Figuring Out Gas & Galaxies In Enzo (FOGGIE). IV. The Stochasticity of
  Ram Pressure Stripping in Galactic Halos
  We study ram pressure stripping in simulated Milky Way-like halos at z>=2
from the Figuring Out Gas & Galaxies In Enzo (FOGGIE) project. These
simulations reach exquisite resolution in their circumgalactic medium (CGM) gas
owing to FOGGIE's novel refinement scheme. The CGM of each halo spans a wide
dynamic range in density and velocity over its volume---roughly 6 dex and 1000
km/s, respectively---translating into a 5 dex range in ram pressure imparted to
interacting satellites. The ram pressure profiles of the simulated CGM are
highly stochastic, owing to kpc-scale variations of the density and velocity
fields of the CGM gas. As a result, the efficacy of ram pressure stripping
depends strongly on the specific path a satellite takes through the CGM. The
ram-pressure history of a single satellite is generally unpredictable and not
well correlated with its approach vector with respect to the host galaxy. The
cumulative impact of ram pressure on the simulated satellites is dominated by
only a few short strong impulses---on average, 90% of the total surface
momentum gained through ram pressure is imparted in 20% or less of the total
orbital time. These results reveal an erratic mode of ram pressure stripping in
Milky-Way like halos at high redshift---one that is not captured by a smooth
spherically-averaged model of the circumgalactic medium.
