The effect of saturated thermal conduction on clouds in a hot plasma

TL;DR

This study uses numerical simulations to explore how saturated thermal conduction influences the evolution, condensation, and mixing of multiphase clouds in a hot plasma environment like the circumgalactic medium.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed numerical analysis of saturated thermal conduction effects on multiphase clouds, including condensation rates and mixing efficiency, in a hot plasma.

Findings

Saturated thermal conduction causes continuous condensation regardless of cloud mass.

Condensation flux increases with more homogeneous clouds.

Low-mass clouds exhibit easier mixing and more efficient distribution of accreted gas.

Abstract

We numerically investigate the internal evolution of multiphase clouds, which are at rest with respect to an ambient, highly ionized medium (HIM) representing the hot component of the circumgalactic medium (CGM). Time-dependent saturated thermal conduction and its implications like condensation rates and mixing efficiency are assessed in multiphase clouds. Our simulations are carried out by using the adaptive mesh refinement code Flash. We perform a grid of models of which we present here those characteristic for the presented study. The model clouds are initially in both hydrostatic and thermal equilibrium and are in pressure balance with the HIM. Thus, they have steep gradients in both temperature and density at the interface to HIM leading to non-negligible thermal conduction. Several physical processes are considered numerically or semi-analytically: thermal conduction, radiative cooling and external heating of gas, self-gravity, mass diffusion, and dissociation of molecules and ionization of atoms. It turns out that saturated thermal conduction triggers a continuous condensation irrespective of cloud mass. Dynamical interactions with ambient HIM all relate to the radial density gradient in the clouds: (1) mass flux due to condensation is the higher the more homogeneous the clouds are; (2) mixing of condensed gas with cloud gas is easier in low-mass clouds, because of their shallower radial density gradient; thus (3) accreted gas is distributed more efficiently. A distinct and sub-structured transition zone forms at the interface between cloud and HIM, which starts at smaller radii and is much narrower as deduced from analytical theory.