The supernova rate-velocity dispersion relation in the interstellar medium

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  • 15 June 2005
Abstract
We investigate with three-dimensional numerical simulations of supernova driven turbulence in the interstellar medium (ISM) the relationship between the velocity dispersion of the gas and the supernova rate and feedback efficiency. Our simulations aim to explore the constancy of the velocity dispersion profiles in the outer parts of galactic disk at ~ 6-8 km s^{-1}, and the transition to the starburst regime i.e., high star formation rates associated with high velocity dispersions. Our results show that (a) supernova driving leads to constant velocity dispersions of sigma~6 km s^{-1} for the total gas and sigma_{HI} ~ 3 km s^{-1} for the HI gas, independent of the supernova rate, for values of the rate between 0.01 and 0.5 the Galactic value (eta_{G}), (b) The position of the transition to the starburst regime (i.e., location of sharp increase in the velocity dispersion) at around SFR/Area ~ 5*10^{-2}-10^{-2} M$_{\odot} yr^{-1} kpc^{-2} observed in the simulations, is in good agreement with the transition to the starburst regime in the observations (e.g., NGC 628 and NGC 6949), (c) For the high SN rates, no HI gas is present in the simulations box, however, for the total gas velocity dispersion, there is good agreement between the models and the observations, (d) At the intermediate SN rates (eta/eta_{G}~0.5-1), taking into account the thermal broadening of the HI line helps reach a good agreement in that regime between the models and the observations, (e) For eta/eta_{G} < 0.5, sigma and sigma_{HI} fall below the observed values by a factor of 2-3. The latter point is an indication that other physical processes couple to the stellar feedback in order to produce the observed level of turbulence in galactic disk

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