Related papers: Starbursts driven by central gas compaction
The centers of bulges are formed dissipationally via gas inflows over short timescales: the 'starburst' mode of star formation (SF). Recent work has shown that detailed observations can be used to separate the stellar mass profile of these…
We have used 4000 \AA\ break and H$\delta_A$ indices in combination with SFR/M* derived from emission line flux measurements, to constrain the recent star formation histories of galaxies with stellar masses in the range 10**8-10**10 Msol.…
Local starbursts have a higher efficiency of converting gas into stars, as compared to typical star-forming galaxies at a given stellar mass, possibly indicative of different modes of star formation. With the peak epoch of galaxy formation…
Post-starburst (PSB), or 'E+A', galaxies represent a rapid transitional phase between major, gas-rich mergers and gas-poor, quiescent early-type galaxies. Surprisingly, many PSBs have been shown to host a significant interstellar medium…
With the help of a statistical parameter derived from optical spectra, we show that the current star formation rate of a galaxy, falling into a cluster along a supercluster filament, is likely to undergo a sudden enhancement before the…
Recent observations have revealed that starburst galaxies can drive molecular gas outflows through stellar radiation pressure. Molecular gas is the phase of the interstellar medium from which stars form, so these outflows curtail stellar…
We perform 3-D dust radiative transfer (RT) calculations on hydrodynamic simulations of isolated and merging disk galaxies in order to quantitatively study the dependence of observed-frame submillimeter (submm) flux density on galaxy…
Observations indicate that most massive stars in the Galaxy appear in groups, called OB associations, where their strong wind activity generates large structures known as superbubbles, inside which the subsequent supernovae (SNe) explode,…
A significant fraction of clusters of galaxies are observed to have substructure, which implies that merging between clusters and subclusters is a rather common physical process of cluster formation. It still remains unclear how cluster…
Mergers of gas-rich galaxies lead to gravitationally driven increases in gas pressure that can trigger intense bursts of star and cluster formation. Although star formation itself is clustered, most newborn stellar aggregates are unbound…
Nearby (D < 100 Mpc) luminous blue starburst galaxies frequently show morphological evidence for recent involvement in mild collisions, or minor mergers where the disk survives. As a consequence UV-bright starbursts are preferentially seen…
The most active starbursts are found in galaxies with the highest IR luminosities, with peak star formation rates and efficiencies that are over an order of magnitude higher than in normal disk systems. These systems are almost exclusively…
The oxygen (O/H) and N/O abundance ratios along the bar of 16 barred spiral starburst galaxies are determined using long-slit spectroscopy. The abundance gradients and the spatial distribution of the ionized gas along the bar are used to…
Star formation in galaxies is for a part driven by galaxy mergers. At low redshift, star formation activity is low in high-density environments like groups and clusters, and the star formation activity of galaxies increases with their…
Starbursts are episodes of intense star-formation that occur in the central regions of galaxies, and dominate the integrated emission from the galaxy. They are a significant component of the present- day universe, being the site of $\sim$…
In major galaxy mergers, the orbits of stars are violently perturbed, and gas is torqued to the centre, diluting the gas metallicity and igniting a starburst. In this paper, we study the gas dynamics in and around merging galaxies using a…
(abridged) There are good observational reasons to believe that the progenitors of red galaxies have undergone starbursts, followed by a post-starburst phase. We investigate the environments of post-starburst galaxies by measuring…
In this contribution I summarize our current knowledge of the nature and significance of starburst-driven galactic winds (``superwinds''). Superwinds are complex multiphase outflows of cool, warm, and hot gas, dust, and magnetized…
Star formation rates in the centers of disk galaxies often vastly exceed those at larger radii. We investigate the idea that these central starbursts are self-regulated, with the momentum flux injected to the ISM by star formation balancing…
Molecular gas traces the fuel for star formation and the processes that regulate it. Observing its physical state (e.g. excitation) reveals when and why galaxies quench. We observed the CO(5-4) emission of 8 post-starburst (SB) galaxies at…