The Physical Nature of Starburst-Driven Galactic Outflows

Abstract: We present the fourth of the Cholla Galactic OutfLow Simulations suite (CGOLS). Using a physically-motivated prescription for clustered supernova feedback, we successfully drive a multiphase outflow from a disk galaxy. The high resolution ($< 5\,\mathrm{pc}$) across a relatively large domain ($20\,\mathrm{kpc}$) allows us to capture the hydrodynamic mixing and dynamical interactions between the hot and cool ($T \sim 10^4\,\mathrm{K}$) phases in the outflow, which in turn leads to direct evidence of a qualitatively new mechanism for cool gas acceleration in galactic winds. We show that mixing of momentum from the hot phase to the cool phase accelerates the cool gas to $800\,\mathrm{km}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$ on kpc scales, with properties inconsistent with the physical models of ram pressure acceleration or with bulk cooling from the hot phase. The mixing process also affects the hot phase, modifying its radial profiles of temperature, density, and velocity from the expectations of radial supersonic flow. This mechanism provides a physical explanation for the high velocity, blue shifted, low ionization absorption lines often observed in the spectra of starburst and high redshift galaxies.