가까운 은하에서 폭발적 항성생성은하의 분광 관측을 수행하여 별생성률이 높은 은하에서 별생성이 일어나는 시 간 규모에 따라 방출선의 방출 기작, 별생성률, 항성질량, 금속함량 등의 물리량 혹은 물리량 상호 간의 관계가 어떻게 다른지를 살펴보았다. 관측 대상은 별생성 나이가 매우 어린 울프-레이에 은하 21개와 상대적으로 긴 시간 규모의 별생 성이 진행 중인 자외선 초과복사 은하 13개로 보현산 천문대의 1.8 m 망원경과 4K CCD, 긴 슬릿 분광기를 이용해 광학 영역에서의 스펙트럼을 얻었다. BPT 분석도표를 그려 관측된 은하들에서 기체를 이온화시키는 원인을 살펴보면 전체적 으로는 별생성(약 50%)이 비항성적 요소인 활동은하핵(약 15%)에 비해 훨씬 높았다. 별생성과 활동은하핵이 모두 기여하 는 경우도 전체의 35%였는데, 이러한 경우에 속하는 은하는 대부분 상대적으로 나이가 많을 것으로 추정되는 자외선 초 과복사 은하였다. 관측된 은하의 항성질량 범위는 대부분 109-11 M⊙이고 별생성률은 0.01-100 M⊙ yr−1로, SDSS에서 관측 된 은하들로 구성된 별생성 주계열에 위치한다. 울프-레이에 은하와 자외선 초과복사 은하들의 항성질량, 별생성률에서 큰 차이는 없었다. 또한 폭발적 항성생성은하는 질량-금속함량 관계를 보이며, 비슷한 항성질량을 가진 SDSS 은하와 비 교했을 때 금속함량이 낮게 나타났다. 이는 이 은하들에서 별생성으로 인한 강한 피드백이 일어나고 있음을 보여준다.

Starburst galaxies have strong star formation activity and generate large scale out ows which eject a huge amount of gas mass. This process affects galaxy activity, and therefore, the detailed study of nearby starburst galaxies could provide valuable information for the study of distant ones. So far there have been only a few studies of galactic-scale molecular out ows due to the sensitivity limitation of telescopes. Our study provides two nearby examples, NGC 2146 and NGC 3628. We used Nobeyama Millimeter Array (NMA) CO(1-0) data, Chandra soft X-ray data, and NMA 3 mm data to study the kinematics of molecular outflows, their interaction with ionized outflows, and the star forming activity in the starburst region. We found that the gas ejected through molecular outflows is much more significant than that used to form stars.

Using extensive mid-IR datasets from AKARI, i.e. 9-band photometry covering the wavelength range from 2μm to 24μm and the unbiased spectroscopic survey for sources with Sν(9μm)>0.3 mJy, we study starburst galaxies specifically at the redshift of z ~ 0.5, whose mid-IR spectra are clearly dominated by the PAH emission features. PAH-selected galaxies, selected with extremely red mid-IR colour due to PAHs, have high rest-frame PAH-to-stellar luminosity ratios, comparable to those in the most active regions in nearby starburst galaxies. Thus, they seem to have active starburst regions spreading over the whole body. Furthermore, some of PAH-selected galaxies are found to have peculiar rest-frame 11-to- 8μm flux ratios, which is systematically smaller than nearby starburst/AGN spectral templates. This may indicate a systematic difference in the physical condition of ISM between nearby and distant starburst galaxies.

JHK near-infrared photometry of star clusters in the dwarf irregular/dwarf starburst galaxy NGC 1569 are presented. After adopting several criteria to exclude other sources (foreground stars, background galaxies, etc.), 154 candidates of star clusters are identified in the near-infrared images of NGC 1569, which include very young star clusters. Especially, from analysis based on theoretical background, we found ten very young star clusters near the center of NGC 1569. The total reddening values toward these clusters are estimated to be AV=1-9 mag from comparison with the theoretical estimates given by the Leitherer et al. (1999)'s star cluster model.

