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The unprecedented infrared spectroscopic capabilities of JWST have provided high-quality interstellar medium metallicity measurements and enabled characterization of the gas-phase mass–metallicity relation (MZR) for galaxies at z ≳ 5 for the first time. We analyze the gas-phase MZR and its evolution in a high-redshift suite of FIRE-2 cosmological zoom-in simulations at z = 5–12 and for stellar masses M _* ∼ 10 ^6 –10 ^10 M _⊙ . These simulations implement a multichannel stellar feedback model and produce broadly realistic galaxy properties, including when evolved to z = 0. The simulations predict very weak redshift evolution of the MZR over the redshift range studied, with the normalization of the MZR increasing by less than 0.01 dex as redshift decreases from z = 12 to z = 5. The median MZR in the simulations is well approximated as a constant power-law relation across this redshift range given by $\mathrm{log}(Z/{Z}_{\odot })=0.37\mathrm{log}({M}_{* }/{{\rm{M}}}_{\odot })-4.3$ . We find good agreement between our best-fit model and recent observations made by JWST at high redshift. The weak evolution of the MZR at z > 5 contrasts with the evolution at z ≲ 3, where increasing normalization of the MZR with decreasing redshift is observed and predicted by most models. The FIRE-2 simulations predict increasing scatter in the gas-phase MZR with decreasing stellar mass, in qualitative agreement with some observations.

When a detailed model of a stellar population is unavailable, it is most common to assume that stellar masses are independently and identically distributed according to some distribution: the universal initial mass function (IMF). However, stellar masses resulting from causal, long-ranged physics cannot be truly random and independent, and the IMF may vary with environment. To compare stochastic sampling with a physical model, we run a suite of 100 STARFORGE radiation magnetohydrodynamics simulations of low-mass star cluster formation in $2000M_\odot$ clouds that form $\sim 200$ stars each on average. The stacked IMF from the simulated clouds has a sharp truncation at $\sim 28 M_\odot$, well below the typically-assumed maximum stellar mass $M_{\rm up} \sim 100-150M_\odot$ and the total cluster mass. The sequence of star formation is not totally random: massive stars tend to start accreting sooner and finish later than the average star. However, final cluster properties such as maximum stellar mass and total luminosity have a similar amount of cloud-to-cloud scatter to random sampling. Therefore stochastic sampling does not generally model the stellar demographics of a star cluster as it is forming, but may describe the end result fairly well, if the correct IMF -- and its environment-dependent upper cutoff -- are known.

Feedback from supermassive black holes is believed to be a critical driver of the observed color bimodality of galaxies above the Milky Way mass scale. Active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback has been modeled in many galaxy formation simulations, but most implementations have involved simplified prescriptions or a coarse-grained interstellar medium (ISM). We present the first set of Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE)-3 cosmological zoom-in simulations with AGN feedback evolved to z ∼ 0, examining the impact of AGN feedback on a set of galaxies with halos in the mass range 10 ^12 –10 ^13 M _⊙ . These simulations combine detailed stellar and ISM physics with multichannel AGN feedback including radiative feedback, mechanical outflows, and, in some simulations, cosmic rays (CRs). We find that massive (> L *) galaxies in these simulations can match local scaling relations including the stellar mass–halo mass relation and the M _BH – σ relation; in the stronger model with CRs, they also match the size–mass relation and the Faber–Jackson relation. Many of the massive galaxies in the simulations with AGN feedback have quenched star formation and elliptical morphologies, in qualitative agreement with observations. In contrast, simulations at the massive end without AGN feedback produce galaxies that are too massive and form stars too rapidly, are order-of-magnitude too compact, and have velocity dispersions well above Faber–Jackson. Despite these successes, the AGN models analyzed do not produce uniformly realistic galaxies when the feedback parameters are held constant: While the stronger model produces the most realistic massive galaxies, it tends to overquench the lower-mass galaxies. This indicates that further refinements of the AGN modeling are needed.

