Investigations of ram pressure stripping in realistic cluster environments with a multiphase ISM

该合同是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。盘状星系的星际介质（ISM）和大质量星系团的星系团内介质（ICM）之间的相互作用将会从落入的星系中剥离气体，并导致颜色和形态的变化。这些相互作用可以作为ISM和ICM物理的探测。最近大量的新数据包括观测到的彗尾和尾迹，尽管模拟已经揭示了一些信息，但仍有许多有待理解的地方，包括预测和观测到的尾迹宽度之间的不匹配，密集的分子气体被剥离的方式，以及剥离后气体的命运。为了回答这些问题，该项目将增加剥离模拟的真实感，首先通过使用高分辨率，自适应网格细化氢代码，在具有恒定密度和速度风的理想星系中添加辐射冷却。其次，这些系统将被放置在星团形成和演化的现实宇宙学模拟中。最后，该团队将在他们的模拟中添加重要的额外物理过程，如粘度、热传导和磁场。每个阶段都强调直接观察比较。这项工作将构成博士论文的核心，包括一些适合本科生的项目，并将通过科学研究培训计划让纽约高中教师和学生参与。模拟的真实感日益增强，使高质量的可视化能够向学生和公众传达最新的研究成果，就像PI以前与国家超级计算应用中心和美国自然历史博物馆合作所做的那样。

AST-0908390BryanThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Interactions between the interstellar medium (ISM) of a disk galaxy and the intracluster medium (ICM) of a massive cluster of galaxies will strip gas from infalling galaxies and can lead to color and morphological changes. These interactions can be used as a probe of both ISM and ICM physics. A recent wealth of new data includes observed tails and wakes, and although simulations have shed some light, much remains to be understood, including a mismatch between the predicted and observed width of wakes, the way in which dense, molecular gas is stripped, and the fate of the stripped gas. To answer these questions, this project will increase the realism of stripping simulations, first by adding radiative cooling to idealized galaxies with constant density and velocity winds, using a high-resolution, adaptive-mesh refinement hydrocode. Secondly, those systems will be placed in realistic cosmological simulations of cluster formation and evolution. Finally, the team will add important extra physical processes such as viscosity, heat conduction and magnetic fields into their simulations. Every stage will stress direct observational comparisons.The work will form the core of a PhD thesis, includes a number of projects suitable for undergraduate students, and will involve New York high school teachers and students through the Science Research Training Program. The growing realism of simulations enables high-quality visualizations to convey up-to-date research results to students and the general public, as the PI has done before, in collaboration with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and the American Museum of Natural History.