Feeding Massive Galaxies in the Early Universe from the Cosmic Web

Gas accretion onto galaxies is perhaps the most fundamental process driving their evolution, supplyiing fuel for star formation, setting the angular momentum and size of disk galaxies, and driving turbulence and disk instabilities.  Over the last two decades, a coherent picture has emerged whereby gas is accreted onto dark matter halos from the intergalactic medium (IGM) primarily in a smooth flow along filaments and sheets comprising the cosmic web of large scale structure, rather than through mergers.  During cosmic noon, at redshifts near the peak of cosmic structure formation, intergalactic filaments manifest as narrow streams of cold gas that feed galaxies directly from the cosimic web, penetrating their dark matter haloes, and free falling to the central disk, even in massive halos filled with hot gas.

Speaker: Nir Mandelker, Hebrew University