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We present simulations of galaxy formation, based on the gadget -3 code, in which a sub-resolution model for star formation and stellar feedback is interfaced with a new model for active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback. Our sub-resolution model describes a multiphase interstellar medium (ISM), accounting for hot and cold gas within the same resolution element: we exploit this feature to investigate the impact of coupling AGN feedback energy to the different phases of the ISM over cosmic time. Our fiducial model considers that AGN feedback energy coupling is driven by the covering factors of the hot and cold phases. We perform a suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of disc galaxies (⁠|$M_{\rm halo,DM} \simeq 2 \times 10^{12}$|  M⊙, at z  = 0), to investigate: (i) the effect of different ways of coupling AGN feedback energy to the multiphase ISM; (ii) the impact of different prescriptions for gas accretion (i.e. only cold gas, both cold and hot gas, with the additional possibility of limiting gas accretion from cold gas with high angular momentum); (iii) how different models of gas accretion and coupling of AGN feedback energy affect the coevolution of supermassive black holes (BHs) and their host galaxy. We find that at least a share of the AGN feedback energy has to couple with the diffuse gas, in order to avoid an excessive growth of the BH mass. When the BH only accretes cold gas, it experiences a growth that is faster than in the case in which both cold and hot gas are accreted. If the accretion of cold gas with high angular momentum is reduced, the BH mass growth is delayed, the BH mass at z  = 0 is reduced by up to an order of magnitude, and the BH is prevented from accreting below z ≲ 2, when the galaxy disc forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a sample of 1669 quasars (r < 20.15, 3.6 < z < 4.0) from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey to study the intrinsic shape of their continuum and the Lyman continuum photon escape fraction (fesc,q), estimated as the ratio between the observed flux and the expected intrinsic flux (corrected for the intergalactic medium absorption) in the wavelength range 865-885 Å rest frame. Modelling the intrinsic quasar (QSO) continuum shape with a power law, Fλ ∝ λ-γ, we find a median γ = 1.30 (with a dispersion of 0.38, no dependence on the redshift and a mild intrinsic luminosity dependence) and a mean fesc,q = 0.75 (independent of the QSO luminosity and/or redshift). The fesc,q distribution shows a peak around zero and a long tail of higher values, with a resulting dispersion of 0.7. If we assume for the QSO continuum a double power-law shape (also compatible with the data) with a break located at λbr = 1000 Å and a softening Δγ = 0.72 at wavelengths shorter than λbr, the mean fesc,q rises to 0.82. Combining our γ and fesc,q estimates with the observed evolution of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) luminosity function (LF), we compute the AGN contribution to the UV ionizing background (UVB) as a function of redshift. AGN brighter than one-tenth of the characteristic luminosity of the LF are able to produce most of it up to z ~ 3, if the present sample is representative of their properties. At higher redshifts, a contribution of the galaxy population is required. Assuming an escape fraction of Lyman continuum photons from galaxies between 5.5 and 7.6 per cent, independent of the galaxy luminosity and/or redshift, a remarkably good fit to the observational UVB data up to z ~ 6 is obtained. At lower redshift, the extrapolation of our empirical estimate agrees well with recent UVB observations, dispelling the so-called Photon Underproduction Crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore new observationally constrained subresolution models of galactic outflows and investigate their impact on the circumgalactic medium (CGM) in the redshift range z = 2-4. We perform cosmological hydrodynamic simulations, including star formation, chemical enrichment and four cases of supernovae-driven outflows: no wind (NW), an energy-driven constant velocity wind (CW), a radially varying wind (RVWa) where the outflow velocity has a positive correlation with galactocentric distance (r) and a RVW with additional dependence on halo mass (RVWb). Overall, we find that the outflows expel metal-enriched gas away from galaxies, significantly quench the star formation, reduce the central galactic metallicity and enrich the CGM. At z = 2, the radial profiles of gas properties around galaxy centres are most sensitive to the choice of the wind model for halo masses in the range (109-1011)M&#664-. We infer that outflows in the RVWb model are least effective, with results similar to the NW case, except that the CGM is enriched more. Moreover, we find that the models CW and RVWa are similar, both showing the impact of effective winds, with the following notable differences. RVWa causes a greater suppression of star formation rate at z ≤ 5, and has a higher fraction of low-density (δ < 10), warm-hot (104-106 K) gas than in CW. Outflows in CW produce a higher and earlier enrichment of some intergalactic medium phases than in RVWa. By visual inspection, we note that the RVWa model shows galactic discs more pronounced than all the other wind models. We predict that some observational diagnostics are more promising to distinguish between different outflow driving mechanisms in galaxies: ZC of the CGM gas at r~ (30-300) h-1 kpc comoving, and C IV fraction of the inner gas at r < (4-5) h-1 kpc comoving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We study several versions of the