Galaxy formation and evolution are driven by many physical processes, among them feedback is one of the most difficult ingredients to be understood. It has been widely believed that stellar feedback plays a crucial role in regulating star formation, shaping the stellar mass function and mass-metallicity relation, driving turbulence in the interstellar medium, and launching galactic winds, which are ubiquitous in most rapidly star-forming galaxies. Although important, the physics of stellar feedback is still unclear. Stellar feedback may be driven by overlapping supernovae explosions and radiation. The growing observations of multiphase structure in galactic winds and the interstellar medium in a large number of galaxies have not been well explained by any models. Using the state-of-the-art numerical simulations, I will assess the relative merits of these driving mechanisms for accelerating multiphase galactic winds to observed velocities, momentum flux boost during wind propagation, and interaction between supernova remnants, winds and giant molecular clouds.

BIO
Dong Zhang is a theoretical and computational astrophysicist at the University of Michigan. His research interests include galaxy formation and evolution, stellar feedback , theory of galactic winds, radiative transfer, numerical simulations of magnetohydrodynamics, dark matter structure in early Universe, central engines of gamma-ray bursts, and accretion disks. He obtained his Ph.D. in astronomy from the Ohio State University in 2015, and bachelor’s degree in astronomy from Nanjing University.

Host: Prof. Xuening Bai