Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Aug 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994apj...431..598d&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 431, no. 2, pt. 1, p. 598-603
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
132
Dwarf Galaxies, Galactic Evolution, Galactic Mass, Halos, Interstellar Matter, Starburst Galaxies, Cosmology, Disk Galaxies, Energy Spectra, Plasma Density, Stellar Winds, Supernovae
Scientific paper
Major starburst events can last tens of millions of years, and in the process they can deposit significant amounts of energy into the surrounding interstellar medium. This energy from supernova and stellar winds imparts enough momentum to the interstellar medium (ISM) that portions of the ISM can become unbound and leave the parent galaxy, taking the metal-enriched stellar debris along. In dwarf galaxies, starbursts can produce enough total energy to unbind most or all of the ambient ISM. Whether this actually occurs is a strong function of the ellipticity of the ISM distribution, with flat disks and spheres being the limiting cases. We calculate whether 'blow out' along the symmetry axis of 'blow away' of the entire ISM occurs during a central starburst in dwarf galaxies as a function of galactic mass, starburst energy, ISM density, and ISM ellipticity. The calculations cover a range of 107 to 109 solar mass for dwarf galaxies and include 'normal' galaxies of 1011 solar mass as well. No massive dark matter halos are assumed to be present. We find that for physically reasonable values of total ISM mass and starburst energy a blow out along the symmetry axis occurs in the majority of cases, though a significant fraction of small dwarf galaxies can lose most of their ISM. As no dark matter halos or clumpy ISM distributions are included, it is apparent that the ISM in most dwarf galaxies may be generally resistant to significant disruption by a central starburst event. The effects of this range of behavi or on the metallicities that would be observed in these galaxies is discussed.
de Young David S.
Heckman Timothy M.
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