Galactic fountains and outflows in star forming dwarf galaxies: ISM expulsion and chemical enrichment

TL;DR

This study uses 3D hydrodynamic simulations to explore how supernova feedback affects gas expulsion and chemical enrichment in star-forming dwarf galaxies, revealing limited gas loss but significant metal ejection.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the long-term evolution of the ISM and metal distribution in dwarf galaxies under supernova feedback, highlighting the formation of galactic fountains and metal venting.

Findings

Galactic fountains form, lifting ISM to a few kpc before falling back.

Little ISM is expelled outside the galaxy for typical SFRs.

A significant fraction of metals (25-80%) is vented into intergalactic space.

Abstract

We investigated the impact of supernova feedback in gas-rich dwarf galaxies experiencing a low-to-moderate star formation rate, typical of relatively quiescent phases between starbursts. We calculated the long term evolution of the ISM and the metal-rich SN ejecta using 3D hydrodynamic simulations, in which the feedback energy is deposited by SNeII exploding in distinct OB associations. We found that a circulation flow similar to galactic fountains is generally established, with some ISM lifted at heights of one to few kpc above the galactic plane. This gas forms an extra-planar layer, which falls back to the plane in about $10^8$ yr, once the star formation stops. Very little or no ISM is expelled outside the galaxy system for the considered SFRs, even though in the most powerful model the SN energy is comparable to the gas binding energy. The metal-rich SN ejecta is instead more vulnerable to the feedback and we found that a significant fraction (25-80\%) is vented in the intergalactic medium, even for low SN rate ($7\times 10^{-5}$ - $7\times 10^{-4}$ yr$^{-1}$). About half of the metals retained by the galaxy are located far ($z >$ 500 pc) from the galactic plane. Moreover, our models indicate that the circulation of the metal-rich gas out from and back to the galactic disk is not able to erase the chemical gradients imprinted by the (centrally concentrated) SN explosions.