Simulating an Isolated Dwarf Galaxy with Multi-Channel Feedback and Chemical Yields from Individual Stars

TL;DR

This paper presents a detailed simulation of an isolated dwarf galaxy incorporating multi-channel stellar feedback and star-by-star chemical yields, providing insights into galaxy evolution, feedback effects, and metal mixing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel high-resolution galaxy simulation model with detailed stellar feedback and chemical tracking from individual stars, a first in galaxy-scale studies.

Findings

Simulated dwarf galaxy evolution aligns with observed star formation laws.

Feedback-driven outflows have higher metallicity than the ISM, matching observations.

The model reveals variations in metal mixing within the interstellar medium.

Abstract

In order to better understand the relationship between feedback and galactic chemical evolution, we have developed a new model for stellar feedback at grid resolutions of only a few parsecs in global disk simulations, using the adaptive mesh refinement hydrodynamics code Enzo. For the first time in galaxy scale simulations, we simulate detailed stellar feedback from individual stars including asymptotic giant branch winds, photoelectric heating, Lyman-Werner radiation, ionizing radiation tracked through an adaptive ray-tracing radiative transfer method, and core collapse and Type Ia supernovae. We furthermore follow the star-by-star chemical yields using tracer fields for 15 metal species: C, N, O, Na, Mg, Si, S, Ca, Mn, Fe, Ni, As, Sr, Y, and Ba. We include the yields ejected in massive stellar winds, but greatly reduce the winds' velocities due to computational constraints. We describe these methods in detail in this work and present the first results from 500~Myr of evolution of an isolated dwarf galaxy with properties similar to a Local Group, low-mass dwarf galaxy. We demonstrate that our physics and feedback model is capable of producing a dwarf galaxy whose evolution is consistent with observations in both the Kennicutt-Schmidt relationship and extended Schmidt relationship. Effective feedback drives outflows with a greater metallicity than the ISM, leading to low metal retention fractions consistent with observations. Finally, we demonstrate that these simulations yield valuable information on the variation in mixing behavior of individual metal species within the multi-phase interstellar medium.