Speaker
Description
Stellar and AGN feedback shape star formation and baryon distribution across cosmic time, yet their detailed mechanisms remain uncertain. A major challenge is their multi-scale impact, extending from galaxies to the circumgalactic and intergalactic media (CGM and IGM).
Observations of gas in absorption and emission, combined with hydrodynamical cosmological simulations, provide critical insights into the baryon cycle. I will review key findings from more than two decades of CGM and IGM studies, highlighting how feedback processes influence the evolution of gaseous phases from galaxies to the virial radius and beyond.
Focusing on predictions from the Simba simulations, I will examine baryonic phase distributions across halo masses ($10^{11}–10^{14}$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$) and redshifts ($0 < z < 4$). Simba reveals that AGN-jet feedback produces gentler gas radial declines in gas density profiles around galaxy groups and clusters, while stellar feedback dominates below $\sim 10^{12.5}$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$.
To complement these results, I will present preliminary results from the FLAMINGO simulations, which incorporate eight feedback models and explore a wider mass range with larger box sizes ($1.0–2.8$ $\rm Gpc$). These results underscore the sensitivity of gas density evolution to sub-grid physics and highlight pathways for refining feedback models.
By integrating insights from Simba, FLAMINGO, and multi-wavelength observations of various gas phases within and beyond galaxies (e.g., MUSE, eROSITA), we can tightly constrain feedback models and clarify their role in baryon cycling across both large and small scales.
