We carry out cosmological chemodynamical simulations with different strengths of supernova (SN) feedback and study how galactic winds from star-forming galaxies affect the features of hydrogen (HI) and metal (CIV and OVI) absorption systems in the intergalactic medium at high redshift. We find that the outflows tend to escape to low density regions, and hardly affect the dense filaments visible in HI absorption. As a result, the strength of HI absorption near galaxies is not reduced by galactic winds, but even slightly increases. We also find that a lack of HI absorption for lines of sight (LOS) close to galaxies, as found by Adelberger et al., can be created by hot gas around the galaxies induced by accretion shock heating. In contrast to HI, metal absorption systems are sensitive to the presence of winds. The models without feedback can produce the strong CIV and OVI absorption lines in LOS within 50 kpc from galaxies, while strong SN feedback is capable of creating strong CIV and OVI lines out to about twice that distance. We also analyze the mean transmissivity of HI, CIV, and OVI within 1 h$^{-1}$ Mpc from star-forming galaxies. The probability distribution of the transmissivity of HI is independent of the strength of SN feedback, but strong feedback produces LOS with lower transmissivity of metal lines. Additionally, strong feedback can produce strong OVI lines even in cases where HI absorption is weak. We conclude that OVI is probably the best tracer for galactic winds at high redshift.
Multiwavelength data on star-forming galaxies provide strong evidence for large-scale galactic winds in both nearby and distant objects. The results from recent ground-based and space-borne programs are reviewed. The impact of these winds on the host galaxies and the surrounding environment is discussed in the context of galaxy evolution.
Cosmic ray acceleration by shocks related with Slipping Interaction Regions (SIRs) in the Galactic Wind is considered. SIRs are similar to Solar Wind Corotating Interaction Regions. The spiral structure of our Galaxy results in a strong nonuniformity of the Galactic Wind flow and in SIR formation at distances of 50 to 100 kpc. SIRs are not corotating with the gas and magnetic field because the angular velocity of the spiral pattern differs from that of the Galactic rotation. It is shown that the collective reacceleration of the cosmic ray particles with charge $Ze$ in the resulting shock ensem…
This paper provides a critical discussion of the observational evidence for winds in our own Galaxy, in nearby star-forming and active galaxies, and in the high-redshift universe. The implications of galactic winds on the formation and evolution of galaxies and the intergalactic medium are briefly discussed. A number of observational challenges are mentioned to inspire future research directions.
The development of galactic fountain theories is reviewed with special emphasis on the different approaches and concepts that have been used in the past. In particular the outstanding contribution of Franz Kahn to our physical understanding is appreciated. It is argued that galactic outflows represent an essential phase during galaxy evolution. The dynamics of the outflow imprints its signature on the emission spectra of soft X-rays, which may well be observable with AXAF and XMM. Finally, some remarks about winds in starburst galaxies and AGN are made.
We present 3D hydrodynamical simulations of galactic winds in dwarf, gas-rich galaxies. The galaxy is moving through the ICM of a small galaxy group at v=200 km/s. The ram pressure removes the galactic gas at large radii, but does not strongly influence the ISM near the center. A starburst generates a galactic wind. The newly produced metals are expelled in the ICM and carried to large distance from the galaxy by the ram pressure. 500 Myr after the starburst only a few percent of the heavy elements produced are present in the central region of the dwarf galaxy. A large collection of ram pressu…
We have performed hydrodynamical simulations to investigate the effects of galactic winds on the high-redshift (z=3) universe. Strong winds suppress the formation of low-mass galaxies significantly, and the metals carried by them produce C IV absorption lines with properties in reasonable agreement with observations. The winds have little effect on the statistics of the H I absorption lines, because the hot gas bubbles blown by the winds fill only a small fraction of the volume and because they tend to escape into the voids, thereby leaving the filaments that produce these lines intact.
We show that with the wind/jet activity, the spectral index of hard X-ray is changed in galactic microquasars. When mass loss takes place, the spectrum becomes softer and when mass gain takes place, the spectrum becomes harder. We present examples of such changes in GRS1915+105.
