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Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4860-8488

Date Available

4-9-2026

Year of Publication

2026

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

Physics and Astronomy

Faculty

Isaac Shlosman

Faculty

Anatoly Dymarsky

Abstract

We present a suite of high-resolution cosmological zoom-in simulations investigating the impact of mechanical and thermal feedback from low-luminosity jets launched from supermassive black holes (SMBHs) on Seyfert galaxy evolution from early cosmic times to the present (z ≤ 10). Our models follow the formation of central galaxies within identical dark matter halos of logMhalo/M⊙ ∼ 11.8 at z = 0, seeded with ∼ 10^6M⊙ SMBHs at z ∼ 9.1 and z ∼ 3.7. Feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) is implemented in the form of bipolar jets launched along the SMBH spin axis, with jet powers spanning Ljet ∼ 10^40–10^42 erg/s. Through controlled experiments varying accretion efficiency we examine the evolution of galaxy morphology, star formation, baryon content, and the coupled interstellar, circumgalactic, and intergalactic media (ISM, CGM, and IGM). We find that Seyfert jets significantly reshape galaxy evolution despite their low luminosity. When projected onto empirical scaling relations, jetted Seyfert galaxies can follow systematically different evolutionary trajectories than non-jetted counterparts. Stronger jet feedback amplifies these effects, bringing galaxies closer to some observed scaling relations while producing offsets in others. Overall, our results demonstrate that low-power Seyfert jets can exert long-lasting influence on galaxy evolution, shaping galaxy structure, baryon cycling, and scaling relations over cosmic time.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2026.40

Archival?

Archival

Funding Information

This research was supported by:

  • Research Excellence Fellowship, University of Kentucky 2026
  • Keith B. MacAdam Graduate Excellence Fellowship, University of Kentucky 2024-2025
  • ACCESS Explore and Accelerate Allocations for HPC research (PHY230135) 2023-2026
  • Wimberly C. Royster Graduate Excellence Award, University of Kentucky 2019-2022

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