2018ApJ...861..106D

Recent Chandra X-ray observations of many galaxy clusters find evidence for hot metal-rich outflows preferentially aligned with the large-scale axes of X-ray cavities with typical outflow masses of around 10⁹-10¹⁰M_☉. Here, we perform a suite of three hydrodynamic simulations to investigate if AGN jets could drive these metal-rich outflows in a representative cluster. By using both the tracer variable and virtual particle methods, and additionally following the gas metallicity evolution, we show that metal-rich gas initially located in central regions can indeed be uplifted by the AGN bubble to large distances, a phenomenon called Darwin drift in fluid mechanics, and forming a filamentary trailing outflow extending beyond 100 kpc behind the bubble. The gas entrained in the trailing outflow is entirely outflowing with an average outflow rate of nearly 100M_☉ yr^–1 during the first 100 Myr, and at later times, a growing lower part flows back towards the cluster center due to gravity. The outflow mass rises up to about 10¹⁰M_☉ with an entrained iron mass of about 10⁶-10⁷M_☉, consistent with observations and predictions from the drift model. By the end of our simulation (∼800 Myr after the AGN event), several 10⁹M_☉ of the uplifted high-metallicity gas still remains at large altitudes, potentially contributing to the enrichment of the bulk ICM and the broadening of central metallicity peaks observed in cool-core clusters.