We present optical and near-infrared imaging and long-slit spectroscopy for the blue compact dwarf galaxy (BCD) Mrk 49 in the Virgo Cluster. The surface brightness distribution analysis shows that Mrk 49 consists of an off-centered blue bright compact core of r = 10′′ and a red faint outer exponential envelope. The Hα image and color difference suggest that these two components have different stellar populations: a high surface brightness population of massive young stars and an underlying low surface brightness population of older stars. The redder near-infrared colors of the inner most region suggest that the near-infrared flux of Mrk 49 originates from evolved massive stars associated with the current star-forming activity. The total apparent magnitude is BT = 14.32 mag and the mean effective surface brightness is μeff (B) = 21.56 mag arcsec−2. Long-slit spectroscopy shows that Mrk 49 rotates apparently as a solid body within r = 10′′ in a plane at position angle 55 degrees with an amplitude of about 20 km sec−1. The measured radial velocity of Mrk 49 was derived as 1,535 km sec−1; and the total mass of stars and gases is in the range of 3 to 6 × 109 M⊙. The mass-to-light ratios for the central region of Mrk 49 in I and B band are estimated 1.0 and 0.5, respectively. The upper limit of the dark matter to visible matter ratio seems to be < 5. The oxygen abundance is 12 + log(O/H) = 8.21 ± 0.1 which is about one quarter of the solar value while the relative helium abundance appears to be similar to that of the sun.

I present a model to explain the mass segregation and shallow mass functions observed in the central parts of starburst stellar clusters. The model assumes that the initial pre-stellar cores mass function resulting from the turbulent fragmentation of the proto-cluster cloud is significantly altered by the cores coalescence before they collapse to form stars. With appropriate, yet realistic parameters, this model based on the competition between cores coalescence and collapse reproduces the mass spectra of the well studied Arches cluster. Namely, the slopes at the intermediate and high mass ends, as well as the peculiar bump observed at 6M⊙ This coalescence-collapse process occurs on a short timescale of the order of the free fall time of the proto-cluster cloud (i.e., a few 104 years), suggesting that mass segregation in Arches and similar clusters is primordial. The best fitting model implies the total mass of the Arches cluster is 1.45x105M⊙. which is slightly higher than the often quoted, but completeness affected, observational value of a few 104M⊙ The model implies a star formation efficiency of ~30 percent which implies that the Arches cluster is likely to a gravitationally bound system.

There is accumulating evidence for a strong link between nuclear starbursts and AGN. Molecular gas in the central regions of galaxies plays a critical role in fueling nuclear starburst activity and feeding central AGN. The dense molecular ISM is accreted to the nuclear regions by stellar bars and galactic interactions. Here we describe recent observational results for the OB star forming regions in M51 and the nuclear star burst in Arp 220 - both of which have approximately the same rate of star formation per unit mass of ISM. We suggest that the maximum efficiency for forming young stars is an Eddington-like limit imposed by the radiation pressure of newly formed stars acting on the interstellar dust. This limit corresponds to approximately 500 L⊙ / M⊙ for optically thick regions in which the radiation has been degraded to the NIR. Interestingly, we note that some of the same considerations can be important in AGN where the source of fuel is provided by stellar evolution mass-loss or ISM accretion. Most of the stellar mass-loss occurs from evolving red giant stars and whether their mass-loss can be accreted to a central AGN or not depends on the radiative opacity of the mass-loss material. The latter depends on whether the dust survives or is sublimated (due to radiative heating). This, in turn, is determined by the AGN luminosity and the distance of the mass-loss stars from the AGN. Several AGN phenomena such as the broad emission and absorption lines may arise in this stellar mass-loss material. The same radiation pressure limit to the accretion may arise if the AGN fuel is from the ISM since the ISM dust-to-gas ratio is the same as that of stellar mass-loss.