6533b855fe1ef96bd12afdd8

RESEARCH PRODUCT

On the interplay between cosmological shock waves and their environment

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Cosmological shock waves are tracers of the thermal history of the structures in the Universe. They play a crucial role in redistributing the energy within the cosmic structures and are also amongst the main ingredients of galaxy and galaxy cluster formation. Understanding this important function requires a proper description of the interplay between shocks and the different environments where they can be found. In this paper, an Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) Eulerian cosmological simulation is analysed by means of a shock-finding algorithm that allows to generate shock wave maps. Based on the population of dark matter halos and on the distribution of density contrast in the simulation, we classify the shocks in five different environments. These range from galaxy clusters to voids. The shock distribution function and the shocks power spectrum are studied for these environments dynamics. We find that shock waves on different environments undergo different formation and evolution processes, showing as well different characteristics. We identify three different phases of formation, evolution and dissipation of these shock waves, and an intricate migration between distinct environments and scales. Shock waves initially form at external, low density regions and are merged and amplified through the collapse of structures. Shock waves and cosmic structures follow a parallel evolution. Later on, shocks start to detach from them and dissipate. We also find that most of the power that shock waves dissipate is found at scales of $k \sim0.5~\mbox{Mpc}^{-1}$ , with a secondary peak at $k \sim8~\mbox{Mpc}^{-1}$ . The evolution of the shocks power spectrum confirms that shock waves evolution is coupled and conditioned by their environment.