X-ray bubbles in the circumgalactic medium of TNG50 Milky Way- and M31-like galaxies: signposts of supermassive black hole activity

TL;DR

The TNG50 simulation reveals that Milky Way- and Andromeda-like galaxies frequently host large, X-ray emitting bubbles caused by episodic black hole activity, resembling observed structures like the eROSITA and Fermi bubbles.

Contribution

This study demonstrates that cosmological simulations can reproduce large-scale X-ray bubbles driven by supermassive black holes, linking galaxy evolution and black hole feedback.

Findings

Two-thirds of MW/M31 analogues show large-scale bubbles.

Bubbles exhibit shock Mach numbers of 2-4.

Bubbles expand at speeds up to 2000 km/s.

Abstract

The TNG50 cosmological simulation produces X-ray emitting bubbles, shells, and cavities in the circumgalactic gas above and below the stellar disks of Milky Way- and Andromeda-like galaxies with morphological features reminiscent of the eROSITA and Fermi bubbles in the Galaxy. Two-thirds of the 198 MW/M31 analogues inspected in TNG50 at z=0 show one or more large-scale, coherent features of over-pressurized gas that impinge into the gaseous halo. Some of the galaxies include a succession of bubbles or shells of increasing size, ranging from a few to many tens of kpc. These are prominent in gas pressure, X-ray emission and gas temperature, and often exhibit sharp boundaries with typical shock Mach numbers of 2-4. The gas in the bubbles outflows with maximum (95th pctl) radial velocities of 100-1500 km/s. TNG50 bubbles expand with speeds as high as 1000-2000 km/s (about 1-2 kpc/Myr), but with a great diversity and with larger bubbles expanding at slower speeds. The bubble gas is at 10^6.4-7.2 K temperatures and is enriched to metallicities of 0.5-2 solar. In TNG50, the bubbles are a manifestation of episodic, kinetic, wind-like energy injections from the supermassive black holes at the galaxy centers that accrete at low Eddington ratios. According to TNG50, X-ray, and possibly gamma-ray, bubbles similar to those observed in the Milky Way should be a frequent feature of disk-like galaxies prior to, or on the verge of, being quenched. They should be within the grasp of eROSITA in the local Universe.