Sanchez et. al 2019
Not So Heavy Metals
Black Hole Feedback Enriches the Circumgalactic Medium
We examine the effects of supermassive black hole (SMBH) feedback on the circumgalactic medium (CGM) using a cosmological hydrodynamic simulation (Romulus25; Tremmel et al. 2017) and a set of four zoom-in “genetically modified” Milky Way-mass galaxies sampling different evolutionary paths. By tracing the distribution of metals in the CGM, we show that O VI is a sensitive indicator of SMBH feedback. First, we calculate the column densities of O VI in simulated Milky Way-mass galaxies and compare them with observations from the COS-Halos Survey. Our simulations show column densities of O VI in the CGM consistent with those of COS-Halos star forming and quenched galaxies. These results contrast with those from previous simulation studies which typically underproduce CGM column densities of O VI. We determine that a galaxy’s star formation history and assembly record have little effect on the amount of O VI in its CGM. Instead, column densities of O VI are closely tied to galaxy halo mass and black hole growth history. The set of zoom-in, genetically modified Milky Way-mass galaxies indicates that the SMBH drives highly metal-enriched material out into its host galaxy’s halo which in turn elevates the column densities of O VI in the CGM.