by Nereid » Tue Jun 07, 2011 7:54 pm
dougettinger wrote:The photoevaporation process creates "fingers" or "elephant trunks" behind EGGS(evaporating gaseous globules), erodes protoplanetary disks, planetary atmospheres, and the surrounding regions of a star entering the main sequence. The word is a misnomer because evaporation or a phase change does not take place. Actually high energy photons interact and accelerate atmospheric or IMC molecules, most generally the lighter ones of H and He. These interactions with the lighter molecules and atoms can create a higher ratio of dust(higher metals) to gases. The better word is photoerosion which is sometimes used. The matter of IMC and star systems is being pushed away from its present position.
Now I pose the question. In galactic scales where are all these gases eroded to that do not form new stars ? Where do the vast "sinks" or "seas" of these eroded gases reside in a spiral galaxy ? Are IMCs or GMCs (interstellar or giant molecular clouds) thoroughly mixed within a galaxy's star field or do they eventually migrate to favored regions such as the perimeters of spiral galaxies ? or along the spiral arms of galaxies ? Or are these gases expelled from the spiral disks and reside above and below the disk in an elliptical or spherical fashion ?
I'm a bit surprised no one has attempted to reply to dougettinger's question, in over a month!
The interstellar medium (ISM), in a galaxy like our own, has several distinct phases. Broadly speaking, the phases are in (thermal) pressure equilibrium, with supernova remnants being an obvious exception. In all phases, the dominant element is hydrogen, followed by helium; all other elements - which astronomers confusingly call 'metals' - are mere minor constituents (again, supernova remnants may be exceptions). In GMCs (I'd not heard of 'IMC' until I read your post!), the hydrogen is in the form of molecules (mostly); this ISM phase is by far the most dense, and the coldest. In the phase called HII regions, which also may be quite dense, the hydrogen is (almost) entirely ionised (and in the centres of some such regions helium is singly ionised too). By volume, these two phases comprise ~1% of the galaxy's ISM. Hydrogen can be (mostly) neutral, and atomic, or it can be mostly but not completely ionised (and atomic); helium - which does not form molecules - is almost entirely neutral in these phases.
So, the short answer to your question is that a) the hydrogen molecules are split, forming either atomic hydrogen or ionised hydrogen (or both); and b) the newly heated gas (or, possibly, plasma) diffuses, or is blown, into the surrounding ISM.
In starburst galaxies, intense star formation in GMCs can create bubbles, or fountains, in which gas/plasma is sent far above the (spiral) galaxy plane (the pressure of the ISM keeps expansion
in the plane to a minimum).
Wikipedia's
Interstellar medium entry is a good place to start to explore this topic further (the usual caveats about Wikipedia apply, of course).
[quote="dougettinger"]The photoevaporation process creates "fingers" or "elephant trunks" behind EGGS(evaporating gaseous globules), erodes protoplanetary disks, planetary atmospheres, and the surrounding regions of a star entering the main sequence. The word is a misnomer because evaporation or a phase change does not take place. Actually high energy photons interact and accelerate atmospheric or IMC molecules, most generally the lighter ones of H and He. These interactions with the lighter molecules and atoms can create a higher ratio of dust(higher metals) to gases. The better word is photoerosion which is sometimes used. The matter of IMC and star systems is being pushed away from its present position.
Now I pose the question. In galactic scales where are all these gases eroded to that do not form new stars ? Where do the vast "sinks" or "seas" of these eroded gases reside in a spiral galaxy ? Are IMCs or GMCs (interstellar or giant molecular clouds) thoroughly mixed within a galaxy's star field or do they eventually migrate to favored regions such as the perimeters of spiral galaxies ? or along the spiral arms of galaxies ? Or are these gases expelled from the spiral disks and reside above and below the disk in an elliptical or spherical fashion ?[/quote]
I'm a bit surprised no one has attempted to reply to dougettinger's question, in over a month! :P
The interstellar medium (ISM), in a galaxy like our own, has several distinct phases. Broadly speaking, the phases are in (thermal) pressure equilibrium, with supernova remnants being an obvious exception. In all phases, the dominant element is hydrogen, followed by helium; all other elements - which astronomers confusingly call 'metals' - are mere minor constituents (again, supernova remnants may be exceptions). In GMCs (I'd not heard of 'IMC' until I read your post!), the hydrogen is in the form of molecules (mostly); this ISM phase is by far the most dense, and the coldest. In the phase called HII regions, which also may be quite dense, the hydrogen is (almost) entirely ionised (and in the centres of some such regions helium is singly ionised too). By volume, these two phases comprise ~1% of the galaxy's ISM. Hydrogen can be (mostly) neutral, and atomic, or it can be mostly but not completely ionised (and atomic); helium - which does not form molecules - is almost entirely neutral in these phases.
So, the short answer to your question is that a) the hydrogen molecules are split, forming either atomic hydrogen or ionised hydrogen (or both); and b) the newly heated gas (or, possibly, plasma) diffuses, or is blown, into the surrounding ISM.
In starburst galaxies, intense star formation in GMCs can create bubbles, or fountains, in which gas/plasma is sent far above the (spiral) galaxy plane (the pressure of the ISM keeps expansion [i]in [/i]the plane to a minimum).
Wikipedia's [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_medium]Interstellar medium[/url] entry is a good place to start to explore this topic further (the usual caveats about Wikipedia apply, of course).