Interesting Astrophysics: Mar 18 to Mar 22

Not one but three theoretical papers with some relevance to galactic winds this week, although all quite different types of winds. Dogiel and Breitschwerdt discuss cosmic-ray -driven winds, Silich et al further explore their radiative (thermal) star cluster wind solution, and Kurosawa and Proga discuss AGN-driven winds.

In addition to this windy goodness there are also a variety of interesting papers on galaxies, LINERs, IFU spectroscopy, and gas-phase element depletion factors. Enjoy!

There will not be an edition of "Interesting Astrophysics" next week as I'll be away all week at the The Chemical Enrichment of the Intergalactic Medium meeting in Leiden.

---

Galaxies and Starbursts

A Young Super Star Cluster in the Nuclear Region of NGC 253
Kornei, Katherine A., McCrady, Nate, 2009, ApJ, 697, 1180
PDF (406 KB) | HTML

A Super Bubble Candidate in the Galactic Center and a Local Enhancement G359.77-0.09
Hideyuki Mori, Yoshiaki Hyodo, Takeshi Go Tsuru, Masayoshi Nobukawa, Katsuji Koyama, arXiv:0905.2725 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 9 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ

Extragalactic chemical abundances: do HII regions and young stars tell the same story? The case of the spiral galaxy NGC 300
Fabio Bresolin, Wolfgang Gieren, Rolf-Peter Kudritzki, Grzegorz Pietrzynski, Miguel A. Urbaneja, Giovanni Carraro, arXiv:0905.2791 [pdf, other]
Comments: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

Cosmic Rays in the Disk and Halo of Galaxies
V.Dogiel, D. Breitschwerdt, arXiv:0905.3071 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Accepeted in ESA Publication Series, 2009

Personally I disagree with attempting to lump theoretical model CR-driven galactic winds in with the winds we actually see in actively star-forming galaxies, for which we have good evidence that they're gas pressure-driven galactic winds (i.e. by supernova and stellar winds). CRs are present in starburst-driven winds, but they're not energetically dominant, and CR-driven wind solutions have quite distinctively different kinematics from observations and theory of starburst-driven winds.

On the Heating Efficiency Derived from Observations of Young Super Star Clusters in M82
Sergiy Silich, Guillermo Tenorio-Tagle, Ana Torres Campos, Casiana Munoz-Tunon, Ana Monreal-Ibero. Veronica Melo, arXiv:0905.3192 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 15 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

Ah, but the real question is how significant are the most massive clusters to the total star formation rate in M82 starburst region? Ultimately, not that significant, as least that is what we concluded (Strickland & Heckman, 2009, ApJ, 697, 2030).

Line and Continuum Emission from the Galactic Center. III. Origin of 6.4 keV Line Emission from Molecular Clouds in the Galactic Center
Vladimir Dogiel, Kwong-Sang Cheng, Dmitrii Chernyshov, Aya Bamba, Atsushi Ichimura, Hajime Inoue, Chung-Ming Ko, Motohide Kokubun, Yoshitomo Maeda, Kazuhisa Mitsuda, Noriko Y. Yamasaki, arXiv:0905.3075 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Accepted in PASJ, to be published in PASJ Vol.61 No.5, 2009

Star formation and nuclear activity in close pairs of early-type galaxies
Ben Rogers, Ignacio Ferreras, Sugata Kaviraj, Anna Pasquali, Marc Sarzi, arXiv:0905.3386 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 11 pages, 9 figures, 1 table. Submitted for publication in MNRAS

---

Black Holes and AGN

On the large-scale outflows in active galactic nuclei: consequences of coupling the mass-supply rate and accretion luminosity
Ryuichi Kurosawa, Daniel Proga, arXiv:0905.2965 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 14 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

An X-ray view of 82 LINERs with Chandra and XMM-Newton data
O. Gonzalez-Martin, J. Masegosa, I. Marquez, M. Guainazzi, E. Jimenez-Bailon, arXiv:0905.2973 [pdf]

Comments: Accepted for publications in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 49 pages, 12 figures. Catalogs only at: this http URL

---

Other

The integral field spectroscopy (IFS) wiki
M.S. Westmoquette, K.M. Exter, L. Christensen, M. Maier, M. Lemoine-Busserolle, J. Turner, T. Marquart, arXiv:0905.3054 [pdf, other]

Comments: This article accompanies the opening of the IFS wiki site this http URL

---

The Interstellar Medium

A Unified Representation of Gas-Phase Element Depletions in the Interstellar Medium
Edward B. Jenkins, arXiv:0905.3173 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 166 pages, 21 figures, pages 116-166 contain detailed tabulations that may not be of interest to most readers. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

Its only 166 pages! Get reading now.

