Photon Feedback: Screening and the Eddington Limit

Abstract

Bright star-forming galaxies radiate well below their Eddington Limit. The value of the flux-mean opacity that mediates the radiation force onto matter is orders of magnitude smaller than the UV or optical dust opacity. On empirical grounds, it is shown that high-redshift ULIRGs radiate at two orders of magnitude below their Eddington Limit, while the local starbursters M82 and Arp 220 radiate at a few percent of their Eddington Limit. A simple model for the radiative transfer of UV and optical light in dust-rich environments is considered. Radiation pressure on dust does not greatly affect the large-scale gas dynamics of star-forming galaxies.

5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to ApJL

References in corpus (4)

• Towards a complete accounting of energy and momentum from stellar feedback in galaxy formation simulations
• The Birth of a Galaxy. II. The Role of Radiation Pressure
• Non-linear Evolution of Rayleigh-Taylor Instability in a Radiation Supported Atmosphere
• Nonlinear Evolution of the Radiation-Driven Magneto-Acoustic Instability (RMI)

Cited by in corpus (5)

• High-Resolution Radio Continuum Measurements of the Nuclear Disks of Arp 220
• Radiation Feedback in ULIRGS: Are Photons Movers and Shakers?
• Cosmic Rays and Magnetic Fields in the Core and Halo of the Starburst M82: Implications for Galactic Wind Physics
• Dust Scattering and the Radiation Pressure Force in the M82 Superwind
• Grain Physics and IR Dust Emission in AGN Environments