A VERSATILE FAMILY OF GALACTIC WIND MODELS
- Physics Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1150 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2535 Sterling Hall, 475 N. Charter Street, Madison, WI 53706 (United States)
We present a versatile family of model galactic outflows including non-uniform mass and energy source distributions, a gravitational potential from an extended mass source, and radiative losses. The model easily produces steady-state wind solutions for a range of mass-loading factors, energy-loading factors, galaxy mass, and galaxy radius. We find that, with radiative losses included, highly mass-loaded winds must be driven at high central temperatures, whereas low mass-loaded winds can be driven at low temperatures just above the peak of the cooling curve, meaning radiative losses can drastically affect the wind solution even for low mass-loading factors. By including radiative losses, we are able to show that subsonic flows can be ignored as a possible mechanism for expelling mass and energy from a galaxy compared to the more efficient transonic solutions. Specifically, the transonic solutions with low mass loading and high energy loading are the most efficient. Our model also produces low-temperature, high-velocity winds that could explain the prevalence of low-temperature material in observed outflows. Finally, we show that our model, unlike the well-known Chevalier and Clegg model, can reproduce the observed linear relationship between wind X-ray luminosity and star formation rate (SFR) over a large range of SFR from 1–1000 M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1} assuming the wind mass-loading factor is higher for low-mass, and hence, low-SFR galaxies. We also constrain the allowed mass-loading factors that can fit the observed X-ray luminosity versus SFR trend, further suggesting an inverse relationship between mass loading and SFR as explored in advanced numerical simulations.
- OSTI ID:
- 22521490
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 819; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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