The Violent Interstellar Medium in Dwarf Galaxies: Atomic Gas

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Neutral Hydrogen, Scalehight, Shells, Superbubbles

Scientific paper

We review the morphology of the warm, neutral ISM as observed in the 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen (H I) of several nearby, gas-rich (dIrr) galaxies. The H I emission is dominated by shell-like structures, most likely superbubbles produced by the combined effects of strong stellar winds followed by supernova explosions of stars more massive than M > 8 M-sun within a region of massive star formation, an OB association. Somewhat counter-intuitively, H I superbubbles grow to larger dimensions in dwarf galaxies than in large spiral galaxies like our own or M 31. This can be explained as follows. In dwarf galaxies, the gravitational potential is lower than in spirals. Hence, for similar H I velocity dispersions, the scaleheight of the H I layer will be larger. Then, for comparable H I surface densities, the volume density will be lower. Both effects facilitate the growth to large dimensions of shells in dwarf galaxies and explains why such shells are much less likely to break through the H I layer into the halo. Moreover, dwarf galaxies lack density waves and tend to be dominated by solid-body rotation. As a result, shells will persist much longer than in spirals. A comparison with other galaxies shows that the energies needed to create H I supershells are the same for all types of galaxies, the energy output of a typical star-forming region therefore not being related to its galactic environment, at least to first order. The overall statistical properties of the H I holes and shells in galaxies show clear trends with Hubble type (or rather mass), such as in their diameter distribution, expansion velocities and ages.

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