Radiation Pressure Supported Starburst Galaxies & The Fueling of Active Galactic Nuclei

TL;DR

This paper explores how radiation pressure influences starburst galaxies and the fueling of active galactic nuclei, highlighting its role in feedback mechanisms and disk support at various optical depths.

Contribution

It reviews the role of radiation pressure in starburst galaxies and accretion disks, establishing conditions for Eddington-limited star formation and disk support.

Findings

Radiation pressure can regulate star formation fluxes around 10^{13} L_sun/kpc^2.

Young stellar disks at the Galactic Center may have been radiation pressure supported during formation.

The bolometric flux at formation of the Galactic Center disk was approximately 10^{15} L_sun/kpc^2.

Abstract

Radiation pressure from the absorption and scattering of starlight by dust grains may be a crucial feedback mechanism in starburst galaxies and the self-gravitating parsec-scale disks that accompany the fueling of active galactic nuclei. I review the case for radiation pressure in both optically-thin and highly optically-thick contexts. I describe the conditions for which Eddington-limited star formation yields a characteristic flux of ~10^{13} L_sun/kpc^2, and I discuss the physical circumstances for which the flux from radiation pressure supported disks is below or above this value. In particular, I describe the young stellar disk on ~0.1 pc scales at the Galactic Center. I argue that its bolometric flux at formation, ~10^{15} L_sun/kpc^2, and the observed stellar mass and scale height imply that the disk may have been radiation pressure supported during formation.