Superbubbles in disk galaxies

Journal Article · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1988 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/165936· OSTI ID:5275434

Mac low, M; Mccray, R

Correlated supernovae from an OB association create a superbubble: a large, thin, shell of cold gas surrounding a hot pressurized interior. Because supernova blast waves usually become subsonic before reaching the walls of the shell or cooling radiatively, the energy input from supernovae may be reasonably approximated as a continuous luminosity. Using the Kompaneets (thin-shell) approximation, the growth of superbubbles in various stratified atmospheres is numerically modeled. A dimensionless quantity predicts whether a superbubble will blow out of the H I disk of a spiral galaxy (and begin to accelerate upward) or collapse. Superbubbles blow out of the H I layer when they have a radius in the plane between one and two scale heights. They blow out only one side of a disk galaxy if their centers are more than 50-60 p above the plane and the gas layer has density and scale height typical of the Milky Way. Fingers of warm interstellar gas intrude into the hot interior when the superbubble overtakes dense clouds. 23 references.

• Research Organization: Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, Boulder, CO (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5275434
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Vol. 324
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
GALAXIES
BUBBLES
COSMIC GASES
H1 REGIONS
INTERSTELLAR SPACE
LUMINOSITY
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MORPHOLOGY
SPIRAL CONFIGURATION
STAR CLUSTERS
SUPERNOVA REMNANTS
SUPERNOVAE
CONFIGURATION
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
FLUIDS
GASES
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SPACE
STARS
VARIABLE STARS
640105* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Galaxies