English

Lyman-alpha radiation hydrodynamics of galactic winds before cosmic reionization

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2016-12-07 v2

Abstract

The dynamical impact of Lyman-alpha (Ly{\alpha}) radiation pressure on galaxy formation depends on the rate and duration of momentum transfer between Ly{\alpha} photons and neutral hydrogen gas. Although photon trapping has the potential to multiply the effective force, ionizing radiation from stellar sources may relieve the Ly{\alpha} pressure before appreciably affecting the kinematics of the host galaxy or efficiently coupling Ly{\alpha} photons to the outflow. We present self-consistent Ly{\alpha} radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of high-zz galaxy environments by coupling the Cosmic Ly{\alpha} Transfer code (COLT) with spherically symmetric Lagrangian frame hydrodynamics. The accurate but computationally expensive Monte-Carlo radiative transfer calculations are feasible under the one-dimensional approximation. The initial starburst drives an expanding shell of gas from the centre and in certain cases Ly{\alpha} feedback significantly enhances the shell velocity. Radiative feedback alone is capable of ejecting baryons into the intergalactic medium (IGM) for protogalaxies with a virial mass of Mvir108 MM_{\rm vir} \lesssim 10^8~{\rm M}_\odot. We compare the Ly{\alpha} signatures of Population III stars with 10510^5 K blackbody emission to that of direct collapse black holes with a nonthermal Compton-thick spectrum and find substantial differences if the Ly{\alpha} spectra are shaped by gas pushed by Ly{\alpha} radiation-driven winds. For both sources, the flux emerging from the galaxy is reprocessed by the IGM such that the observed Ly{\alpha} luminosity is reduced significantly and the time-averaged velocity offset of the Ly{\alpha} peak is shifted redward.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1607.07166,
  title  = {Lyman-alpha radiation hydrodynamics of galactic winds before cosmic reionization},
  author = {Aaron Smith and Volker Bromm and Abraham Loeb},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1607.07166},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

16 pages, 11 figures, MNRAS, in press