Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Enrichment Of The Intergalactic Medium By Radiation Pressure-Driven Dust Efflux, A Aguirre, L Hernquist, N Katz, J Gardner, D Weinberg

Astronomy Department Faculty Publication Series

The presence of metals in hot cluster gas and in Lyα absorbers, as well as the mass-metallicity relation of observed galaxies, suggest that galaxies lose a significant fraction of their metals to the intergalactic medium (IGM). Theoretical studies of this process have concentrated on metal removal by dynamical processes or supernova-driven winds. Here we investigate the enrichment of the IGM by the expulsion of dust grains from galaxies by radiation pressure. We use already completed cosmological simulations to which we add dust, assuming that most dust can reach the equilibrium point between radiation pressure and gravitational forces. We find that …