SN thermalization efficiency paper published!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Our paper on theoretically-derived constraints on the supernova thermalization efficiency and central mass loading of M82's starburst-driven galactic wind is no longer "in press," but has been published. No longer will you have to make do with the arXiv preprint version.

"Supernova Feedback Efficiency and Mass Loading in the Starburst and Galactic Superwind Exemplar M82", Strickland & Heckman, The Astrophysical Journal, 2009, 697, 2030-2056.
See http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0004-637X/697/2/2030

[The image is of a 5 kpc x 5kpc region centered on M82's nucleus in soft, medium and hard X-ray bands as observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory]

Interesting Astrophysics: 04 May to 15 May

This time we have two weeks work of interesting preprints and papers. There is a short theoretical paper on starburst-driven wind (Nath & Silk), a smorgasbord of galaxy-related papers, and quite a few interesting supernovae-related papers.

---

Galaxies and Starbursts

Starburst--driven galactic outflows
Biman B. Nath, Joseph Silk, arXiv:0905.0314 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in MNRAS (Letters)

Radiation-pressure driving for superwinds. Haven't read this in depth yet, so can't comment too much, but it worries me that it appears based on incorrect assumptions regarding the empirical velocity versus star formation rate relationship.

Turning Back the Clock: Inferring the History of the Eight O'clock Arc
Steven L. Finkelstein, Casey Papovich, Gregory Rudnick, Eiichi Egami, Emeric Le Floc'h, Marcia J. Rieke, Jane Rigby, Christopher N.A. Willmer, arXiv:0905.1122 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal. 11 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables

Effects of ram pressure on the gas distribution and star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Chiara Mastropietro, Andreas Burkert, Ben Moore, arXiv:0905.1126 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 18 pages, 18 figures, submitted to MNRAS

A holistic view on ram pressure stripping in the Virgo cluster - The first complete model-based time sequence
B. Vollmer, arXiv:0905.1770 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 10 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in A&A

An Evolutionary Paradigm for Dusty Active Galaxies at Low Redshift
D. Farrah, B. Connolly, N. Connolly, H. Spoon, S. Oliver, H. Prosper, L. Armus, J. R. Houck, A. R. Liddle, V. Desai, arXiv:0905.1956 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: ApJ accepted. Comments welcome. We suggest reading section 2 before looking at the figures. 26 pages, 21 figures, 1 table

Star Formation in Luminous HII regions in M33
Monica Relano, Robert C. Kennicutt Jr., arXiv:0905.1158 [ps, pdf, other]

Comments: 46 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal; pdf format available at this http URL

The relationship between star formation rate and radio synchrotron luminosity at 0 < z < 2
Timothy Garn, David A. Green, Julia M. Riley, Paul Alexander, arXiv:0905.1218 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 12 pages, 1 table, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

The Cartwheel galaxy with XMM-Newton
Erika Crivellari, Anna Wolter, Ginevra Trinchieri, arXiv:0905.1230 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 10 pages, to be published in A&amp;A

The Galactic Environment of the NeVIII Absorber toward HE0226-4110

John S. Mulchaey, Hsiao-Wen Chen, arXiv:0905.1327 [ps, pdf, other]

Comments: Accepted for Publication in ApJ Letters; 5 journal-style pages and 1 figure; full-resolution version is available at this http URL

On The Origin of Lyman-alpha Absorption in Nearby Starbursts and Implications for Other Galaxies
Hakim Atek, Daniel Schaerer, Daniel Kunth, arXiv:0905.1329 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 11 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics

H II regions, infrared dark molecular clouds and the local geometry of the Milky Way's nuclear star-forming ring
H. S. Liszt, arXiv:0905.1412 [pdf, other]
Comments: 14 Figures 15 pages, submitted to A&amp;A 9 May 2009, figures are slightly degraded in this version to accomodate on-screen viewing

Star Formation History of Dwarf Galaxies in Cosmological Hydrodynamic Simulations
Kentaro Nagamine, arXiv:0905.1724 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 6 pages, 2 figures, Submitted to the special issue on "Dwarf-Galaxy Cosmology," which will be published in the journal "Advances in Astronomy" in December 2009

On the Andromeda to Milky Way mass-ratio
G.C. Baiesi Pillastrini, arXiv:0905.1897 [pdf]
Comments: 8 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in Mon. Not. of Royal Astron. Soc

Despite, or perhaps in spite of, much recent work upping the mass of the Milky Way and the airing of previously unthinkable suggestions that the Milky Way might even be more massive than M31 (Andromeda), this paper concludes that M31 is still the most massive galaxy in the Local Group.

