MISTRAL: a model for AGN winds from radiatively efficient accretion in cosmological simulations

ABSTRACT Feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is crucial for regulating galaxy evolution. Motivated by observations of broad absorption line winds from rapidly accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs), we introduce the mistral AGN feedback model, implemented in the arepo code. mistral comes in two versions: continuous radial (mistral-continuous) and stochastic bipolar momentum deposition (mistral-stochastic). Using the framework of the IllustrisTNG simulations, we explore the effect of mistral on BH and galaxy properties, through an idealized Milky Way-mass galaxy and cosmological zoom simulations run down to $z=2$. Unlike standard thermal AGN feedback prescriptions, mistral generates galaxy-scale winds that mimic outflows driven by BH accretion. mistral-continuous produces short-lived galactic fountains, and is inefficient at regulating the growth of massive galaxies at $z=2$. In contrast, mistral-stochastic efficiently suppresses star formation in massive galaxies, reproduces the empirical stellar-to-halo mass relation, and yields a consistent trend of BH-stellar mass evolution. By supporting large-scale outflows while simultaneously preventing gas inflows, mistral-stochastic additionally regulates the cold and hot gas fractions at both galaxy and halo scales. mistral-stochastic therefore works self-consistently across the halo mass range explored $\left(10^{12}\!-\!3\times 10^{13}\, \rm M_\odot \right)$, without adopting an SMBH-mass-dependent AGN feedback scheme such as the one used in IllustrisTNG. Our model is a promising tool for predicting the impact of AGN winds on galaxy evolution, and interpreting the growing population of high-redshift galaxies and quasars observed by James Webb Space Telescope. This work is part of the ‘Learning the Universe’ collaboration, which aims to infer the physical processes governing the evolution of the Universe.

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Publication Details

Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Published
2025-09-04
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf1464
Citations
4
Primary Topic
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
4.62

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article

MISTRAL: a model for AGN winds from radiatively efficient accretion in cosmological simulations

Francesco Valentino, Thorsten Naab, Jake S. Bennett, Ena Choi et al.
4 citations
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
4.62
article

MISTRAL: a model for AGN winds from radiatively efficient accretion in cosmological simulations

Francesco Valentino, Thorsten Naab, Jake S. Bennett, Ena Choi, Marion Farcy, Bryan A. Terrazas, Rachel S. Somerville, Hyunseop Choi, Rainer Weinberger, Sophie Koudmani, Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo, Aklant K. Bhowmick, Lars Hernquist, Michaela Hirschmann
article en
4 citations

Abstract

ABSTRACT Feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is crucial for regulating galaxy evolution. Motivated by observations of broad absorption line winds from rapidly accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs), we introduce the mistral AGN feedback model, implemented in the arepo code. mistral comes in two versions: continuous radial (mistral-continuous) and stochastic bipolar momentum deposition (mistral-stochastic). Using the framework of the IllustrisTNG simulations, we explore the effect of mistral on BH and galaxy properties, through an idealized Milky Way-mass galaxy and cosmological zoom simulations run down to $z=2$. Unlike standard thermal AGN feedback prescriptions, mistral generates galaxy-scale winds that mimic outflows driven by BH accretion. mistral-continuous produces short-lived galactic fountains, and is inefficient at regulating the growth of massive galaxies at $z=2$. In contrast, mistral-stochastic efficiently suppresses star formation in massive galaxies, reproduces the empirical stellar-to-halo mass relation, and yields a consistent trend of BH-stellar mass evolution. By supporting large-scale outflows while simultaneously preventing gas inflows, mistral-stochastic additionally regulates the cold and hot gas fractions at both galaxy and halo scales. mistral-stochastic therefore works self-consistently across the halo mass range explored $\left(10^{12}\!-\!3\times 10^{13}\, \rm M_\odot \right)$, without adopting an SMBH-mass-dependent AGN feedback scheme such as the one used in IllustrisTNG. Our model is a promising tool for predicting the impact of AGN winds on galaxy evolution, and interpreting the growing population of high-redshift galaxies and quasars observed by James Webb Space Telescope. This work is part of the ‘Learning the Universe’ collaboration, which aims to infer the physical processes governing the evolution of the Universe.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietyVol. 543(2)
University of Seoul (KR), University of Hertfordshire (GB), University of Cambridge (GB), Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (DE), St. Catharine College (US), Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (DE), DAWN Center for Independent Living (US), Institute of Astronomy (RU), Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US), Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (ES), Flatiron Health (United States) (US), Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute (CA), Flatiron Institute (US), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH), University of Virginia (US), Sasol (Germany) (DE), Oberlin College (US), Université de Montréal (CA), Technical University of Denmark (DK)
National Science Foundation, National Research Foundation, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, National Research Foundation of Korea, Université de Genève, Centro Svizzero di Calcolo Scientifico, National Supercomputing Centre Singapore, Leibniz-Gemeinschaft
Openalex Percentile: Top 5%
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
4.62
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