We report the discovery of a galactic wind in the central region of the galaxy M100. This result is based on a careful 2D spectroscopic study performed on observations made with the fibre system INTEGRAL on the WHT. The primary evidence of the wind is the presence of blueshifted interstellar NaD absorption lines. The velocity field of the absorbers show a clear rotation pattern but globally blueshifted ($\sim$ -115 km/s) with respect to the systemic velocity of the galaxy. The emission lines also present a blueward component arising from the ionized gas phase of the galactic wind. The velocity…
We point out that a high number density of stars in the core of a dense star cluster such as the central stellar cluster at the Galactic center, where many stars possess strong stellar winds, should result in collisions of those winds. The wind collisions in the dense stellar core at the Galactic center would result in production of strong X-ray flares with the rate of $\sim 10^{-4}~ (N_w/10^3)^2 / yr$ and duration of $\sim 1$ week, where $N_w$ is the number of the wind producing stars in the core. Presence of a massive black hole would enhance the stellar density around it and would make coll…
We examine the possibility that ram pressure exerted by the galactic wind from the Galaxy could have stripped gas from the Local Group dwarf galaxies, thereby affecting their star formation histories. Whether gas stripping occurs or not depends on the relative magnitudes of two counteracting forces acting on gas in a dwarf galaxy: ram pressure force by the wind and the gravitational binding force by the dwarf galaxy itself. We suggest that the galactic wind could have stripped gas in a dwarf galaxy located within the distance of $R_{c}\simeq 120(r_{s}/1 {kpc})^{3/2} ({\cal E}_{b}/10^{50} {erg}…
The O VIII phenomenon describes the occurrence of ultra-high ionization absorption lines of the CNO elements (e.g. O VIII, N VII, C VI, and even Ne X) in the optical spectra hot of DO WDs.
To study the effects of galactic winds on the stellar metallicity distributions and on the evolution of Draco and Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal galaxies, we compared the predictions of several chemical evolution models, adopting different prescriptions for the galactic winds, with the photometrically-derived stellar metallicity distributions of both galaxies. The chemical evolution models for Draco and Ursa Minor, which are able to reproduce several observational features of these two galaxies, such as the several abundance ratios, take up-to-date nucleosynthesis into account for intermediate-ma…
We build and test Parker-wind models to apply to observations of large-scale (of order 100 pc) outflows from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). These models include detailed photoionization simulations, the observed radially varying mass profile, adiabatic cooling, and approximations for clouds dragged along in the wind and the interaction of the wind with the circumnuclear ISM of the galaxy. We test this model against recent HST/STIS observations of [O III] emission-line kinematics (in particular, we test against those observed in NGC 4151, but approximately the same kinematics is observed in NGC…
Highly magnetized, rapidly rotating compact objects are widely argued as central energy sources of $γ$-ray bursts (GRBs). After the GRB, such a magnetar-like object may directly lose its rotational energy through some magnetically-driven processes, which produce an ultrarelativistic wind dominated possibly by the energy flux of electron-positron pairs. The interaction of such a wind with an outward-expanding fireball leads to a relativistic wind bubble, being regarded as a relativistic version of the well-studied Crab Nebula. We here explore the dynamics of this wind bubble and its emission si…
This paper discusses a semi-numerical method of investigating the enrichment of the intergalactic medium by galactic winds. We find that most galaxies at z >~ 3 should be driving winds, and that (if these winds are similar to those at low-z) these winds should escape to large distances. Our calculations -- which permit exploration of a large region of model parameter space -- indicate that the wind velocity, the mass of the wind-driving galaxies, the fraction of ambient material entrained, and the available time (between wind launch and the observed redshift) all affect wind propagation signif…
We investigate efficiency and time dependence of metal enrichment processes in the Intra-Cluster Medium (ICM). In this presentation we concentrate on the effects of galactic winds. The mass loss rates due to galactic winds are calculated with a special algorithm, which takes into account cosmic rays and magnetic fields. This algorithm is embedded in a combined N-body/hydrodynamic code which calculates the dynamics and evolution of a cluster. We present mass loss rates depending on galaxy properties like type, mass, gas mass fraction and the surrounding ICM. In addition we show metallicity maps…