The properties of warm-hot gas around ∼ L _* galaxies can be studied with absorption lines from highly ionized metals. We predict Ne viii column densities from cosmological zoom-in simulations of halos with masses in ∼10 ^12 and ∼10 ^13 M _☉ from the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. Ne viii traces the volume-filling, virial-temperature gas in ∼10 ^12 M _☉ halos. In ∼10 ^13 M _☉ halos the Ne viii gas is clumpier, and biased toward the cooler part of the warm-hot phase. We compare the simulations to observations from the COS Absorption Survey of Baryon Harbors (or CASBaH) and COS Ultraviolet Baryon Survey (or CUBS). We show that when inferring halo masses from stellar masses to compare simulated and observed halos, it is important to account for the scatter in the stellar-mass–halo-mass relation, especially at M _⋆ ≳ 10 ^10.5 M _☉ . Median Ne viii columns in the fiducial FIRE-2 model are about as high as observed upper limits allow, while the simulations analyzed do not reproduce the highest observed columns. This suggests that the median Ne viii profiles predicted by the simulations are consistent with observations, but that the simulations may underpredict the scatter. We find similar agreement with analytical models that assume a product of the halo gas fraction and metallicity (relative to solar) ∼0.1, indicating that observations are consistent with plausible circumgalactic medium temperatures, metallicities, and gas masses. Variants of the FIRE simulations with a modified supernova feedback model and/or active galactic nuclei feedback included (as well as some other cosmological simulations from the literature) more systematically underpredict Ne viii columns. The circumgalactic Ne viii observations therefore provide valuable constraints on simulations that otherwise predict realistic galaxy properties.

This paper presents a newly established sample of 103 unique galaxies or galaxy groups at 0.4 ≲ z ≲ 0.7 from the Cosmic Ultraviolet Baryon Survey (CUBS) for studying the warm-hot circumgalactic medium (CGM) probed by both O vi and Ne viii absorption. The galaxies and associated neighbors are identified at 40 km s ^−1 for galaxies of $\mathrm{log}{M}_{\mathrm{star}}/{M}_{\odot }\gt 9$ within the virial radius, suggesting a more dynamic warm-hot halo around these galaxies. Finally, the warm-hot CGM probed by O vi and Ne viii is suggested to be the dominant phase in sub- L * galaxies with $\mathrm{log}{M}_{\mathrm{star}}/{M}_{\odot }\approx 9\mbox{--}10$ based on their high ionization fractions in the CGM.

Recent discoveries of a significant population of bright galaxies at cosmic dawn $\left(z\gtrsim 10\right)$ have enabled critical tests of cosmological galaxy formation models. In particular, the bright end of the galaxys’ UV luminosity functions (UVLFs) appear higher than predicted by many models. Using approximately 25,000 galaxy snapshots at 8 ≤ z ≤ 12 in a suite of FIRE-2 cosmological “zoom-in” simulations from the Feedback in Realistic Environments (FIRE) project, we show that the observed abundance of UV-bright galaxies at cosmic dawn is reproduced in these simulations with a multichannel implementation of standard stellar feedback processes, without any fine-tuning. Notably, we find no need to invoke previously suggested modifications, such as a nonstandard cosmology, a top-heavy stellar initial mass function, or a strongly enhanced star formation efficiency. We contrast the UVLFs predicted by bursty star formation in these original simulations to those derived from star formation histories (SFHs) smoothed over prescribed timescales (e.g., 100 Myr). The comparison demonstrates that the strongly time-variable SFHs predicted by the FIRE simulations play a key role in correctly reproducing the observed, bright-end UVLFs at cosmic dawn: the bursty SFHs induce order-or-magnitude changes in the abundance of UV-bright ( M _UV ≲ −20) galaxies at z ≳ 10. The predicted bright-end UVLFs are consistent with both the spectroscopically confirmed population and the photometrically selected candidates. We also find good agreement between the predicted and observationally inferred integrated UV luminosity densities, which evolve more weakly with redshift in FIRE than suggested by some other models.

This paper reports the first measurement of the relationship between turbulent velocity and cloud size in the diffuse circumgalactic medium (CGM) in typical galaxy halos at redshift z ≈ 0.4–1. Through spectrally resolved absorption profiles of a suite of ionic transitions paired with careful ionization analyses of individual components, cool clumps of size as small as l _cl ∼ 1 pc and density lower than n _H = 10 ^−3 cm ^−3 are identified in galaxy halos. In addition, comparing the line widths between different elements for kinematically matched components provides robust empirical constraints on the thermal temperature T and the nonthermal motions b _NT , independent of the ionization models. On average, b _NT is found to increase with l _cl following ${b}_{\mathrm{NT}}\propto {l}_{\mathrm{cl}}^{0.3}$ over three decades in spatial scale from l _cl ≈ 1 pc to l _cl ≈ 1 kpc. Attributing the observed b _NT to turbulent motions internal to the clumps, the best-fit b _NT – l _cl relation shows that the turbulence is consistent with Kolmogorov at

