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Hubble data challenges idea that supernova winds helped clear cosmic fog
University of Michigan-led researchers using Hubble report that stronger galactic winds from exploding stars were linked to less ionizing radiation escaping nearby starburst galaxies, contrary to a leading reionization model, ScienceDaily said.
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope report that powerful winds from exploding stars appear to hinder, not help, ultraviolet radiation leaving galaxies, according to University of Michigan materials summarized by ScienceDaily on Friday1.
The finding, published in Nature Astronomy, bears on cosmic reionization, when radiation from early galaxies ionized intergalactic hydrogen about 13 billion years ago and left the universe more transparent to ultraviolet light1.
A leading idea had been that supernova-driven winds cleared channels through gas so ionizing photons could escape into intergalactic space1. Hubble spectra of nearby starburst galaxies instead linked faster winds with a smaller fraction of escaping ionizing radiation, ScienceDaily reported1.
Lead author Cody Carr, a University of Michigan astronomy postdoctoral researcher who led the work while at Zhejiang University, said the galaxies were not leaking ionizing radiation in the way the team had expected1. Co-author Stephan McCandliss of Johns Hopkins University said supernova energy input appeared to increase, rather than decrease, coverage of neutral gas and dust that blocks that radiation1.
The authors suggest ionizing photons may leave galaxies before large winds form, so models and simulations may need to treat radiation and winds from young stars before the first supernovae1. Carr's group is seeking more Hubble time to test whether the pattern holds in additional galaxies1. The study involved nearly 30 scientists and funding that included NASA, the U.S. National Science Foundation and institutions in China and Europe1.
