GAS STRIPPING IN SIMULATED GALAXIES WITH A MULTIPHASE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM

Abstract

Cluster galaxies moving through the intracluster medium (ICM) are expected to\nlose some of their interstellar medium (ISM) through ISM-ICM interactions. We\nperform high resolution (40 pc) three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of\na galaxy undergoing ram pressure stripping including radiative cooling in order\nto investigate stripping of a multiphase medium. The clumpy, multiphase ISM is\nself-consistently produced by the inclusion of radiative cooling, and spans six\norders of magnitude in gas density. We find no large variations in the amount\nof gas lost whether or not cooling is involved, although the gas in the\nmultiphase galaxy is stripped more quickly and to a smaller radius. We also see\nsignificant differences in the morphology of the stripped disks. This occurs\nbecause the multiphase medium naturally includes high density clouds set inside\nregions of lower density. We find that the lower density gas is stripped\nquickly from any radius of the galaxy, and the higher density gas can then be\nablated. If high density clouds survive, through interaction with the ICM they\nlose enough angular momentum to drift towards the center of the galaxy where\nthey are no longer stripped. Finally, we find that low ram pressure values\ncompress gas into high density clouds that could lead to enhanced star\nformation, while high ram pressure leads to a smaller amount of high-density\ngas.\n