Multi-line imaging of the nearby disk galaxy NGC 1482 with the Taurus Tunable Filter (TTF) on the Anglo-Australian Telescope reveals a remarkable hourglass-shaped [N II] 6583/H-alpha excitation structure suggestive of a galactic wind extending at least 1.5 kpc above and below the disk of the host galaxy. Long-slit spectroscopy confirms the existence of a large-scale outflow in this galaxy. The entrained wind material has [N II] 6583/H-alpha ratios in excess of unity while the disk material is characterized by H II region-like line ratios indicative of a starburst. Expansion velocities of order…
The role of star-formation driven outflows in the obscuration of the central source in the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) is discussed. The outflow from a sub-parsec scale accretion disc is numerically modelled for parameters appropriate to the Galactic Centre. The resulting obscuration pattern is very patchy, with some lines of sight becoming optically thick to Thomson scattering. A fixed observer would see column depth changing by factors of many over time scales of order months to hundreds of years, depending on the physical size of the outflow region. Such winds may be relevant for obscurati…
The gross features in the distribution of stars as well as warm (T >~ 100 K) interstellar dust in the Galactic disk have been investigated using the recent mid infrared survey by Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) at 8, 12, 14 & 21 micron bands. An attempt has been made to determine the location of the Galactic mid-plane at various longitudes, using two approaches : (i) fitting exponential functions to the latitude profiles and (ii) statistical indicators.The former method is successful for the inner Galaxy (-90 < l < 90), and quantifies characteristic angular scales along latitude, which have b…
We perform a detailed photometric study of the stellar populations in a Galactic Field at l = 232, b = -6 in the Canis Major (CMa) constellation. We present the first U,B,V,I photometry of the old open cluster Auner1 and determine it to be 3.25 Gyr old and to lie at 8.9 kpc from the Sun. In the background of the cluster, at more than 9 kpc, we detect a young population most probably associated to the Norma Cygnus spiral arm. Furthermore, we detect the signature of an older population and identify its Turn Off and Red Giant Branch. This population is found to have a mean age of 7 Gyrs and a mea…
Subdwarf B (sdB) stars form the blue end of the horizonal branch (EHB). Their peculiar atmospheric abundance patterns are due to diffusion processes. However, diffusion models fail to explain these anomalies quantitatively. Weak mass loss has been invoked to solve these discrepancies, but up to now has not been observed. We report first observational evidence for stellar winds in four sdB stars from a NLTE model atmosphere analysis of high quality optical spectra.
Galactic winds are the primary mechanism by which energy and metals are recycled in galaxies and are deposited into the intergalactic medium. New observations are revealing the ubiquity of this process, particularly at high redshift. We describe the physics behind these winds, discuss the observational evidence for them in nearby star-forming and active galaxies and in the high-redshift universe, and consider the implications of energetic winds for the formation and evolution of galaxies and the intergalactic medium. To inspire future research, we conclude with a set of observational and theor…
We have used the vectorised and parallelised magnetohydrodynamics code NIRVANA on the NEC SX-5 and the new SX-6 installation in parallel mode to simulate the interaction of jets with a galactic wind that might be typical for the star-bursting radio-galaxies of the early universe. The two simulations, one axisymmetric and one in 3D show that the jet pierces and destroys a thin and dense shell produced by the pre-installed superwind. We suggest that small radio galaxies at high redshift might be absorbed on the blue wing due to the galactic wind shell, and possibly on the red wing due to a cooli…
We present radio continuum polarimetry observations of the nearby edge-on galaxy NGC 253 which possesses a very bright radio halo. Using the vertical synchrotron emission profiles and the lifetimes of cosmic-ray electrons, we determined the cosmic-ray bulk speed as (300+/-30) km/s, indicating the presence of a galactic wind in this galaxy. The large-scale magnetic field was decomposed into a toroidal axisymmetric component in the disk and a poloidal component in the halo. The poloidal component shows a prominent X-shaped magnetic field structure centered on the nucleus, similar to the magnetic…
We present preliminary abundance analyses of a group of high-velocity metal-poor stars. This report describes our work in progress. We examine the derived abundances in the context of previous studies of metal-poor stars with unusual abundances and/or extreme galactocentric orbits. Included in this sample are BD+80 245, a star previously known to have unusually low alpha-element abundances, and G4-36, a new low-alpha star.
