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Superwinds and the Nature of Starburst Galaxies

M. D. Lehnert
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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.

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M. D. Lehnert. 1999-04-12. Superwinds and the Nature of Starburst Galaxies. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9904140

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