The Cosmic Baryon Cycle in IllustrisTNG: flows of mass, energy, and metals

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the inflows and outflows of mass, energy, and metals in galaxies using IllustrisTNG100 simulations, revealing how feedback mechanisms influence galaxy growth and quenching over cosmic time.

Contribution

It provides detailed measurements of gas, metal, and energy flows at different scales and identifies the dominant feedback processes across halo masses and redshifts.

Findings

Galaxies exhibit strong net inflows at high redshift.

Kinetic AGN feedback leads to inflow-outflow balance and quenching.

Wind mass loadings decrease with halo mass and redshift.

Abstract

We measure and analyze the inflows and outflows of mass, energy, and metals through the interstellar medium (ISM) and circumgalactic medium (CGM) of galaxies in the IllustrisTNG100 simulations. We identify the dominant feedback mechanism in bins of halo virial mass and redshift by computing the integrated energy input from SNe and the ``kinetic'' and ``thermal'' mode of AGN feedback. We measure all quantities in a shell at the virial radius (``halo scale'') and one chosen to be approximately at the interface of the CGM and the interstellar medium (ISM; ``ISM scale''). We find that galaxies have strong net positive inflows on halo scales, and weaker but still net positive inflows on ISM scales, at $z\gtrsim 2$. At later times, partially due to the onset of kinetic AGN feedback in massive halos, inflows and outflows nearly balance one another, leading to the familiar effects of the slow-down of galaxy growth and the onset of quenching. Halos dominated by SN feedback show only weak evidence of preventative feedback on halo scales, and we see excess ISM scale accretion indicative of rapid gas recycling. Wind mass loadings decrease with increasing halo mass, and with increasing redshift, while energy loadings are nearly independent of both mass and redshift. The detailed catalogs of these mass, metal, and energy inflow and outflow rates on galaxy and halo scales can be used to guide empirical and semi-analytic models, and provide deeper insight into how galaxy growth and quenching is regulated in the IllustrisTNG simulations.