The origin of intergalactic magnetic fields is still a mystery and several scenarios have been proposed so far: among them, primordial phase transitions, structure formation shocks and galactic outflows. In this work we investigate how efficiently galactic winds can provide an intense and widespread "seed" magnetisation. This may be used to explain the magnetic fields observed today in clusters of galaxies and in the intergalactic medium (IGM). We use semi-analytic simulations of magnetised galactic winds coupled to high resolution N-body simulations of structure formation to estimate lower an…
An excess of sight-lines close to Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) with little or no absorption in QSO absorption spectra has been reported and has been interpreted as the effect of galactic winds on the Intergalactic Medium. We use here numerical simulations to investigate the flux probability function close to plausible sites of LBGs. We show that the flux distribution near our LBGs in the simulation depends strongly on redshift, and is very sensitive to the averaging procedure. We show that a model without galactic winds and a model with a wind bubble size of 0.5Mpc/h (comoving) are equally cons…
We have performed an extensive hydrodynamical parameter study of starburst-driven galactic winds, motivated by the latest observation data on the best-studied starburst galaxy M82. We study how the wind dynamics, morphology and X-ray emission depend on the host galaxy's ISM distribution, starburst star formation history and strength, and presence and distribution of mass-loading by dense clouds. We find that the soft X-ray emission from galactic winds comes from low filling factor (ff < 2 per cent) gas, which contains only a small fraction (f < 10 per cent) of the mass and energy of the wind, …
We investigate the effect of inverse-Compton scattering of flares of soft radiation in different geometries of a hot, Comptonizing region and a colder accretion disk around a solar-mass black hole. The photon-energy dependent light curves, their Fourier transforms, power spectra and Fourier-period dependent time lags of hard photons with respect to softer photons are discussed. On the basis of a comparison with existing data we find arguments against Comptonization of external soft radiation as well as Comptonization in a homogeneous medium as dominant mechanisms for the rapid aperiodic variab…
Subdwarf B (sdB) stars form the blue end of the horizonal branch. Their peculiar atmospheric abundance patterns are due to diffusion processes. However, diffusion models fail to explain these anomalies quantitatively. From a NLTE model atmosphere analysis of 40 sdB stars, we found that the more luminous (i.e. more evolved) stars have anomalous H alpha and HeI 6678Ang line profiles, i.e, the lines are too broad and shallow and may even show some emission. We interpret these anomalies as the signatures of a stellar wind, the first such detection in this class of star (if confirmed). Mass loss ma…
We consider the distortion in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) due to galactic winds at high redshift. Winds outflowing from galaxies have been hypothesized to be possible sources of metals in the intergalactic medium, which is known to have been enriched to $10^{-2.5}$ Z$_{\odot}$ at $z \sim 3$. We model these winds as functions of mass of the parent galaxy and redshift, assuming they activate at a common initial redshift, $z_{in}$, and calculate the mean $y$ distortion and the angular power spectrum of the distortion in the CMB. We find that the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect du…
The fundamental tenet of the classical supernovae-driven wind model of elliptical galaxies is that the residual thermal energy of all supernovae remnants (SNRs) provide sufficient energy to overcome the binding energy of the remaining interstellar gas, thereby driving a global galactic wind. We re-examine model predictions of this epoch of wind ejection t_GW, highlighting a heretofore underappreciated sensitivity to the adopted remnant thermal energy formalism, and illustrating cases in which previous work may have substantially overestimated t_GW. Arguments based upon chemical evolution alone…
Motivated by the first detections of rotation signatures in the DG Tau jet (Bacciotti et al. 2002), we examine possible biases affecting the relation between detected rotation signatures and true azimuthal velocity for self-similar MHD disc winds, taking into account projection, convolution as well as excitation gradients effects. We find that computed velocity shifts are systematically smaller than the true underlying rotation curve. When outer slower streamlines dominate the emission, we predict observed shifts increasing with transverse distance to the jet axis, opposite to the true rotatio…
We present predictions of Ly-alpha forest-galaxy correlations at z=3 from Eulerian simulations that include the effects of galactic winds, driven primarily by supernova explosions. Galactic winds produce expanding bubbles of shock-heated gas within ~0.5 comoving Mpc/h of luminous galaxies in the simulation, which have space density similar to that of observed Lyman break galaxies (LBGs). However, most of the low-density intergalactic gas that determines the observed properties of the Ly-alpha forest is unaffected by winds. The impact of winds on the Ly-alpha optical depth near galaxies is less…
VLA images of the Sickle and Pistol H II regions near the Galactic center at 3.6 and 6 cm reveal six point sources in the region where the dense Quintuplet stellar cluster is located. The spectral indices of five of these sources between 6 cm and 3.6 cm have values of alpha = +0.5 to +0.8, consistent with the interpretation that the radio sources correspond to ionized stellar winds of the massive stars in this cluster. The radio source associated with the Pistol Star shows alpha = -0.4 +/- 0.2, consistent with a flat or slightly non-thermal spectrum.
