Speaker
Description
Various solutions have been proposed to solve the high-redshift `bright galaxy problem', such as more efficient star formation, more bursty star formation, and top heavy initial mass functions. While equally interesting, each scenario must also differ in how these stellar populations couple to the interstellar medium (ISM) through stellar feedback. In this talk, I will present first results from the MEGATRON suite of high-resolution cosmological radiation hydrodynamics zoom simulations which for the first time feature non-equilibrium chemistry and heating/cooling processes coupled to on-the-fly radiative transfer. Along with this physics, each simulation also includes detailed feedback prescriptions for population II and III stellar winds, supernovae, and hypernovae, coupled to the different star formation models implied by each scenario.
Using this data, I will discuss the impact that these three star-formation scenarios have on the phase structure of the ISM. Furthermore, using the unique capabilities of the simulations, I will trace these differences through to their impacts on direct observables, such as UV luminosity functions, line ratios and diagnostic diagrams, C/O and N/O abundances and the mass-metallicity relation. At each step, I will contextualize results with the latest JWST observations. All of this will begin to build directly falsifiable predictions through quantities which are already being directly measured at high-redshift with JWST.
Finally, I will advertise a novel approach for the sub-grid modeling of magnetized AGN jets for cosmological simulations, hoping to spark further discussions.
