Large-scale geometry and topology of gas fields: Effects of AGN and stellar feedback

TL;DR

This study uses Minkowski functionals on hydrodynamical simulations to analyze how stellar and AGN feedback shape the large-scale geometry and topology of gas properties over cosmic time, revealing persistent feedback signatures on scales up to tens of Mpc.

Contribution

It systematically characterizes the large-scale morphological signatures of stellar and AGN feedback on gas fields using Minkowski functionals in cosmological simulations.

Findings

Stellar feedback influences pressure and density field morphology.

AGN jets primarily shape temperature and metallicity fields.

X-ray heating and AGN winds significantly affect the geometry of gaseous fields.

Abstract

Feedback from stars and active galactic nuclei (AGNs) primarily affects the formation and evolution of galaxies and the circumgalactic medium, leaving some kind of imprint on larger scales. Based on the {\sc Simba} hydrodynamical simulation suite and using the full set of Minkowski functionals (MFs), this study systematically analyses the time evolution of the global geometry and topology of the gas temperature, pressure, density (total, HI, and H$_2$), and the metallicity fields between redshifts $z=5$ and $z=0$. The MFs show that small-scale astrophysical processes are persistent and manifest on larger, up to tens of Mpc scales, highlighting the specific morphological signatures of the relevant feedback mechanisms on these scales in the last $\sim12$~Gyr. In qualitative terms, we were able establish a ranking that varies according to the field considered: stellar feedback mostly determines the morphology of the pressure and density fields and AGN jets are the primary origin of the morphology of the temperature and metallicity fields, while X-ray heating and AGN winds play the second most important role in shaping the geometry and topology of all the gaseous fields, except metallicity. Hence, the cosmic evolution of the geometry and topology of fields characterising the thermodynamical and chemical properties of the cosmic web offers complementary, larger scale constraints to galaxy formation models.