The starburst galaxy M82 shows a system of H$α$-emitting filaments which extend to each side of the galactic disk. We model these filaments as the result of the interaction between the winds from a distribution of Super Stellar Clusters (SSCs). We first derive the condition necessary for producing a radiative interaction between the cluster winds (a condition which is met by the SSC distribution of M82). We then compute 3D simulations for SSC wind distributions which satisfy the condition for a radiative interaction, and also for distributions which do not satisfy this condition. We find that …
A jet is simulated on the background of a galactic wind headed by a radiative bow shock. The wind shell, which is due to the radiative bow shock, is effectively destroyed by the impact of the jet cocoon, thanks to Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities. Associated strong HI absorption, and possibly also molecular emission, in high redshift radio galaxies which is observed preferentially in the smaller ones may be explained by that model, which is an improvement of an earlier radiative bow shock model. The model requires temperatures of $\approx 10^6$ K in the proto-clusters hosting these objects, and m…
Microlensing and pixel-lensing surveys play a fundamental role in the searches for galactic dark matter and in the study of the galactic structure. Recent observations suggest the presence of a population of old white dwarfs with high proper motion, probably in the galactic halo, with local mass density in the range $1.3\times 10^{-4}-4.4\times 10^{-3} M_{\odot}$ pc$^{-3}$, in addition to the standard galactic stellar disk and dark halo components. Investigation of the signatures on microlensing results towards the LMC of these different lens populations, with particular emphasis to white dwar…
We present optical studies of the physical and wind properties, plus CNO chemical abundances, of 25 O9.5-B3 Galactic supergiants. We employ non-LTE, line blanketed, extended model atmospheres, which provide a modest downward revision in the effective temperature scale of early B supergiants of up to 1-2kK relative to previous non-blanketed results. The so-called `bistability jump' at B1 (Teff ~ 21kK) from Lamers et al. is rather a more gradual trend (with large scatter) from v_inf/v_esc ~ 3.4 for B0--0.5 supergiants above 24kK to v_inf/v_esc ~ 2.5 for B0.7-1 supergiants with 20kK < Teff < 24kK…
Aims: Non-thermal radio emission associated with massive stars is believed to arise from a wind-wind collision in a binary system. However, the evidence of binarity is still lacking in some cases, notably Cyg OB2 #9 Methods: For several years, we have been monitoring this heavily-reddened star from various observatories. This campaign allowed us to probe variations both on short and long timescales and constitutes the first in-depth study of the visible spectrum of this object. Results: Our observations provide the very first direct evidence of a companion in Cyg OB2 #9, confirming the theoret…
Galactic winds and mass outflows are observed both in nearby starburst galaxies and in high-redshift star-forming galaxies. In this paper we develop a simple analytic model to understand the observed superwind phenomenon. Our model is built upon the model of McKee & Ostriker (1977) for the interstellar medium. It allows one to predict how properties of a superwind, such as wind velocity and mass outflow rate, are related to properties of its star-forming host galaxy, such as size, gas density and star formation rate. The model predicts a threshold of star formation rate density for the generat…
We assess the impact of starburst and AGN feedback-driven winds on the CO emission from galaxy mergers, and, in particular, search for signatures of these winds in the simulated CO morphologies and emission line profiles. We do so by combining a 3D non-LTE molecular line radiative transfer code with smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of galaxy mergers that include prescriptions for star formation, black hole growth, a multiphase interstellar medium (ISM), and the winds associated with star formation and black hole growth. Our main results are: (1) Galactic winds can drive outflo…
We report -as a part of a long-term study of mergers and IR QSOs- detailed spectroscopic evidences for outflow (OF) and/or Wolf Rayet features in: (i) low velocity OF in the ongoing mergers NGC 4038/39 and IRAS 23128-5919; (ii) extreme velocity OF (EVOF) in the QSOs IRAS 01003-2238 and IRAS 13218+0552; (iii) OF and EVOF in a complete sample of ultra-luminous IR galaxies/QSOs ("The IRAS 1 Jy MKO-KPNO Survey", of 118 objects). We found EVOF in IRAS 11119+3257, 14394+5332, 15130+1958 and 15462-0450. The OF components detected in these objects were mainly associated to starburst processes: i.e., t…
