The Effects of Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback on the Lyα Forest Flux Power Spectrum
We study the effects of active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback on the Ly α forest 1D flux power spectrum (P1D). Using the Simba cosmological-hydrodynamic simulations, we examine the impact that adding different AGN feedback modes has on the predicted P1D. We find that, for Simba , the impact of AGN f...
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada5f7 |
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| author | Megan Taylor Tillman Blakesley Burkhart Stephanie Tonnesen Simeon Bird Greg L. Bryan |
| author_facet | Megan Taylor Tillman Blakesley Burkhart Stephanie Tonnesen Simeon Bird Greg L. Bryan |
| author_sort | Megan Taylor Tillman |
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| description | We study the effects of active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback on the Ly α forest 1D flux power spectrum (P1D). Using the Simba cosmological-hydrodynamic simulations, we examine the impact that adding different AGN feedback modes has on the predicted P1D. We find that, for Simba , the impact of AGN feedback is most dramatic at lower redshifts ( z < 1) and that AGN jet feedback plays the most significant role in altering the P1D. The effects of AGN feedback can be seen across a large range of wavenumbers (1.5 × 10 ^−3 < k < 10 ^−1 s km ^−1 ) changing the ionization state of hydrogen in the IGM through heating. AGN feedback can also alter the thermal evolution of the IGM and thermally broaden individual Ly α absorbers. For the Simba model, these effects become observable at z ≲ 1.0. At higher redshifts ( z > 2.0), AGN feedback has a 2% effect on the P1D for k < 5 × 10 ^−2 s km ^−1 and an 8% effect for k > 5 × 10 ^−2 s km ^−1 . We show that the small-scale effect is reduced when normalizing the simulation to the observed mean flux. On large scales, the effect of AGN feedback appears via a change in the IGM temperature and is thus unlikely to bias cosmological parameters. The strong AGN jets in the Simba simulation can reproduce the z > 2 Ly α forest. We stress that analyses comparing different AGN feedback models to future higher precision data will be necessary to determine the full extent of this effect. |
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| institution | Kabale University |
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| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
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| spelling | doaj-art-c2703ccb8a6044319413191c07f64caf2025-02-05T09:22:28ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-0198017210.3847/1538-4357/ada5f7The Effects of Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback on the Lyα Forest Flux Power SpectrumMegan Taylor Tillman0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1185-4111Blakesley Burkhart1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5817-5944Stephanie Tonnesen2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8710-9206Simeon Bird3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5803-5490Greg L. Bryan4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2630-9228Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University , 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University , 136 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA; Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 Fifth Avenue, NY 10010, USACenter for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 Fifth Avenue, NY 10010, USAUniversity of California , Riverside, CA 92507, USACenter for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute , 162 Fifth Avenue, NY 10010, USA; Department of Astronomy, Columbia University , 550 W 120th Street, NY 10027, USAWe study the effects of active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback on the Ly α forest 1D flux power spectrum (P1D). Using the Simba cosmological-hydrodynamic simulations, we examine the impact that adding different AGN feedback modes has on the predicted P1D. We find that, for Simba , the impact of AGN feedback is most dramatic at lower redshifts ( z < 1) and that AGN jet feedback plays the most significant role in altering the P1D. The effects of AGN feedback can be seen across a large range of wavenumbers (1.5 × 10 ^−3 < k < 10 ^−1 s km ^−1 ) changing the ionization state of hydrogen in the IGM through heating. AGN feedback can also alter the thermal evolution of the IGM and thermally broaden individual Ly α absorbers. For the Simba model, these effects become observable at z ≲ 1.0. At higher redshifts ( z > 2.0), AGN feedback has a 2% effect on the P1D for k < 5 × 10 ^−2 s km ^−1 and an 8% effect for k > 5 × 10 ^−2 s km ^−1 . We show that the small-scale effect is reduced when normalizing the simulation to the observed mean flux. On large scales, the effect of AGN feedback appears via a change in the IGM temperature and is thus unlikely to bias cosmological parameters. The strong AGN jets in the Simba simulation can reproduce the z > 2 Ly α forest. We stress that analyses comparing different AGN feedback models to future higher precision data will be necessary to determine the full extent of this effect.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada5f7CosmologyExtragalactic astronomyIntergalactic mediumLyα forestActive galactic nucleiSupermassive black holes |
| spellingShingle | Megan Taylor Tillman Blakesley Burkhart Stephanie Tonnesen Simeon Bird Greg L. Bryan The Effects of Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback on the Lyα Forest Flux Power Spectrum The Astrophysical Journal Cosmology Extragalactic astronomy Intergalactic medium Lyα forest Active galactic nuclei Supermassive black holes |
| title | The Effects of Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback on the Lyα Forest Flux Power Spectrum |
| title_full | The Effects of Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback on the Lyα Forest Flux Power Spectrum |
| title_fullStr | The Effects of Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback on the Lyα Forest Flux Power Spectrum |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Effects of Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback on the Lyα Forest Flux Power Spectrum |
| title_short | The Effects of Active Galactic Nuclei Feedback on the Lyα Forest Flux Power Spectrum |
| title_sort | effects of active galactic nuclei feedback on the lyα forest flux power spectrum |
| topic | Cosmology Extragalactic astronomy Intergalactic medium Lyα forest Active galactic nuclei Supermassive black holes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada5f7 |
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