Animation illustrating the formation of ultra-dense stellar clumps as a consequence of the compression of gas by strong quasar winds, as presented in Mercedes-Feliz et al. 2023b. The background gray scale represents the gas mass surface density distribution, the color scale overlaid represents the quasar winds, and the green points track the clump progenitor gas particles as they are compressed by the wind and quickly converted into star particles (shown in yellow).
Multi-scale animation illustrating the propagation of hyper-refined quasar winds from the nuclear region on parsec scales all the way to the circumgalactic medium of a massive, star-forming galaxy at cosmic noon. These FIRE simulations with hyper-refined quasar winds have been presented in Mercedes-Feliz et al. 2023a, Mercedes-Feliz et al. 2023b, Cochrane et al. 2023, and Anglés-Alcázar et al. (in prep.). The background gray scale shows the projected gas surface density distribution while the color scale represents the quasar winds.
Animation illustrating the large range of spatial and temporal scales captured by the cosmological hyper-refinement simulations presented in Anglés-Alcázar et al. 2021, ApJ, 917, 53, with more than a thousand times better resolution than previously possible. Zooming in from the intergalactic medium on scales beyond one million light-years down to the inner ten light-year region of a massive galaxy, the predicted influx of gas into the accretion disk surrounding the supermassive black hole is high enough to power a luminous quasar at the epoch of peak activity.
Multi-scale animation illustrating the appearance of simulated galaxies as would be seen in optical wavelengths, for a total evolution time of four million years. The large-scale view in the top left panel shows tens of galaxies while the bottom panels resolve the highly turbulent conditions prevalent in the nuclear region of the central massive galaxy. Dense, dusty clumps and filaments block the light from the stars behind, which can also obscure the view to the central accreting supermassive black hole. See Anglés-Alcázar et al. 2021, ApJ, 917, 53 for a full description of the simulations used for this visualization.