Schmidt-Kennicutt (SK) relation obtained for isolated spiral galaxies in TreeSPH simulations run with the gadget3 code including the novel MUlti-Phase Particle Integrator ( muppi) algorithm for star formation and stellar feedback. This is based on a subresolution multiphase treatment of gas particles, where star formation is explicitly related to molecular gas, and the fraction of gas in the molecular phase is computed from hydrodynamical pressure, following a phenomenological correlation. No chemical evolution is included in this version of the code. The standard SK relation between surface densities of cold (neutral+molecular) gas and star formation rate of simulated galaxies shows a steepening at low gas surface densities, starting from a knee whose position depends on disc gas fraction: for more gas-rich discs, the steepening takes place at higher surface densities. Because gas fraction and metallicity are typically related, this environmental dependence mimics the predictions of models where the formation of H2 is modulated by metallicity. The cold gas surface density at which H i and molecular gas surface densities equate can range from ∼10 up to 34 M⊙ pc−2. As expected, the SK relation obtained using molecular gas shows much smaller variations among simulations. We find that disc pressure is not well represented by the classical external pressure of a disc in vertical hydrostatic equilibrium. Instead, it is well fit by the expression Pfit=Σcoldσcoldκ/6, where the three quantities on the right-hand side are cold gas surface density, vertical velocity dispersion and epicyclic frequency. When the 'dynamical' SK relation, i.e. the relation that uses gas surface density divided by orbital time, is considered, we find that all of our simulations stay on the same relation. We interpret this as a manifestation of the equilibrium between energy injection and dissipation in stationary galaxy discs, when energetic feedback is effective and pressure is represented by the expression given above. These findings further support the idea that a realistic model of the structure of galaxy discs should take into account energy injection by supernovae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to constrain the physical processes that regulate and downsize the active galactic nucleus (AGN) population, the predictions of the model for the rise of galaxies and active nuclei (morgana) are compared to luminosity functions (LFs) of AGNs in the optical, soft and hard X-ray bands, to the local black hole (BH)–bulge mass relation and to the observed X-ray number counts and background. We also give predictions on the accretion rate of AGNs in units of the Eddington rate and on the BH–bulge relation expected at high redshift. We find that it is possible to reproduce the downsizing of AGNs within the hierarchical Lambda cold dark matter cosmogony and that the most likely cause of this downsizing is the stellar kinetic feedback that arises in star-forming bulges as a consequence of the high level of turbulence and leads to a massive removal of cold gas in small elliptical galaxies. At the same time, to obtain good fits to the number of bright quasars we require that quasar-triggered galactic winds self-limit the accretion on to BHs; however, the very high degree of complexity of the physics of these winds, coupled with our poor understanding of it, hampers more robust conclusions. In all cases, the predicted BH–bulge relation steepens considerably with respect to the observed one at bulge masses ; this problem is related to a known excess in the predicted number of small bulges, common to most similar models, so that the reproduction of the correct number of faint AGNs is done at the cost of underestimating their BH masses. This highlights an insufficient downsizing of elliptical galaxies, and hints at another feedback mechanism able to act on the compact discs that form and soon merge at high redshift. The results of this paper reinforce the need for direct investigations of the feedback mechanisms in active galaxies that will be possible with the next generation of astronomical telescopes from submm to X-rays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shining of quasars is a likely trigger of massive galactic winds, able to remove most interstellar medium (ISM) from a star-forming spheroid. However, the mechanism responsible for the deposition of energy into the ISM is still unclear. Starting from a model for feedback in galaxy formation with a two-phase medium (Monaco), we propose that the perturbation induced by radiative heating from a quasar on the ISM triggers a critical change of feedback regime. In the feedback model, supernova remnants (SNRs) expanding in the hot and pressurized phase of a star-forming spheroid typically become pressure confined before the hot interior gas is able to cool. In the presence of runaway radiative heating by a quasar, a mass flow from the cold to the hot phase develops; whenever this evaporation flow is significant with respect to the star formation rate, owing to the increased density of the hot phase the SNRs reach the point where their interior gas cools before being confined, forming a thick cold shell. We show that in this case the consequent drop in pressure leads quickly to the percolation of all the shells and to the formation of a super shell of cold gas that sweeps the whole galaxy. Radiation pressure is then very effective in removing such a shell from the galaxy. This self-limiting mechanism leads to a correlation between black hole and bulge masses for more massive bulges than.The insertion of a motivated wind trigger criterion in a hierarchical galaxy formation model shows, however, that winds are not