Related papers: Photon Feedback: Screening and the Eddington Limit
We show that the luminosity of a star forming galaxy is capped by the production and subsequent expulsion of cosmic rays from its interstellar medium. By defining an Eddington luminosity in cosmic rays, we show that the star formation rate…
Substantial evidence points to dusty, geometrically thick tori obscuring the central engines of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), but so far no mechanism satisfactorily explains why cool dust in the torus remains in a puffy geometry.…
(Abridged) We study large-scale winds driven from uniformly bright self-gravitating discs radiating near the Eddington limit. We show that the ratio of the radiation pressure force to the gravitational force increases with height above the…
We have investigated the impact of photoionization and radiation pressure on a dusty star-forming cloud using one-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic simulations, which include absorption and re-emission of photons by dust. We find that, in…
The global star formation rate in high redshift galaxies, based on optical surveys, shows a strong peak at a redshift of z=1.5, which implies that we have already seen most of the formation. High redshift galaxies may, however, emit most of…
Star forming galaxies exhibit a variety of physical conditions, from quiescent normal spirals to the most powerful dusty starbursts. In order to study these complex systems, we need a suitable tool to analyze the information coming from…
Our recent work on starbursts, particularly in the ultraviolet (UV), is summarized. The intrinsic UV fluxes of UV selected starbursts can be derived from UV data alone because, to first order, their dust behaves like a foreground screen.…
Observations in the rest frame ultraviolet from various space missions are used to define the nearby starburst regions having the highest surface brightness on scales of several hundred pc. The bright limit is found to be 6x10^-16…
In general relativity, it has been shown that radiation-supported atmospheres exist outside the surface of a radiating spherical body close to a radius where the gravitational and radiative forces balance each other. We calculate the…
We give an overview of the factors shaping the ultraviolet (UV)/optical - far-infrared (FIR)/submillimeter (submm) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of normal (non-starburst) galaxies. Particular emphasis is placed on the influen ce of…
The brightest apparent magnitude examples of ultra luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRG's) are studied here in X-ray, optical, infrared and radio wavelengths. It is is found that they have associated material reaching out to apparent diameters…
Starbursts are important because they can serve as local analogs of the processes that were important in the origin and early evolution of galaxies and in the heating and chemical enrichment of the inter-galactic medium. They may also play…
Promising methods for studying galaxy evolution rely on optical emission line width measurements to compare intermediate-redshift objects to galaxies with equivalent masses at the present epoch. However, emission lines can be misleading. We…
I review the characteristics of high redshift galaxies, with particular attention to the effects of dust obscuration on the observed light. Galaxies at redshift z~1 and at z>2 are discussed separately, as the accessible information for each…
We show that the disruption of a star by a 10^6 solar mass black hole in a galactic nucleus could under favorable circumstances produce an optically-thick envelope that radiates with a thermal spectrum at the Eddington limit, 10^{44} erg/s,…
In addition to occupying the extreme, diffuse tail of the dwarf galaxy population, Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies (UDGs) are themselves a key laboratory in which to study star formation in extreme low-density environments. In the second paper of…
Star-formation and the Starburst phenomenon are presented with respect to a number of nearby star-forming galaxies where our understanding of the process can be calibrated. Methods of estimating star-formation rates are discussed together…
The peak star formation intensity in starburst galaxies does not vary significantly from the local universe to redshift z~6. We arrive at this conclusion through new surface brightness measurements of 47 starburst galaxies at z~5-6,…
We present Hubble Space Telescope imaging of 14 gas-rich, low surface brightness galaxies in the field at distances of 25-36 Mpc, with mean effective radii and $g$-band central surface brightnesses of 1.9 kpc and 24.2 mag arcsec$^{-2}$.…
Massive ($M >30\,$M$_{\odot}$) stars exhibit luminosities that are near the Eddington-limit for electron scattering causing the increase in opacity associated with iron at $T\approx180,000\,$K to trigger supersonic convection in their outer…