External Feedback On Galaxy Formation

by Prof. Renyue Cen(岑人岳) (Zhejiang University)

Wednesday 11 Nov 2026, 14:00 → 15:00 Asia/Shanghai

Tsung-Dao Lee Institute/S4F-SW - Open Area (Tsung-Dao Lee Institute)

Host: Dong Lai
Join Tencent Meeting：https://meeting.tencent.com/dm/8n69Af1LD9gk
Meeting ID:  110263190 (no password)

Abstract：
Galaxy formation is a core astrophysical problem, but the theory remains far from satisfactory. The physical basis for the mainstream internal AGN-driven feedback model is becoming increasingly at odds with observations. I will elaborate on a new type of AGN feedback model, in which outside-in gas accretion is prevented or reduced, rather than involving an outright inside-out blowout of gas already in the galaxy. This external, global, and preventive feedback model can be energetically supported by the ubiquitously observed giant radio lobes, which deposit most of their energy at Mpc-scale distances to heat up  and magnetize the intergalactic medium, subsequently resulting in significant reduction or prevention of gas accretion onto nearby galaxies. Direct simulations indicate that this new feedback model may provide the physical underpinning for a new paradigm in galaxy formation.

Biography:
Renyue Cen is the director of the Center for Cosmology and Computational Astrophysics (C3A) at Zhejiang University and chair professor in the School of Physics and Institute for Advanced Study in Physics of Zhejiang University. He received his PhD in Astrophysics from Princeton University in 1990, worked at Princeton University Observatory as a researcher and senior researcher from 1991 until 2022, when you joined Zhejiang University. He played the leading role in the construction of the theories of the Lyman Alpha Forest and the Cosmic Missing Baryons. He has published over 300 papers totaling 33000 citations, with  Google Scholar H-index 90. His current active research areas include galaxy formation, Lyman continuum escape processes, reionization, globular cluster formation, supermassive black hole seed formation, interstellar turbulence and star formation, among others.