Supergalactic Winds Driven by Multiple Super–Star Clusters

Abstract

Here we present two-dimensional hydrodynamic calculations of free expanding supergalactic winds, taking into consideration strong radiative cooling. Our main premise is that supergalactic winds are powered by collections of super-star clusters, each of which is a source of a high-metallicity supersonic diverging outflow. The interaction of winds from neighboring super-star clusters is shown here to lead to a collection of stationary oblique shocks and crossing shocks, able to structure the general outflow into a network of dense and cold, kiloparsec long filaments that originate near the base of the outflow. The shocks also lead to extended regions of diffuse soft X-ray emission and, furthermore, to channel the outflow with a high degree of collimation into the intergalactic medium.