Fading in the Flow: Suppression of cold gas growth in expanding galactic outflows (2506.08545v2)

Abstract: Multiwavelength observations reveal multiphase outflows that play a crucial role in redistributing gas and metals in and around galaxies. Theoretical modelling of such multiphase outflows often employs wind tunnel simulations of a spherical cold ($\sim 10^4 \ \rm K$) cloud facing a uniform hot ($\sim 10^6\ \rm K$) wind. However, outflows are naturally expanding and wind conditions change downstream -- a crucial aspect overlooked in most idealized simulations. To address this, we examine how an expanding wind influences the survival, morphology, and dynamics of a cloud. We perform idealized hydrodynamic simulations of radiative cloud-crushing in an expanding wind, where the steady background wind is modelled using the adiabatic Chevalier & Clegg 1985 (CC85) analytic solution. Moving downstream, we find that the clouds remain locally isobaric with the wind, leading to a steep decline in their density contrast with respect to the ambient medium, and they eventually dissipate into the wind. This also suppresses the growth of cold gas mass in comparison to a plane-parallel wind since entrained clouds move into a less radiative background. Using analytic scaling arguments, we present a physical picture of cloud evolution in a CC85 wind. Cloud expansion and local pressure equilibrium are the key regulators of cold mass growth. Unlike traditional homogeneous wind tunnel simulations, our simulations account for the differential expansion experienced by the long cometary tails of clouds moving in an outflow. Consequently, a strong head-to-tail emission gradient in the filamentary cold gas tails develop -- features closer to observations. In addition, we demonstrate that the dynamics of individual clouds may substantially alter the radial properties of their host multiphase outflows.