Multi-physics simulations of ram-pressure stripping of disc galaxies

• Applicant: Professor Marcus Brüggen, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: from 2011 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 184361340

Ram pressure stripping can remove significant amounts of gas from galaxies in clusters and massive groups, and thus has a large impact on the evolution of cluster galaxies. Recent observations have shown that key properties of ram-pressure stripped tails of galaxies, such as their width and structure, are in conflict with predictions by simulations of this process. Hence simulations of ram pressure stripping need to include physical processes that are likely to prove essential to capture the physics of the interaction between the galaxy and the intracluster medium. The most promising candidates are heating and cooling processes, magnetic fields and turbulence. These processes are related as a proper treatment of heating and cooling require a realistic temperature structure inside galaxies, and for this temperature structure turbulence and magnetic fields are important. Here, we propose to perform a suite of magnetohydrodynamical simulations that include a subgrid model for turbulence as well as heating and cooling terms. We will model the radiation from ram-pressure stripped tails and investigate whether these could be sites for star formation. This work is important to understand the dependence of galaxy evolution on environment and the cosmic cycle of matter.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants