Starbursts

Starburst galaxies are galaxies in which the star formation rate is at present far above the long-time average. Often such a starburst is confined to the central region in a galaxy. The extreme far-infrared luminous galaxies detected by IRAS may be a combination of starbursts and AGN energy input, with the quasar hidden at normal wavelengths by dust clouds, thus a "shrouded quasar".

  1. Chini, R., Kreysa, E., Biermann, P.L., Astron. Astrophys. 219 (1989) 87.
  2. Chini, R., Biermann, P.L., Kreysa, E., Gemund, H.-P., Astron. Astrophys. 221 (1989) L3.
  3. Heckman, T.M., Blitz, L., Wilson, A.S., Armus, L., Miley, G.K., Astrophys. J. 342 (1989) 735.
  4. Izotov, Yu.I., Izotova, I.Yu., Astrophysics 30 (1989) 18 (orig. Astrofizika 30 (1989) 34).
  5. Izotov, Yu.I., Izotova, I.Yu., Astrophysics 30 (1989) 188 (orig. Astrofizika 30 (1989) 312).
  6. Jog, C.J., Solomon, P.M., Astrophys. J. 387 (1992) 152.
  7. Joseph, R.D., Meikle, W.P.S., Robertson, N.A., Wright, G.S., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 209 (1984) 111.
  8. Joseph, R.D., Wright, G.S., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 214 (1985) 87.
  9. Kaneko, N., Morita, K., Fukui, Y., Takahashi, N., Sugitani, K:, Nakai, N., Morita, K.-I., Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn. 44 (1992) 341.
  10. Lonsdale, Colin, J., Lonsdale, Carol, J., Smith, H.E., Astrophys. J. 391 (1992) 629.
  11. Mazzarella, J.M., Soifer, B.T., Graham, J.R., Hafer, C.I., Neugebauer, G., Matthews, K.,. Astron. J. 103 (1992) 413.
  12. Norman, C.A., Scoville, N., Astrophys. J. 332 (1988) 124.
  13. Norris, R.P., Allen, D.A., Roche, P.F., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 234 (1988) 773.
  14. Norris, R.P., Kesteven, M.J., Allen, D.A., Troupe, E., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 234 (1988) 51P.
  15. Puxley, P.J., Brand, P.W.J.L., Moore, T.J.T., Mountain, C.M., Nakai, N., Yamashita, T., Astrophys. J. 345 (1989) 163.
  16. Sanders, D.B., Young, J.S., Scoville, N.Z., Soifer, B.T., Danielson, G.E., Astrophys. J. 312 (1987) L5.
  17. Sanders, D.B., Soifer, B.T., Elias, J.H., Neugebauer, G., Matthews, K., Astrophys. J. 328 (1988) L35.
  18. Sanders, D.B., Scoville, N.Z., Soifer, B.T., Astrophys. J. 335 (1988) L1.
  19. Sanders, D.B., Scoville, N.Z., Zensus, A., Soifer, B.T., Wilson, T.L., Zylka, R., Steppe, H., Astron. Astrophys. 213 (1989) L5.
  20. Sopp, H.M., Alexander, P., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 251 (1991) 14P.

At present the judgement is still out up to which level of infrared luminosity a galaxy can be interpreted as a starburst, but scaling from nearby starbursts, like M82,

  1. Amirkhanyan, A.S., Gagen-Torn, V.A., Reshetnikov, V.P., Astrophysics 22 (1985) 142 (orig. Astrofizika 22 (1985) 239).
  2. Hughes, D.H., Gear, W.K., Robson, E.I., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 244 (1990) 759.
  3. Kronberg, P.P., Biermann, P., Schwab, F.R., Astrophys. J. 291 (1985) 693.
  4. Krugel, E., Chini, R., Klein, U., Lemke, R., Wielebinski, R., Zylka, R., Astron. Astrophys. 240 (1990) 232.
  5. Loiseau, N., Reuter, H.-P., Wielebinski, R., Klein, U., Astron. Astrophys. 200 (1988) L1.
  6. Nakai, N., Hayashi, M., Handa, T., Sofue, Y., Hasegawa, T., Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn. 38 (1986) 603.
  7. Nakai, N., Hayashi, M., Handa, T., Sofue, Y., Hasegawa, T., Sasaki, M., Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn. 39 (1987) 685.
  8. Phillips, J.P. Mampaso, A., Astron. Astrophys. 218 (1989) 24.
  9. Puxley, P.J., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 249 (1991) 11P.
  10. Scarrott, S.M., Eaton, N., Axon, D.J., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 252 (1991) 12P.
  11. Smith, P.A., Brand, P.W.J.L., Mountain, C.M., Puxley, P.J., Nakai, N., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 252 (1991) 6P.
  12. Telesco, C.M., Campins, H., Joy, M., Dietz, K., Decher, R., Astrophys. J. 369 (1991) 135.
  13. Thronson, H.A.Jr., Wilton, C., Ksir, A., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 252 (1991) 543.
  14. Tsuru, T., Ohashi, T., Makishima, K., Mihara, T., Kondo, H., Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn. 42 (1990) L75.

up to a supernova rate of 1000 supernova events per year have been estimated, consuming an enormous amount of cool gas. The energy input of such an extreme population of young stars - we note that massive stars put as much energy into the interstellar medium through their winds as later by their supernova explosion - is such that the interstellar energy densities can be several orders of magnitude higher than in the rather quiescent solar neighborhood. This extremely high energy often leads to a break-out of the hot component of the interstellar gas perpendicular to the disk, as seen in M82, where the X-ray emission extends many kpc up and down from the disk, sometimes referred to as a superwind,

  1. Brindle, C., Hough, J.H., Bailey, J.A., Axon, D.J., Sparks, W.B., Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 252 (1991) 288.
  2. Heckman, T.M., Armus, L., Miley, G.K., Astron. J. 93 (1987) 276.
  3. Heckman, T.M., Armus, L., Miley, G.K., Astrophys. J. Suppl. 74 (1990) 833.
  4. Hunter, D.A., Gallagher III, J.S., Astrophys. J. 391 (1992) L9.
  5. Nakai, N., Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn. 41 (1989) 1107.
  6. Schaaf, R., Pietsch, W., Biermann, P.L., Kronberg, P.P., Schmutzler, T., Astrophys. J. 336 (1989) 722.
  7. Zentsova, A.S., Sov. Astron. A.J. 32 (1988) 98 (orig. Astron. Zh. 65 (1988) 190).

although this phenomenon resembles more an explosion in a stratified atmosphere. On a small scale such break-outs appear to be to quite common even in normal galaxies. whenever the local star formation energy input surpasses a critical level, when hydrostatic equilibrium can no longer be maintained. Clearly, cosmic rays contribute strongly to the hot gas component breaking out, and may cause an additional acceleration of the hot gas far above the disk by dissipating their energy through reconnection and wave dissipation. Starbursts are often used successfully as a paradigm for central starformation in galaxies, with starbursts and quasar-activity often competing.

  1. Norman, C.A., Scoville, N., Astrophys. J. 332 (1988) 124.
  2. Sage, L.J., Mauersberger, R., Henkel, C., Astron. Astrophys. 249 (1991) 31.
  3. Zentsova, A.S., Sov. Astron. A.J. 32 (1988) 98 (orig. Astron. Zh. 65 (1988) 190).



Main | Introduction | Basic Data | Galaxies | Cosmology | Particle Physics
Spectroscopy | Glossary and Lexicon of Term | Tabular Information
Graphical Relations | Annual Review Articles | Astrostatistics
CUP Monographs | Author Index | New Additions | Catalogs
Table of Contents | Text Search | Web Links