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Stability and Ly$\alpha$ emission of Cold Stream in the Circumgalactic Medium: impact of magnetic fields and thermal conduction
Astrophysics of Galaxies · Submitted 10 Aug 2023
abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review
The authors' main claim Extrapolating our findings to the cosmological context suggests that cold streams with a radius of $\leq 1 \rm \, \rm kpc$ may fuel galaxies with cold, metal-enriched, magnetized gas ($B \sim 0.1-1 \, \rm \mu G$) for a longer time, leading to a broad range of Ly$\alpha$ luminosity signatures of $\sim 10^{37}-10^{41}\, \rm \, erg \, s^{-1}$.
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The abstract, sentence by sentence
Cold streams of gas with temperatures around $10^4 \, \rm K$ play a crucial role in the gas accretion on to high-redshift galaxies. The current resolution of cosmological simulations is insufficient to fully capture the stability and Ly$\alpha$ emission characteristics of cold stream accretion, underscoring the imperative need for conducting idealized high-resolution simulations. We investigate the impact of magnetic fields at various angles and anisotropic thermal conduction (TC) on the dynamics of radiatively cooling streams through a comprehensive suite of two-dimensional high-resolution simulations. An initially small magnetic field ($\sim 10^{-3} \, \rm \mu G$), oriented non-parallel to the stream, can grow significantly, providing stability against Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and reducing the Ly$\alpha$ emission by a factor of $<20$ compared to the hydrodynamics case. With TC, the stream evolution can be categorised into three regimes: (1) the Diffusing Stream regime, where the stream diffuses into the surrounding hot circumgalactic medium; (2) the Intermediate regime, where TC diffuses the mixing layer, resulting in enhanced stabilization and reduced emissions; (3) the Condensing Stream regime, where the impact of magnetic field and TC on the stream's emission and evolution becomes negligible. Extrapolating our findings to the cosmological context suggests that cold streams with a radius of $\leq 1 \rm \, \rm kpc$ may fuel galaxies with cold, metal-enriched, magnetized gas ($B \sim 0.1-1 \, \rm \mu G$) for a longer time, leading to a broad range of Ly$\alpha$ luminosity signatures of $\sim 10^{37}-10^{41}\, \rm \, erg \, s^{-1}$.
background contribution method result interpretation main claim
| # | sentence | role | the authors' own work | states the main conclusion | strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| s0 | Cold streams of gas with temperatures around $10^4 \, \rm K$ play a crucial role in the gas accretion on to high-redshift galaxies. | background 1.00 | 0.04 | 0.02 | asserted 1.00 |
| s1 | The current resolution of cosmological simulations is insufficient to fully capture the stability and Ly$\alpha$ emission characteristics of cold stream accretion, underscoring the imperative need for conducting idealized high-resolution simulations. | gap 0.95 | 0.08 | 0.03 | asserted 1.00 |
| s2 | We investigate the impact of magnetic fields at various angles and anisotropic thermal conduction (TC) on the dynamics of radiatively cooling streams through a comprehensive suite of two-dimensional high-resolution simulations. | contribution 0.62 | 0.95 | 0.04 | asserted 0.97 |
| s3 | An initially small magnetic field ($\sim 10^{-3} \, \rm \mu G$), oriented non-parallel to the stream, can grow significantly, providing stability against Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and reducing the Ly$\alpha$ emission by a factor of $<20$ compared to the hydrodynamics case. | result 1.00 | 0.93 | 0.34 | asserted 0.94 |
| s4 | With TC, the stream evolution can be categorised into three regimes: (1) the Diffusing Stream regime, where the stream diffuses into the surrounding hot circumgalactic medium; (2) the Intermediate regime, where TC diffuses the mixing layer, resulting in enhanced stabilization and reduced emissions; (3) the Condensing Stream regime, where the impact of magnetic field and TC on the stream's emission and evolution becomes negligible. | result 0.99 | 0.92 | 0.19 | asserted 0.67 |