Measurements of interstellar absorption lines in 18 ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIGs) have been combined with published data, in order to reassess the dependence of galactic outflow speeds on starburst luminosity and galactic mass. The Doppler shifts reveal outflows of relatively cool gas at $330 \pm 100$km/s. The outflow speeds increase with the star formation rate (SFR) as roughly $v \propto SFR^{0.35}$. This result is surprising since, in the traditional model for starburst-driven winds, these relatively cool gas clouds are accelerated by the ram pressure of a hot, supernova-heated wi…
We studied the effect of supernovae feedback on a disk galaxy, taking into account the impact of infalling gas on both the star formation history and the corresponding outflow structure, the apparition of a supernovae-driven wind being highly sensitive to the halo mass, the galaxy spin and the star formation efficiency. We model our galaxies as cooling and collapsing NFW spheres. The dark matter component is modelled as a static external potential, while the baryon component is described by the Euler equations using the AMR code RAMSES. Metal-dependent cooling and supernovae-heating are also i…
Using available kinematical data for a subsample of NLTT stars from the HIPPARCOS mission we confirm the existence of a previously reported local anomaly in the (u,v) plane: the mean motion u for old disc stars, with v < -30 km/s, is largely positive (+19 +/- 9 km/s w.r.t. the Galactic Center). With the use of the newest global self-consistent numerical models of our Galaxy, we show that a bar could be responsible for this observed velocity anomaly. A fraction of our stars have bar perturbed ``hot'' orbits, allowing them to erratically wander from inside the bar to regions outside the corotati…
We argue that any violent galactic winds following early epoch of star bursts would significantly weaken the potentials of galaxies, and leave lasting signatures such as a lowered dark halo density and preferentially radial/escaping orbits for halo tracers such as globular clusters. A galaxy is disintegrated if more than half of its dynamical mass is blown off. The presence of dense halos in galaxies and the absence of intergalactic/escaping globulars should imply an upper limit on the amount of baryons lost in galactic winds around 4% of the total mass of the galaxy. This translates to limits…
During a 9-month campaign (1996--1997), the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) satellite mapped the Galactic Plane at mid-infrared wavelengths (4.3--21.3um). Here we report evidence for a spectacular limb- brightened, bipolar structure at the Galactic Center extending more than a degree (170 pc at 8.0 kpc) on either side of the plane. The 8.3um emission shows a tight correlation with the 3, 6 and 11 cm continuum structure over the same scales. Dense gas and dust are being entrained in a large-scale bipolar wind powered by a central starburst. The inferred energy injection at the source is ~10^54…
Although the emission of radiation from dark matter annihilation is expected to be maximized at the Galactic Center, geometric factors and the presence of point-like and diffuse backgrounds make the choice of the angular window size to optimize the chance of a signal detection a non-trivial problem. Contrarily to what is often assumed, we find that the best strategy is to focus on a window size around the Galactic Center of ~ 1 deg to >~ 30 deg, where the optimal size depends on the angular distribution of the signal and the backgrounds. Although our conclusions are general, we illustrate this…
In this paper we present some results of numerical simulations concerning the development of galactic winds in starburst galaxies. In particular, we focus on a galaxy similar to IZw18, the most metal-poor galaxy locally known. We compute the chemio-dynamical evolution of this galaxy, considering the energetic input and the chemical yields originating from Supernovae (SNe) of Type II and Ia and from intermediate-mass stars. We consider both single, instantaneous starburst and two starbursts separated by a quiescent period. In all considered cases a metal enriched winds develops and in particula…
Observations of metal lines in $\lyal$ absorption systems of small H~I column density and their ubiquitous nature suggest that the intergalactic medium (IGM) was enriched to about $Z \sim 0.01 \> Z_{\odot}$ by a redshift $z \sim 3$. We investigate the role of winds from small star-forming galaxies at high $z$ in enriching the IGM. The existence of large numbers of small galaxies at high $z$ follows naturally from hierarchical clustering theories (e.g. CDM). For analytical simplicity we assume that the galactic winds escape the galaxies at a single characteristic redshift $z_{in}$, and we model…
