Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Supershells And Propagating Star Formation, R. Mccray, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Stellar winds and repeated supernovae from an OB association will create a cavity of coronal gas in the interstellar medium, with radius greater than 100 pc, surrounded by a dense, expanding shell of cool interstellar gas. If the association has a typical initial mass function, its supernovae explosions will inject energy into the supershell at a nearly constant rate for about 5 x 10^7 yr. The supershell loses its interior pressure and enters the snowplow phase when radiative cooling becomes important or when the shell bursts through the gas disk of a galaxy, typically after a few times 10^7 yr …