Galaxies and Their Gas: Insights from the FOGGIE (Figuring Out Gas & Galaxies In Enzo) Simulations
Dr. Molly Peeples
AURA Associate Astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute
Research Scientist, Johns Hopkins University
The circumgalactic medium (CGM) is a dynamic, multiphase reservoir of gas regulating the flow of gas between galaxies and intergalactic medium. I will review the current observational landscape of the multiphase CGM, outlining the Hubble-driven successes at low-redshift and the exquisite ground-based data at high-redshift. Hydrodynamic simulations over the last decade have experienced both successes and failures at reproducing these observations, with many of the failures owing to not resolving the scales for relevant physical processes. I will describe results from the FOGGIE (Figuring Out Gas & Galaxies In Enzo) project, a suite of high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of Milky Way-like galaxies evolved with the Enzo code. These simulations are unique in their ability to resolve the CGM in a cosmological context. I will highlight the insights we have gained thus far from the FOGGIE simulations into how to (not) interpret observations of the CGM. I will also preview some upcoming work from FOGGIE on the galaxies themselves, ranging from interstellar abundances to diffuse stellar halos.
Come for the beautiful movies of simulated galaxies; stay for the analytic arguments overturning some traditional models of galaxy evolution!
Hosted by Profs. Howk and Lehner