necessary to obtain a good black hole–bulge correlation. In the absence of winds, good results are obtained if the mechanism responsible for the creation of a reservoir of low-angular momentum gas (able to accrete on to the black hole) deposits mass at a rate proportional to the star formation rate. Using a novel galaxy formation model, we show under which conditions black hole masses are self-limited by the wind mechanism described above, and outline the possible observational consequences of this self limitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new (semi-)analytical model for feedback in galaxy formation. The interstellar medium (ISM) is modelled as a two-phase medium in pressure equilibrium, where the cold phase is fragmented into clouds with a given mass spectrum. Cold gas infalls from an external halo. Large clouds are continually formed by coagulation and destroyed by gravitational collapse. Stars form in the collapsing clouds; the remnants of exploding Type II supernovae (SNe) percolate into a single super-bubble (SB) that sweeps the ISM, heating the hot phase (if the SB is adiabatic) or cooling it (in the snowplough stage, when the interior gas of the SB has cooled). Different feedback regimes are obtained whenever SBs are stopped either in the adiabatic or in the snowplough stage, either by pressure confinement or by blowout. The resulting feedback regimes occur in well-defined regions of the space defined by vertical scalelength and surface density of the structure. In the adiabatic blowout regime, the efficiency of SNe in heating the ISM is rather low (∼5 per cent, with ∼80 per cent of the energy budget injected into the external halo), and the outcoming ISM is self-regulated to a state that, in conditions typical of our galaxy, is similar to that found in the Milky Way. Feedback is most efficient in the adiabatic confinement regime, where star formation is hampered by the very high thermal pressure and the resulting inefficient coagulation. In some significant regions of the parameter space, confinement takes place in the snowplough stage; in this case, the hot phase has a lower temperature and star formation is quicker. In some critical cases, found at different densities in several regions of the parameter space, the hot phase is strongly depleted and the cold phase percolates the whole volume, giving rise to a burst of star formation. While the hot phase is allowed to leak out of the star-forming region, and may give rise to a tenuous wind that escapes the potential well of a small galactic halo, strong galactic winds are predicted to occur only in critical cases or in the snowplough confinement regime whenever the SBs are able to percolate the volume. This model provides a starting point for constructing a realistic grid of feedback solutions to be used in galaxy formation codes, either semi-analytical or numerical. The predictive power of this model extends to many properties of the ISM, so that most parameters can be constrained by reproducing the main properties of the Milky Way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT We apply theztracealgorithm to the optical NOG and infrared PSCz galaxy catalogues to reconstruct the pattern of primordial fluctuations that have generated our local Universe. We check that the density fields traced by the two catalogues are well correlated, and consistent with a linear relation [either in δ or in log (1 +δ) ] with relative bias (of NOG with respect to PSCz) b[sub rel]= 1.1 ± 0.1 . The relative bias relation is used to fill the optical zone of avoidance at |b| < 20° using the PSCz galaxy density field. We perform extensive testing on simulated galaxy catalogues to optimize the reconstruction. The quality of the reconstruction is predicted to be good at large scales, up to a limiting wavenumber k[sub lim]≃ 0.4 h Mpc[sup -1] beyond which all information is lost. We find that the improvement arising from the denser sampling of the optical catalogue is compensated by the uncertainties connected to the larger zone of avoidance. The initial conditions reconstructed from the NOG catalogue are found (analogously to those from the PSCz) to be consistent with a Gaussian paradigm. We use the reconstructions to produce sets of initial conditions ready to be used for constrained simulations of our local Universe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the ability of PINOCCHIO (PINpointing Orbit-Crossing Collapsed Hierarchical Objects) to predict the merging histories of dark matter (DM) haloes, comparing the PINOCCHIO predictions with the results of two large N-body simulations run from the same set of initial conditions. We focus our attention on the quantities most relevant to galaxy formation and large-scale structure studies. PINOCCHIO is able to predict the statistics of merger trees with a typical accuracy of 20 per cent. Its validity extends to higher-order moments of the distribution of progenitors. The agreement is also valid at the object-byobject level, with 70-90 per cent of the progenitors cleanly recognized when the parent halo is cleanly recognized itself. Predictions are also presented for quantities that are usually not reproduced by semi-analytic codes, such as the two-point correlation function of the progenitors of massive haloes and the distribution of initial orbital parameters of merging haloes. For the accuracy of the prediction and for the facility with which merger histories are produced, PINOCCHIO provides a means to generate catalogues of DM haloes, which is extremely competitive with large-scale N-body simulations, making it a suitable tool for galaxy formation and large-scale structure studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]