A 1-dimensional hydrodynamic model for accretion, cooling and heating of gas in dark matter halos from $z=6$ to $z=0$

TL;DR

This paper presents a 1D hydrodynamic model simulating gas evolution in dark matter halos from redshift 6 to 0, incorporating accretion, cooling, heating, and feedback to match observed properties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel 1D model that captures key features of gas dynamics in halos, improving upon semi-analytic assumptions like isothermality and simple density profiles.

Findings

Reproduces virial shock formation outside r200.

Achieves thermal balance through cooling and heating cycles.

Matches observed hot gas profiles in massive halos up to redshift 2.

Abstract

We study an idealized 1D model for the evolution of hot gas in dark matter halos for redshifts $z=[0,6]$. We introduce a numerical setup incorporating cosmological accretion of gas, along with the growth of the halo, based on the Van den Bosch model for the average growth of halos as a function of cosmic time. We evolve one-dimensional Lagrangian shells with radiative cooling of the gas and heating due to feedback from the gas cooling and moving in toward the center. A simple Bondi accretion model on to a central black hole is used to include feedback heating. The setup captures some of the key characteristics of spherically symmetric accretion onto the halos: formation of virial shocks slightly outside $r_{200}$ and long-term thermal balance in the form of cooling and heating cycles. The gas density outside our initial halos at $z=6$ is constrained by requiring that the baryon fraction within the virial radius for non-radiative evolution be equal to the universal value at almost all times. The total mass in the cold phase (taken to be $\sim 10^4$ K) within $40$ kpc is tracked as a function of the halo mass and redshift. We compare the evolution of the cold gas mass to the observed stellar-mass versus halo mass relations, following which, we can constrain the feedback energy required for different halo masses and redshifts. We also compare and match the hot gas density and temperature profiles for our most massive halo to those of clusters observed upto redshift $2$. Our model is thus an improvement over the semi-analytic models in which isothermal condition and $\rho \propto r^{-2}$ are assumed.