X-ray Cavities with MISTRAL black hole feedback model

This project investigates the presence and properties of AGN-driven X-ray cavities in zoom-in cosmological simulations of massive galaxies using the SMBH feedback model MISTRAL (Farcy+25), in comparison with observations from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. MISTRAL, implemented in the AREPO code, captures the impact of radiatively efficient AGN winds and successfully reproduces key galaxy properties across cosmic time, from high-redshift star-forming systems to quiescent galaxies today.

Within the LTU collaboration, we explore how well MISTRAL can generate realistic X-ray cavities from AGN feedback at low redshift. In observations of massive ellipticals, galaxy groups, and clusters, powerful jets from central SMBHs inflate large cavities in the surrounding hot gas, visible as depressions in X-ray surface brightness. These cavities are thought to play a key role in regulating star formation by offsetting radiative cooling. Similar structures are also found in recent cosmological simulations, SIMBA (Jennings+24) and TNG (Prunier+25a,b), carved out from their respective SMBH kinetic feedback models, and appear broadly consistent with observations in terms of size, morphology, and energetics.

Building on earlier work (Prunier+25a,b), we carry out zoom-in re-simulations of two TNG100 galaxies - previously shown to host X-ray cavities - using the MISTRAL feedback model. Our goal is to (1) assess whether MISTRAL produces X-ray cavities in these systems, and (2) characterize their morphology, size, and power in comparison to observed cavity properties.