharp-masked X-ray cluster maps and point out that the interfaces between the intracluster medium and old bubbles are also clearly detectable in unsharp-masked X-ray maps. This opens up the possibility of detecting fossil bubbles that are difficult to detect in radio emission. This mode of heating is consistent with other observational constraints, such as the presence of cool rims around the bubbles and the absence of strong shocks. Thus, the mechanism offers a way of heating clusters in a spatially distributed and gentle fashion. We also discuss the energy transfer between the central AGN and the surrounding medium. In our numerical experiments, we find that roughly 65% of the energy injected by the AGN is transferred to the intracluster medium, and approximately 25% of the injected energy is dissipated by viscous effects and contributes to heating of the gas. The overall transfer of heat from the AGN to the gas is comparable to the radiative cooling losses. The simulations were performed with the FLASH adaptive mesh refinement code.

Dual black holes in merger remnants – II. Spin evolution and gravitational recoil

Using high-resolution hydrodynamical simulations, we explore the spin evolution of massive dual black holes orbiting inside a circumnuclear disc, relic of a gas-rich galaxy merger. The black holes spiral inwards from initially eccentric co- or counter-rotating coplanar orbits relative to the disc’s rotation, and accrete gas that is carrying a net angular momentum. As the black hole mass grows, its spin changes in strength and direction due to its gravito-magnetic coupling with the small-scale accretion disc. We find that the black hole spins loose memory of their initial orientation, as accretion torques suffice to align the spins with the angular momentum of their orbit on a short time-scale (1–2 Myr). A residual off-set in the spin direction relative to the orbital angular momentum remains, at the level of 10 ◦ for the case of a cold disc, and 30 ◦ for a warmer disc. Alignment in a cooler disc is more effective due to the higher coherence of the accretion flow near each black hole that reflects the largescale coherence of the disc’s rotation. If the massive black holes coalesce preserving the spin directions set after formation of a Keplerian binary, the relic black hole resulting from their coalescence receives a relatively small gravitational recoil. The distribution of recoil velocities inferred from a simulated sample of massive black hole binaries has median 70 km s −1 ,

Active Galactic Nuclei Heating and Dissipative Processes in Galaxy Clusters

Recent X-ray observations reveal growing evidence for heating by active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in clusters and groups of galaxies. AGN outflows play a crucial role in explaining the riddle of cooling flows and the entropy problem in clusters. Here we study the effect of AGNs on the intracluster medium in a cosmological simulation using the adaptive mesh refinement FLASH code. We pay particular attention to the effects of conductivity and viscosity on the dissipation of weak shocks generated by the AGN activity in a realistic galaxy cluster. Our three-dimensional simulations demonstrate that both viscous and conductive dissipation play an important role in distributing the mechanical energy injected by the AGNs, offsetting radiative cooling and injecting entropy to the gas. These processes are important even when the transport coefficients are at a level of 10% of the Spitzer value. Provided that both conductivity and viscosity are suppressed by a comparable amount, conductive dissipation is likely to dominate over viscous dissipation. Nevertheless, viscous effects may still affect the dynamics of the gas and contribute a significant amount of dissipation compared to radiative cooling. We also present synthetic Chandra observations. We show that the simulated buoyant bubbles inflated by the AGN, and weak shocks associated with them, are detectable with the Chandra observatory.

The origin of cold gas in giant elliptical galaxies and its role in fuelling radio-mode AGN feedback

