DR. SHARANYA SUR

High surface density, rapidly star-forming galaxies are observed to have ˜ 50 - 100 km/s line-of-sight velocity dispersions, which are much higher than expected from supernova driving alone. In this talk, the speaker will describe three-dimensional interstellar medium simulations that explore the impact of such high velocity dispersions, which arise solely from gravitational instabilities. The motions lead to strong global outflows, triggered by a thermal runaway caused by turbulent heating coupled with the inefficient cooling of > 105 K material. Our results suggests that in strongly, self-gravitating disks, outflows may be enhanced by, but need not be caused by, energy input from supernovae.