Star Formation in the Central 400 pc of the Milky Way: Evidence for a Population of Massive YSOs
F. Yusef-Zadeh, J. Hewitt, R. G. Arendt, B. Whitney, G. Rieke, M. Wardle, J. L. Hinz, S. Stolovy, C. C. Lang, M. G. Burton, S. Ramirez, arXiv:0905.2161 [pdf, other]
Comments: 89 pages, ten tables, 35 figures, submitted to ApJ

From the abstract: "Within the central 400x50 pc (|l|<1.3\degr and |b|<10') the star formation rate based on the identification of Stage I evolutionary phase of YSO candidates is about 0.14 solar mass/yr. We suggest that a recent burst of star formation took place within the last 10^5 years. This suggestion is also consistent with estimates of star formation rates within the last ~10^7 years showing a peak around 10^5 years ago. "

Global star formation revisited
Joseph Silk, Colin Norman, arXiv:0905.2180 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Astrophysical Journal, in press

---

Techniques and Software

Estimators for the exponent and upper limit, and goodness-of-fit tests for (truncated) power-law distributions
Thomas Maschberger, Pavel Kroupa, arXiv:0905.0474 [pdf, other]
Comments: 13 pages, MNRAS, in press

Can X-rays provide a solution to the abundance discrepancy problem in photoionised nebulae?
Barbara Ercolano, arXiv:0905.1952 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 5 pages, accepted for publication by MNRAS Letters

Drowning in Data : VO to the rescue
A. Lawrence, arXiv:0905.2020 [pdf]
Comments: Published in ".Astronomy: Networked Astronomy and the New Media", 2009, edited by R.J. Simpson, D. Ward-Thompson. Length : 16 pages, 6 figures

From the abstract: "...we can avoid the high energy style of building large fixed hierarchical teams, and keep the individualist style of astronomical research, if the VO is used to build a facility class data infrastructure."

---

Stars, Supernovae and Planets

3-D Dynamics of Interactions between Stellar Winds and the Interstellar Medium as Seen by AKARI and Spitzer
Toshiya Ueta, Hideyuki Izumiura, Issei Yamamura, Robert E. Stencel, Yoshikazu Nakada, Mikako Matsuura, Yoshifusa Ita, Toshihiko Tanabe, Hinako Fukushi, Noriyuki Matsunaga, Hiroyuki Mito, Angela K. Speck, arXiv:0905.0756 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Invited Talk, to be published in the proceedings of the conference "AKARI, a light to illuminate the misty Universe" held at University of Tokyo, Japan, 16-19 February 2009

The Effect of Different Type Ia Supernova Progenitors on Galactic Chemical Evolution
F. Matteucci, E. Spitoni, S. Recchi, R. Valiante, arXiv:0905.0272 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Accepted by A&A

How old are SN Ia Progenitor Systems? New Observational Constraints on the Distribution of Time Delays from GALEX
Kevin Schawinski, arXiv:0905.0850 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

First Stars -- Type Ib Supernovae Connection
Keni'chi Nomoto, Masaomi Tanaka, Yasuomi Kamiya, Nozomu Tominaga, Keiichi Maeda, arXiv:0905.2274 [ps, pdf, other]
Comments: 7 pages, 5 figures
Journal-ref: Proceedings of IAU Symposium No. 255 "Low-Metallicity Star Formation: From the First Stars to Dwarf Galaxies" (2008), eds. L.K. Hunt, S. Madden & R. Schneider (Cambridge University Press), pp. 282-288

The death of massive stars – I. Observational constraints on the progenitors of Type II-P supernovae
S. J. Smartt, J. J. Eldridge, R. M. Crockett, J. R. Maund, 2009, MNRAS, 395, 1409
Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 852K)
DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14506.x

Pretty cool. I had no idea that Type II-P core collapse SNe were so common.

Sad news

Professor Martin Turner, DSc, CBE, has passed away. Turner was a major figure in British X-ray astronomy, playing very important roles in the development of the EXOSAT (operational lifetime in orbit 1983-1986), Ginga (1987-1991) and XMM-Newton (1999-now. Turner was PI on the EPIC camera) X-ray Observatories.