Molecular outflows in starburst nuclei

Abstract

Recent observations have detected molecular outflows in a few nearby starburst nuclei. We discuss the physical processes at work in such an environment in order to outline a scenario that can explain the observed parameters of the phenomenon, such as the molecular mass, speed and size of the outflows. We show that outflows triggered by OB associations, with $N_{OB}\ge 10^5$ (corresponding to a star formation rate (SFR)$\ge 1$ M$_{\odot}$ yr$^{-1}$ in the nuclear region), in a stratified disk with mid-plane density $n_0\sim 200\hbox{--}1000$ cm$^{-3}$ and scale height $z_0\ge 200 (n_0/10^2 \, {\rm cm}^{-3})^{-3/5}$ pc, can form molecules in a cool dense and expanding shell. The associated molecular mass is $\ge 10^7$ M$_\odot$ at a distance of a few hundred pc, with a speed of several tens of km s$^{-1}$. We show that a SFR surface density of $10 \le Σ_{SFR} \le 50$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-2}$ favours the production of molecular outflows, consistent with observed values.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 17 pages, 18 figures