A Holistic Picture of Nearby Starburst Dwarf Galaxies
Kristen McQuinn (University of Minnesota)
Starbursts are short-lived periods of intense star formation whose energy output dominates the total luminosity of their host galaxies. The ionizing radiation, mass loss, and nucleosynthesis of the massive stellar populations formed in a burst can alter the gas dynamics, future star formation, and chemical composition of the host galaxy. Local starbursts (z << 1) provide 10% of the radiant energy production and ~20% of all the high mass star formation (e.g., Heckman et al. 1998; Brinchmann et al. 2004). Among the many morphological types in which starbursts have been seen, dwarf galaxies offer valuable laboratories in which to study the starburst phenomenon. As part of a multi-wavelength study, new and archival observations of x-ray, ultraviolet, optical, Halpha, infrared, and HI emission are being combined to create a holistic picture of the starburst phenomenon in the nearby dwarf galaxies. In this talk, I will discuss recent results quantifying both the temporal and spatial characteristics of the starburst phenomenon from star formation histories reconstructed from the optically resolved stellar populations. I will also highlight ongoing work to measure the evolutionary impact of starbursts through galactic outflows and, with a new GBT program, search for evidence of galaxy interactions as the trigger mechanism of the starbursts.
