Superwinds and the Nature of Starburst Galaxies
Abstract
I discuss the observational evidence that starburst galaxies are able to drive galactic-scale outflows ("superwinds") and then argue generally that superwinds must have had an important role in galaxy evolution. To explore the role of feedback from massive stars, I review results suggesting that starbursts seem to obey a limiting IR surface brightness of about 10^11 sloar luminosities sq. kpc corresponding to a maximum star-formation rate of about 45 solar masses per yr per sq. kpc for a "normal" initial mass function. I conclude by discussing the role of winds in determining this upper-limit and discuss recent results implying that winds might actually escape the galactic potentials in which they reside.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9904140,
title = {Superwinds and the Nature of Starburst Galaxies},
author = {M. D. Lehnert},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9904140},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
9 pages (latex -- uses pasp conference style file). To appear in: K.A. van der Hucht, G. Koenigsberger & P.R.J. Eenens (eds.), Wolf-Rayet Phenomena in Massive Stars and Starburst Galaxies, Proc. IAU Symposium No. 193 (San Francisco: ASP), in press