Cosmic Rays: The Cause of Galactic Winds

By Sarah Abriol | October 31, 2022

Using the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA),
astronomers have discovered new important clues about how galaxies put the brakes
on vigorous episodes of star formation in their new study of the neighboring galaxy M33.

The rate of star formation is slowed by such winds as galaxies evolve over time, such
winds in question are the shock waves from supernova explosions and energetic, black
hole-powered jets of material coming from galactic cores that have been considered the
major drivers of those winds, with cosmic winds thought to be minor contributors.

"We have seen galactic winds driven by cosmic rays in our own Milky Way and the
Andromeda galaxy, which have much weaker rates of star formation, but not before in a
galaxy such as M33," (The National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 2022) said Fatemah
Tabatabaei, of the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences in Iran.

In collaboration with an international team of scientists, Tabatabaei surveyed M33, a

spiral galaxy that lies nearly 3 million light-years away in the Milky Way's Local Group.
Along with VLA and Effelsberg data, they also used observations of millimeter-wave,
visible light, and infrared telescopes.

As stars grow and expand, they eventually explode as supernovae, which are stars
many times more massive than our Sun. A shock wave can accelerate particles to
nearly the speed of light, creating cosmic rays in the process. With these cosmic rays,
the pressure that drives winds that carry away the gas needed to continue forming stars
can build.

"The VLA observations indicated that cosmic rays in M33 are escaping the regions
where they are born, making them able to drive more extensive winds," (The National
Radio Astronomy Observatory, 2022) said William Cotton, of the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory.

Scientists concluded that the numerous supernova explosions and supernova remnants
within M33’s massive star clusters contributed to such cosmic ray-driven winds.

"This means that cosmic rays probably are a more general cause of galactic winds,
particularly at earlier times in the universe's history, when star formation was happening
at a much higher rate," Tabatabaei said. She then added, "This mechanism thus
becomes a more important factor in understanding the evolution of galaxies over time."
(The National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 2022)

Tabatabaei, Cotton, and their colleagues’ findings are published in The Royal
Astronomical Society’s Monthly Notices on 25 October.

References

(PDF) cloud-scale radio surveys of star formation and feedback in ... (n.d.). Retrieved October 30,
2022, from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363332747_Cloud-scale_Radio_Surveys_of_Star_Formati
on_and_Feedback_in_Triangulum_Galaxy_M_33_VLA_Observations

ScienceDaily. (2022, October 25). Cosmic Rays Drive Galaxy's winds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved
October 30, 2022, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/10/221025165708.htm

TheNRAO. (n.d.). Vla finds cosmic rays driving galaxy's winds. EurekAlert! Retrieved October 31,
2022, from https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/969077

F. S. Tabatabaei, W. Cotton, E. Schinnerer, R. Beck, A. Brunthaler, K. M. Menten, J. Braine, E.

Corbelli, C. Kramer, J. E. Beckman, J. H. Knapen, R. Paladino, E. Koch, A. Camps Farina.
Cloud-scale Radio Surveys of Star Formation and Feedback in Triangulum Galaxy M 33: VLA
Observations. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (in press), 2022 [abstract]