Cosmological galaxy evolution with superbubble feedback – II. The limits of supernovae

We explore when supernovae can (and cannot) regulate the star formation and bulge growth in galaxies based on a sample of 18 simulated galaxies. The simulations are the first to model feedback superbubbles including evaporation and conduction. These processes determine the mass loadings and wind speeds of galactic outflows. We show that for galaxies with virial masses >1012 M⊙, supernovae alone cannot prevent excessive star formation. This occurs due to a shutdown of galactic winds, with wind mass loadings falling from η ∼ 10 to η < 1. In more massive systems, the ejection of baryons to the circumgalactic medium falters earlier on and the galaxies diverge significantly from observed galaxy scaling relations and morphologies. The decreasing efficiency is due to a deepening potential well preventing gas escape, and is unavoidable if mass-loaded outflows regulate star formation on galactic scales. This implies that non-supernova feedback mechanisms must become dominant for galaxies with stellar masses greater than ∼4 × 1010 M⊙. The runaway growth of the central stellar bulge, strongly linked to black hole growth, suggests that feedback from active galactic nuclei is the likely mechanism. Below this mass, supernovae alone are able to produce a realistic stellar mass fraction, star formation history and disc morphology.