Feedback from Nuclear Black Holes and the Origins of Molecular Clouds in Elliptical Galaxies & Clusters
Brian McNamara
Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics, University of Waterloo


X-ray observations have shown that over the past 5-7 Gyr, massive galaxy evolution has been governed primarily by radio jets and lobes. The Atacama Large Millimeter Array has sharpened our understanding of the relationships between the so-called radio-mode feedback mechanism and molecular cloud formation. Unlike spiral galaxies where molecular gas lies in a disk in ordered motion about the center of the galaxy, molecular clouds in cluster central galaxies may have formed in the updrafts of rising radio bubbles. Less is known about molecular gas in normal giant ellipticals. However, trends between the thermodynamic properties of their hot atmospheres suggest much of their molecular gas may have condensed from hot atmospheres themselves.

Date: Thursday, 14 October 2021
Time: 11:30
Where: Université de Montréal
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