Ram pressure stripping (RPS) is a process that removes the interstellar
medium (ISM) quickly, playing a vital role in galaxy evolution. Previous RPS
studies have treated the ISM as single-phase or lack the resolution and
physical processes to properly capture the full multiphase ISM. To improve this
simplification, we introduce an inflowing, hot intracluster medium (ICM) into a
self-consistently modeled ISM in a local patch of star-forming galactic disks
using the TIGRESS framework. Our simulations reveal that the workings of RPS
are not only direct acceleration of the ISM by ICM ram pressure but also
mixing-driven momentum transfer involving significant phase transition and
radiative cooling. The hot ICM passes through the low-density channels of the
porous, multiphase ISM, shreds the cool ISM, and creates mixing layers. The ICM
momentum is transferred through the mixing layers while populating the
intermediate temperature gas and radiating thermal energy away. The mixed gas
extends beyond galactic disks and forms stripped tails that cool back unless
the ICM fluxes are large enough to prevent cooling until they escape the
simulation domain. The mixing-driven momentum transfer predicts that the more
ICM mixes in, the faster the ISM moves, resulting in the anti-correlation of
outflow velocity and gas metallicity of the stripped ISM. The compression of
the ISM disks due to the ICM ram pressure enhances star formation rates up to
50% compared to the model without ICM. With the ICM ram pressure higher than
the disk anchoring pressure, star formation is quenched within ~100 Myr.
Preprint
Comment: 37 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal