Inefficient Driving of Bulk Turbulence by Active Galactic Nuclei in a Hydrodynamic Model of the Intracluster Medium

TL;DR

This study uses 3D hydrodynamic simulations to evaluate the efficiency of AGN-induced gravity waves in generating turbulence for heating galaxy cluster cores, finding the process to be largely inefficient.

Contribution

It demonstrates that AGN-driven gravity waves are insufficient to produce the turbulence needed for ICM heating in a hydrodynamic model, suggesting other physics are involved.

Findings

Less than 1% of AGN energy converts to turbulence

Gravity waves are inefficient in heating the ICM

Strong wave trapping further reduces turbulence generation

Abstract

Central jetted active galactic nuclei (AGN) appear to heat the core regions of the intracluster medium (ICM) in cooling-core galaxy clusters and groups, thereby preventing a cooling catastrophe. However, the physical mechanism(s) by which the directed flow of kinetic energy is thermalized throughout the ICM core remains unclear. We examine one widely discussed mechanism whereby the AGN induces subsonic turbulence in the ambient medium, the dissipation of which provides the ICM heat source. Through controlled inviscid 3-d hydrodynamic simulations, we verify that explosive AGN-like events can launch gravity waves (g-modes) into the ambient ICM which in turn decay to volume-filling turbulence. In our model, however, this process is found to be inefficient, with less than 1% of the energy injected by the AGN activity actually ending up in the turbulence of the ambient ICM. This efficiency is an order of magnitude or more too small to explain the observations of AGN-feedback in galaxy clusters and groups with short central cooling times. Atmospheres in which the g-modes are strongly trapped/confined have an even lower efficiency since, in these models, excitation of turbulence relies on the g-modes' ability to escape from the center of the cluster into the bulk ICM. Our results suggest that, if AGN-induced turbulence is indeed the mechanism by which the AGN heats the ICM core, its driving may rely on physics beyond that captured in our ideal hydrodynamic model.