Supernova feedback and the energy deposition in molecular clouds
Abstract
Feedback from supernovae is often invoked as an important process in limiting star formation, removing gas from galaxies and, hence, as a determining process in galaxy formation. Here, we report on numerical simulations, investigating the interaction between supernova explosions and the natal molecular cloud. We also consider the cases with and without previous feedback from the high-mass star in the form of ionizing radiation and stellar winds. The supernova is able to find weak points in the cloud and creates channels through which it can escape, leaving much of the well-shielded cloud largely unaffected. This effect is increased when the channels are preexisting due to the effects of previous stellar feedback. The expanding supernova deposits its energy in the gas that is in these exposed channels, and, hence, sweeps up less mass when feedback has already occurred, resulting in faster outflows with less radiative losses. The full impact of the supernova explosion is then able to impact the larger scale of the galaxy in which it abides. We conclude that supernova explosions have only moderate effects on their dense natal environments but that with preexisting feedback, the energetic effects of the supernova are able to escape and affect the wider scale medium of the galaxy.
Citation
Lucas , W E , Bonnell , I A & Dale , J E 2020 , ' Supernova feedback and the energy deposition in molecular clouds ' , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , vol. 493 , no. 4 , pp. 4700–4710 . https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa451
Publication
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0035-8711Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa451
Description
Funding: European Research Council for the FP7 ERC advanced grant project ECO-GAL (WEL and IAB).Collections
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