IRS 13E is an infrared, mm and X-ray source in the Galactic Centre. We present the first Chandra X-ray spectrum for IRS 13E and show that it is consistent with a luminous and highly absorbed X-ray binary system. Since the X-ray luminosity is too large for a solitary star, our interpretation is that of an early-type long-period binary with strong colliding winds emission. This naturally explains the observed X-ray spectrum and count rate as well as its lack of significant short term variability. Due to the short lifetime of any nebula 0.2 pc from the putative central super-massive black-hole, w…
We detect high-velocity absorbing gas using Hubble Space Telescope and Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer medium resolution spectroscopy along two high-latitude AGN sight lines (Mrk 1383 and PKS 2005-489) above and below the Galactic Center (GC). These absorptions are most straightforwardly interpreted as a wind emanating from the GC which does not escape from the Galaxy's gravitational potential. Spectra of four comparison B stars are used to identify and remove foreground velocity components from the absorption-line profiles of O VI, N V, C II, C III, C IV, Si II, Si III, and Si IV. Two …
The Galactic center Arches stellar cluster, detected and studied until now only in the near-infrared, is comprised of at least one hundred massive (M>20 Msun) stars. Here we report the detection at centimeter wavelengths of radio continuum emission from eight radio sources associated with the cluster. Seven of these radio sources have rising spectral indices between 4.9 and 8.5 GHz and coincide spatially with the brightest stars in the cluster, as determine from JHK photometry and Brackett alpha and Brackett Gamma spectroscopy. Our results confirm the presence of powerful ionized winds in thes…
Recent observations of the Galactic center in high-energy gamma-rays (above 0.1TeV) have opened up new ways to study this region, from understanding the emission source of these high-energy photons to constraining the environment in which they are formed. We present a revised theoretical density model of the inner 5pc surrounding Sgr A* based on the fact that the underlying structure of this region is dominated by the winds from the Wolf-Rayet stars orbiting Sgr A*. An ideal probe and application of this density structure is this high energy gamma-ray emission. We assume a proton-scattering mo…
(abridged) We present a semianalytic model of steady-state magnetically and radiatively driven disk outflows in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) consisting of a continuous wind with embedded clouds. The continuous outflow is launched from the disk surface as a centrifugally driven wind, whereas the clouds are uplifted from the disk by the ram pressure of the continuous outflow. In addition, the continuous wind and clouds are subject to both line and continuum radiative acceleration. We describe this model in detail, outline the tests used to verify its accuracy, and compare it to other outflow mo…
We present {\em ROSAT} PSPC and HRI observations of the galactic wind from the starburst galaxy M82. \mbox{X-ray} emission from the wind is detected to a distance of $\sim6\kpc$ from the plane of the galaxy. Making use of the PSPC's mixture of good spatial and spectral characteristics, we separate point source and diffuse emission, and investigate the spectral variation of the diffuse emission through the wind. The intrinsic X-ray luminosity of the wind in the 0.1-2.4\keV\ band is found to be approximately $1.9\times10^{40}$\ergps outside the immediate vicinity of the nucleus. The temperature …
We show that ``top-down'' mechanisms of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays which involve heavy relic particle-like objects predict Galactic anisotropy of highest energy cosmic rays at the level of minimum $\sim 20%$. This anisotropy is large enough to be either observed or ruled out in the next generation of experiments.
We show that the recently-discovered orbits of massive stars with closest approach of ~10^3 Schwarzschild radii from SgrA*, allow winds from these stars to provide the required mass deposition rate near the black hole horizon. The observed luminosity of SgrA* does not require viscous transport of angular momentum, as long as the total wind mass loss rate reaches ~10^{-6} solar masses per year from the close-in stars. The specific orbits of the nearest stars should cause modulation of the radio and infrared flux from SgrA* on a timescale of years in a predictable fashion.
We use high resolution numerical simulations of the formation of cold dark matter halos to simulate the background of decay products from neutralino annihilation, such as gamma-rays or neutrinos. Halos are non-spherical, have steep singular density profiles and contain many thousands of surviving dark matter substructure clumps. This leads to several unique signatures in the gamma-ray background that may be confirmed or rejected by the next generation of gamma-ray experiments. Most importantly, the diffuse background is enhanced by over two orders of magnitude due to annihilation within substr…
