Dr Harley Katz

Abstract:

Despite their ubiquity, there are many open questions regarding galactic and cosmic magnetic fields. Specifically, current observational constraints cannot rule out whether magnetic fields observed in galaxies were generated in the early Universe or are of astrophysical nature. Motivated by this, we use our magnetic tracer algorithm to investigate whether the signatures of primordial magnetic fields persist in galaxies throughout cosmic time. We simulate a Milky Way-like galaxy down to z ∼ 2–1 in four scenarios: magnetized solely by primordial magnetic fields, magnetized exclusively by supernova (SN)-injected magnetic fields, and two combined primordial + SN magnetization cases. We find that once primordial magnetic fields with a comoving strength B0 > 10−12 G are considered, they remain the primary source of galaxy magnetization. Our magnetic tracers show that, even combined with galactic sources of magnetization, when primordial magnetic fields are strong, they source the large-scale fields in the warm metal-poor phase of the simulated galaxy. In this case, the circumgalactic medium and intergalactic medium can be used to probe B0 without risk of pollution by magnetic fields originated in the galaxy. Furthermore, whether magnetic fields are primordial or astrophysically sourced can be inferred by studying local gas metallicity. As a result, we predict that future state-of-the-art observational facilities of magnetic fields in galaxies will have the potential to unravel astrophysical and primordial magnetic components of our Universe.

Abstract:

We investigate the impact of ram pressure stripping due to the intracluster medium (ICM) on star-forming disk galaxies with a multiphase interstellar medium maintained by strong stellar feedback. We carry out radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of an isolated disk galaxy embedded in a 1011 M ⊙ dark matter halo with various ICM winds mimicking the cluster outskirts (moderate) and the central environment (strong). We find that both star formation quenching and triggering occur in ram pressure–stripped galaxies, depending on the strength of the winds. H i and H2 in the outer galactic disk are significantly stripped in the presence of moderate winds, whereas turbulent pressure provides support against ram pressure in the central region, where star formation is active. Moderate ICM winds facilitate gas collapse, increasing the total star formation rates by ~40% when the wind is oriented face-on or by ~80% when it is edge-on. In contrast, strong winds rapidly blow away neutral and molecular hydrogen gas from the galaxy, suppressing star formation by a factor of 2 within ~200 Myr. Dense gas clumps with n H gsim 10 M ⊙ pc−2 are easily identified in extraplanar regions, but no significant young stellar populations are found in such clumps. In our attempts to enhance radiative cooling by adopting a colder ICM of T = 106 K, only a few additional stars are formed in the tail region, even if the amount of newly cooled gas increases by an order of magnitude.

Abstract:

Identifying low-redshift galaxies that emit Lyman continuum radiation (LyC leakers) is one of the primary, indirect methods of studying galaxy formation in the epoch of reionization. However, not only has it proved challenging to identify such systems, it also remains uncertain whether the low-redshift LyC leakers are truly ‘analogues’ of the sources that reionized the Universe. Here, we use high-resolution cosmological radiation hydrodynamics simulations to examine whether simulated galaxies in the epoch of reionization share similar emission line properties to observed LyC leakers at z ∼ 3 and z ∼ 0. We find that the simulated galaxies with high LyC escape fractions (fesc) often exhibit high O32 and populate the same regions of the R23–O32 plane as z ∼ 3 LyC leakers. However, we show that viewing angle, metallicity, and ionization parameter can all impact where a galaxy resides on the O32–fesc plane. Based on emission line diagnostics and how they correlate with fesc, lower metallicity LyC leakers at z ∼ 3 appear to be good analogues of reionization-era galaxies. In contrast, local [S II]-deficient galaxies do not overlap with the simulated high-redshift LyC leakers on the S II Baldwin–Phillips–Terlevich (BPT) diagram; however, this diagnostic may still be useful for identifying leakers. We use our simulated galaxies to develop multiple new diagnostics to identify LyC leakers using infrared and nebular emission lines. We show that our model using only [C II]158 μm and [O III]88 μm can identify potential leakers from non-leakers from the local Dwarf Galaxy Survey. Finally, we apply this diagnostic to known high-redshift galaxies and find that MACS 1149_JD1 at z = 9.1 is the most likely galaxy to be actively contributing to the reionization of the Universe.