Galaxy formation in an intergalactic medium dominated by explosions

Abstract

view Abstract Citations (569) References (20) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS Galaxy formation in an intergalactic medium dominated by explosions Ostriker, J. P. ; Cowie, L. L. Abstract The evolution of galaxies in an intergalactic medium dominated by explosions of star systems is considered analogously to star formation by nonlinearly interacting processes in the interstellar medium. Conditions for the existence of a hydrodynamic instability by which galaxy formation leads to more galaxy formation due to the propagation of the energy released at the death of massive stars are examined, and it is shown that such an explosive amplification is possible at redshifts less than about 5 and stellar system masses between 10 to the 8th and 10 to the 12th solar masses. Explosions before a redshift of about 5 are found to lead primarily to the formation of massive stars rather than galaxies, while those at a redshift close to 5 will result in objects of normal galactic scale. The model also predicts a dusty interstellar medium preventing the detection of objects of redshift greater than 3, numbers and luminosities of protogalaxies comparable to present observations, unvirialized groups of galaxies lying on two-dimensional surfaces, and a significant number of black holes in the mass range 1000-10,000 solar masses. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: February 1981 DOI: 10.1086/183458 Bibcode: 1981ApJ...243L.127O Keywords: Cosmology; Explosions; Galactic Evolution; Intergalactic Media; Stellar Systems; Black Holes (Astronomy); Cosmic Gases; Flow Stability; High Temperature Gases; Interstellar Gas; Luminous Intensity; Red Shift; Astrophysics full text sources ADS |