Radioactive and kinematic tracers of feedback from massive stars

Abstract

The mixing of ejecta from young stars into the interstellar medium is an important process in the interplay between star formation and galaxy evolution. A unique window into these processes is provided by the radioactive isotopes 26Al, traced by its γ-ray decay lines at 1.8 MeV. With a mean lifetime of ∼ 1 Myr it is a long-term tracer of nucleosynthesis for massive stars. Our population synthesis code models the ejection of 26Al, together with the 60Fe, the kinetic energy and UV radiation for a population of massive stars. We have applied the code to study the nearby Orion region and the more massive Carina region and found good agreement with observational constraints.