Mass Transport and Turbulence in Gravitationally Unstable Disk Galaxies II: The Effects of Star Formation Feedback

TL;DR

This study models the effects of star formation feedback on turbulence and mass transport in galactic disks, showing feedback suppresses star formation but does not prevent gravitational instability from driving turbulence and fueling star formation.

Contribution

It extends previous models by including star formation feedback, demonstrating its impact on star formation rates, ISM phases, and disk self-regulation.

Findings

Feedback reduces star formation rates by a factor of ~5.

Galactic disks self-regulate to Toomre Q ~ 1 with feedback.

Gravity remains the main driver of turbulence and mass transport.

Abstract

Self-gravity and stellar feedback are capable of driving turbulence and transporting mass and angular momentum in disk galaxies, but the balance between them is not well understood. In the previous paper in this series, we showed that gravity alone can drive turbulence in galactic disks, regulate their Toomre $Q$ parameters to $\sim$ 1, and transport mass inwards at a rate sufficient to fuel star formation in the centers of present-day galaxies. In this paper we extend our models to include the effects of star formation feedback. We show that feedback suppresses galaxies' star formation rates by a factor of $\sim$ 5 and leads to the formation of a multi-phase atomic and molecular ISM. Both the star formation rate and the phase balance produced in our simulations agree well with observations of nearby spirals. After our galaxies reach steady state, we find that the inclusion of feedback actually lowers the gas velocity dispersion slightly compared to the case of pure self-gravity, and also slightly reduces the rate of inward mass transport. Nevertheless, we find that, even with feedback included, our galactic disks self-regulate to $Q$ $\sim$ 1, and transport mass inwards at a rate sufficient to supply a substantial fraction of the inner disk star formation. We argue that gravitational instability is therefore likely to be the dominant source of turbulence and transport in galactic disks, and that it is responsible for fueling star formation in the inner parts of galactic disks over cosmological times.