The circumgalactic medium (CGM) plays a pivotal role in regulating gas flows around galaxies and thus shapes their evolution. However, the details of how galaxies and their CGM coevolve remain poorly understood. We present a new time-dependent two-zone model that self-consistently tracks not just mass and metal flows between galaxies and their CGM but also the evolution of the global thermal and turbulent kinetic energy of the CGM. Our model accounts for heating and turbulence driven by both supernova winds and cosmic accretion as well as radiative cooling, turbulence dissipation, and halo outflows due to CGM overpressurization. We demonstrate that, depending on parameters, the CGM can undergo a phase transition (“thermalization”) from a cool, turbulence-supported phase to a virial-temperature, thermally supported phase. This CGM phase transition is largely determined by the ability of radiative cooling to balance heating from supernova winds and turbulence dissipation. We perform an initial calibration of our model to the FIRE-2 cosmological hydrodynamical simulations and show that it can approximately reproduce the baryon cycles of the simulated halos. In particular, we find that, for these parameters, the phase transition occurs at high redshift in ultrafaint progenitors and at low redshift in classical M _vir ∼ 10 ^11 M _⊙ dwarfs, while Milky Way–mass halos undergo the transition at z ≈ 0.5. We see a similar transition in the simulations though it is more gradual, likely reflecting radial dependence and multiphase gas not captured by our model. We discuss these and other limitations of the model and possible future extensions.

In the Λ-Cold Dark Matter model of the universe, galaxies form in part through accreting satellite systems. Previous works have built an understanding of the signatures of these processes contained within galactic stellar halos. This work revisits that picture using seven Milky Way–like galaxies in the Latte suite of FIRE-2 cosmological simulations. The resolution of these simulations allows a comparison of contributions from satellites above M _* ≳ 10 × ^7 M _⊙ , enabling the analysis of observable properties for disrupted satellites in a fully self-consistent and cosmological context. Our results show that the time of accretion and the stellar mass of an accreted satellite are fundamental parameters that in partnership dictate the resulting spatial distribution, orbital energy, and [ α /Fe]-[Fe/H] compositions of the stellar debris of such mergers at present day. These parameters also govern the resulting dynamical state of an accreted galaxy at z = 0, leading to the expectation that the inner regions of the stellar halo ( R _GC ≲ 30 kpc) should contain fully phase-mixed debris from both lower- and higher-mass satellites. In addition, we find that a significant fraction of the lower-mass satellites accreted at early times deposit debris in the outer halo ( R _GC > 50 kpc) that are not fully phased-mixed, indicating that they could be identified in kinematic surveys. Our results suggest that, as future surveys become increasingly able to map the outer halo of our Galaxy, they may reveal the remnants of long-dead dwarf galaxies whose counterparts are too faint to be seen in situ in higher-redshift surveys.

We introduce CRK-HACC, an extension of the Hardware/Hybrid Accelerated Cosmology Code (HACC), to resolve gas hydrodynamics in large-scale structure formation simulations of the universe. The new framework couples the HACC gravitational N -body solver with a modern smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) approach called conservative reproducing kernel SPH (CRKSPH). CRKSPH utilizes smoothing functions that exactly interpolate linear fields while manifestly preserving conservation laws (momentum, mass, and energy). The CRKSPH method has been incorporated to accurately model baryonic effects in cosmology simulations—an important addition targeting the generation of precise synthetic sky predictions for upcoming observational surveys. CRK-HACC inherits the codesign strategies of the HACC solver and is built to run on modern GPU-accelerated supercomputers. In this work, we summarize the primary solver components and present a number of standard validation tests to demonstrate code accuracy, including idealized hydrodynamic and cosmological setups, as well as self-similarity measurements.

We describe a public data release of the FIRE-2 cosmological zoom-in simulations of galaxy formation (available at http://flathub.flatironinstitute.org/fire ) from the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) project. FIRE-2 simulations achieve parsec-scale resolution to explicitly model the multiphase interstellar medium while implementing direct models for stellar evolution and feedback, including stellar winds, core-collapse and Type Ia supernovae, radiation pressure, photoionization, and photoelectric heating. We release complete snapshots from three suites of simulations. The first comprises 20 simulations that zoom in on 14 Milky Way (MW)–mass galaxies, five SMC/LMC-mass galaxies, and four lower-mass galaxies including one ultrafaint; we release 39 snapshots across z = 0–10. The second comprises four massive galaxies, with 19 snapshots across z = 1–10. Finally, a high-redshift suite comprises 22 simulations, with 11 snapshots across z = 5–10. Each simulation also includes dozens of resolved lower-mass (satellite) galaxies in its zoom-in region. Snapshots include all stored properties for all dark matter, gas, and star particles, including 11 elemental abundances for stars and gas, and formation times (ages) of star particles. We also release accompanying (sub)halo catalogs, which include galaxy properties and member star particles. For the simulations to z = 0, including all MW-mass galaxies, we release the formation coordinates and an “ex situ” flag for all star particles, pointers to track particles across snapshots, catalogs of stellar streams, and multipole basis expansions for the halo mass distributions. We describe publicly available python packages for reading and analyzing these simulations.