The nature and origin of the cold interstellar medium (ISM) in early-type galaxies are still a matter of debate, and understanding the role of this component in galaxy evolution and in fuelling the central supermassive black holes requires more observational constraints. Here, we present a multiwavelength study of the ISM in eight nearby, X-ray and optically bright, giant elliptical galaxies, all central dominant members of relatively low-mass groups. Using far-infrared spectral imaging with the Herschel Photodetector Array Camera & Spectrometer, we map the emission of cold gas in the cooling lines of [C II]λ157 μm, [O I] λ63 μm and [O Ib] λ145 μm. Additionally, we present Hα+[N II] imaging of warm ionized gas with the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, and a study of the thermodynamic structure of the hot X-ray emitting plasma with Chandra. All systems with extended Hα emission in our sample (6/8 galaxies) display significant [C II] line emission indicating the presence of reservoirs of cold gas. This emission is cospatial with the optical Hα+[N II] emitting nebulae and the lowest entropy soft X-ray emitting plasma. The entropy profiles of the hot galactic atmospheres show a clear dichotomy, with the systems displaying extended emission-line nebulae having lower entropies beyond r ≳ 1 kpc than the cold-gas-poor systems. We show that while the hot atmospheres of the cold-gas-poor galaxies are thermally stable outside of their innermost cores, the atmospheres of the cold-gas-rich systems are prone to cooling instabilities. This provides considerable weight to the argument that cold gas in giant ellipticals is produced chiefly by cooling from the hot phase. We show that cooling instabilities may develop more easily in rotating systems and discuss an alternative condition for thermal instability for this case. The hot atmospheres of cold-gas-rich galaxies display disturbed morphologies indicating that the accretion of clumpy multiphase gas in these systems may result in variable power output of the AGN jets, potentially triggering sporadic, larger outbursts. In the two cold-gas-poor, X-ray morphologically relaxed galaxies of our sample, NGC 1399 and NGC 4472, powerful AGN outbursts may have destroyed or removed most of the cold gas from the cores, allowing the jets to propagate and deposit most of their energy further out, increasing the entropy of the hot galactic atmospheres and leaving their cores relatively undisturbed.

Simulations of Magnetic Fields in Filaments

The intergalactic magnetic field within filaments should be less polluted by magnetised outflows from active galaxies than magnetic fields in clusters. Therefore, filaments may be a better laboratory to study magnetic field amplification by structure formation than galaxy clusters which typically host many more active galaxies. We present highly resolved cosmological AMR simulations of magnetic fields in the cosmos and make predictions about the evolution and structure of magnetic fields in filaments. Comparing our results to observational evidence for magnetic fields in filaments suggests that amplification of seed fields by gravitational collapse is not sufficient to produce IGM fields. Finally, implications for cosmic ray transport are discussed.The intergalactic magnetic field within filaments should be less polluted by magnetized outflows from active galaxies than magnetic fields in clusters. Therefore, filaments may be a better laboratory to study magnetic field amplification by structure formation than galaxy clusters, which typically host many more active galaxies. We present highly resolved cosmological adaptive mesh refinement simulations of magnetic fields in the cosmos and make predictions about the evolution and structure of magnetic fields in filaments. Comparing our results to observational evidence of magnetic fields in filaments suggests that amplification of seed fields by gravitational collapse is not sufficient to produce intergalactic medium fields. Finally, the implications for cosmic-ray transport are discussed.

THE FERMI BUBBLES: SUPERSONIC ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS JETS WITH ANISOTROPIC COSMIC-RAY DIFFUSION

TheFermiGamma-RaySpaceTelescope reveals two large bubbles in the Galaxy, which extend nearly symmetrically ∼50 ◦ above and below the Galactic center. Using three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic simulations that self-consistently include the dynamical interaction between cosmic rays (CRs) and thermal gas and anisotropic CR diffusion along the magnetic field lines, we show that the key characteristics of the observed gamma-ray bubbles and the spatially correlated X-ray features in the ROSAT 1.5 keV map can be successfully reproduced by recent jet activity from the central active galactic nucleus. We find that after taking into account the projection of the 3D bubbles onto the sky the physical heights of the bubbles can be much smaller than previously thought, greatly reducing the formation time of the bubbles to about a Myr. This relatively small bubble age is needed to reconcile the simulations with the upper limit of bubble ages estimated from the cooling time of high-energy electrons. No additional physical mechanisms are required to suppress large-scale hydrodynamic instabilities because the evolution time is too short for them to develop. The simulated CR bubbles are edge-brightened, which is consistent with the observed projected flat surface brightness distribution. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the sharp edges of the observed bubbles can be due to anisotropic CR diffusion along magnetic field lines that drape around the bubbles during their supersonic expansion, with suppressed perpendicular diffusion across the bubble surface. Possible causes of the slight bends of the Fermi bubbles to the west are also discussed.