Star Formation in L* Galaxies Regulated by Entropy Driven Winds

Benjamin Keller

Poster -- Galactic scale ISM and star formation

Galaxies like the Milky Way, with stellar masses of ~10^10 Msun and halo masses of ~10^12 Msun lie at a phase transition in their global properties. Below this mass, galaxies tend to be gas rich and star forming, with high specific star formation rates. Beyond this mass, they typically transition to a so-called "red and dead" state, with little gas and low sSFRs. In this talk, I will show examine how the physics of supernova-driven superbubbles can power buoyant, "entropy-driven" winds that loft material out of the interstellar medium, storing it in the circumgalactic medium. I will derive a formalism that connects the ISM properties to the lifecycle of these outflows, and show how this establishes this critical transition mass of Mh~10^12 Msun.