| s5 | Extrapolating our findings to the cosmological context suggests that cold streams with a radius of $\leq 1 \rm \, \rm kpc$ may fuel galaxies with cold, metal-enriched, magnetized gas ($B \sim 0.1-1 \, \rm \mu G$) for a longer time, leading to a broad range of Ly$\alpha$ luminosity signatures of $\sim 10^{37}-10^{41}\, \rm \, erg \, s^{-1}$. | interpretation 0.99 | 0.69 | 0.54 | hedged possibility 1.00 |
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The paper
Original abstract
Cold streams of gas with temperatures around $10^4 \, \rm K$ play a crucial role in the gas accretion on to high-redshift galaxies. The current resolution of cosmological simulations is insufficient to fully capture the stability and Ly$\alpha$ emission characteristics of cold stream accretion, underscoring the imperative need for conducting idealized high-resolution simulations. We investigate the impact of magnetic fields at various angles and anisotropic thermal conduction (TC) on the dynamics of radiatively cooling streams through a comprehensive suite of two-dimensional high-resolution simulations. An initially small magnetic field ($\sim 10^{-3} \, \rm \mu G$), oriented non-parallel to the stream, can grow significantly, providing stability against Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and reducing the Ly$\alpha$ emission by a factor of $<20$ compared to the hydrodynamics case. With TC, the stream evolution can be categorised into three regimes: (1) the Diffusing Stream regime, where the stream diffuses into the surrounding hot circumgalactic medium; (2) the Intermediate regime, where TC diffuses the mixing layer, resulting in enhanced stabilization and reduced emissions; (3) the Condensing Stream regime, where the impact of magnetic field and TC on the stream's emission and evolution becomes negligible. Extrapolating our findings to the cosmological context suggests that cold streams with a radius of $\leq 1 \rm \, \rm kpc$ may fuel galaxies with cold, metal-enriched, magnetized gas ($B \sim 0.1-1 \, \rm \mu G$) for a longer time, leading to a broad range of Ly$\alpha$ luminosity signatures of $\sim 10^{37}-10^{41}\, \rm \, erg \, s^{-1}$.
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References
How the literature uses it
3 arXiv papers cite this in 17 sentences
Papers citing it · 15 sentences without a confident label
Compares with it 1 paper
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This would tend to erode the cool mixed gas at the stream-CGM interface and smooth the transition between the cold stream and the hot CGM, similar in outcome to the smooth interfacial configurations reported for stream dissipation driven by thermal conduction [ref] , viscosity [ref] , or magnetic tension [ref] .
Cosmic ray heating of cold streams: Implications for the gas supply and growth of massive galaxies · Beyond stream survival · 0.94
Cites it as background 1 paper
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How long can these cold streams survive against various perturbations and instabilities, including tidal forces due to interaction, Kelvin–Helmholtz, Rayleigh–Taylor and thermal instabilities (e.g. [ref] )?
Evolution of cold streams in hot gaseous halos · Introduction · 0.85
What it cites · 2 sentences without a confident label
Compares with 2 papers
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These trends in our results agree with simulations of cold clouds embedded in the galactic wind from MHD simulations by [ref] and MHD+TC simulations by [ref] , as well as resolution tests on cosmological simulations [ref]
The Launching of Cold Clouds by Galaxy Outflows V: The Role of Anisotropic Thermal Conduction · Properties of the cold stream inflow · 0.82
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These trends in our results agree with simulations of cold clouds embedded in the galactic wind from MHD simulations by [ref] and MHD+TC simulations by [ref] , as well as resolution tests on cosmological simulations [ref]
Better Together: The Complex Interplay Between Radiative Cooling and Magnetic Draping · Properties of the cold stream inflow · 0.82
Cites as background 1 paper
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[ref] investigated both isotropic and anisotropic thermal conduction from 3D MHD simulations with different magnetic field angles.
The Launching of Cold Clouds by Galaxy Outflows V: The Role of Anisotropic Thermal Conduction · Introduction · 0.87
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