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A fast starburst wind consumes most of the energy from supernovae


Journal article


M. Audard, H. Awaki, R. Ballhausen, A. Bamba, E. Behar, R. Boissay-Malaquin, L. Brenneman, Gregory V. Brown, Lia Corrales, E. Costantini, R. Cumbee, M. Díaz Trigo, C. Done, T. Dotani, K. Ebisawa, M. Eckart, D. Eckert, Satoshi Eguchi, T. Enoto, Y. Ezoe, A. Foster, R. Fujimoto, Y. Fujita, Yasushi Fukazawa, Kotaro Fukushima, A. Furuzawa, L. Gallo, Javier A. Garc'ia, Liyi Gu, M. Guainazzi, Kouichi Hagino, Kenji Hamaguchi, I. Hatsukade, K. Hayashi, T. Hayashi, N. Hell, E. Hodges-Kluck, A. Hornschemeier, Y. Ichinohe, D. Ishi, Manabu Ishida, K. Ishikawa, Y. Ishisaki, J. Kaastra, T. Kallman, Erin Kara, S. Katsuda, Y. Kanemaru, Richard Kelley, C. Kilbourne, S. Kitamoto, S. Kobayashi, T. Kohmura, A. Kubota, M. Leutenegger, M. Loewenstein, Yoshitomo Maeda, M. Markevitch, Hironori Matsumoto, K. Matsushita, D. McCammon, Brian McNamara, F. Mernier, E. Miller, Jon M. Miller, I. Mitsuishi, M. Mizumoto, T. Mizuno, K. Mori, K. Mukai, Hiroshi Murakami, R. Mushotzky, H. Nakajima, K. Nakazawa, J. Ness, K. Nobukawa, M. Nobukawa, Hirofumi Noda, H. Odaka, S. Ogawa, A. Ogorzałek, T. Okajima, Naomi Ota, S. Paltani, R. Petre, P. Plucinsky, F. Porter, K. Pottschmidt, Kosuke Sato, Toshiki Sato, Makoto Sawada, H. Seta, M. Shidatsu, A. Simionescu, Randall K. Smith, Hiromasa Suzuki, A. Szymkowiak, H. Takahashi, M. Takeo, T. Tamagawa, Keisuke Tamura, Takaaki Tanaka, A. Tanimoto, M. Tashiro, Y. Terada, Y. Terashima, Y. Tsuboi, M. Tsujimoto, H. Tsunemi, T. Tsuru, Ayşegül Tümer, Hiroyuki Uchida, N. Uchida, Y. Uchida, H. Uchiyama, Y. Ueda, S. Uno, J. Vink, S. Watanabe, Brian J. Williams, Satoshi Yamada, S. Yamada, Hiroya Yamaguchi, K. Yamaoka, N. Yamasaki, M. Yamauchi, S. Yamauchi, T. Yaqoob, T. Yoneyama, Tessei Yoshida, M. Yukita, I. Zhuravleva, Kazuki Ampuku, E. Boettcher, Skylar Grayson, Gabriel J. Grell, P. Kosec, Seiya Sasamata, Evan Scannapieco
Nature, 2026

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APA   Click to copy
Audard, M., Awaki, H., Ballhausen, R., Bamba, A., Behar, E., Boissay-Malaquin, R., … Scannapieco, E. (2026). A fast starburst wind consumes most of the energy from supernovae. Nature.


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Audard, M., H. Awaki, R. Ballhausen, A. Bamba, E. Behar, R. Boissay-Malaquin, L. Brenneman, et al. “A Fast Starburst Wind Consumes Most of the Energy from Supernovae.” Nature (2026).


MLA   Click to copy
Audard, M., et al. “A Fast Starburst Wind Consumes Most of the Energy from Supernovae.” Nature, 2026.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@article{m2026a,
  title = {A fast starburst wind consumes most of the energy from supernovae},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {Nature},
  author = {Audard, M. and Awaki, H. and Ballhausen, R. and Bamba, A. and Behar, E. and Boissay-Malaquin, R. and Brenneman, L. and Brown, Gregory V. and Corrales, Lia and Costantini, E. and Cumbee, R. and Trigo, M. Díaz and Done, C. and Dotani, T. and Ebisawa, K. and Eckart, M. and Eckert, D. and Eguchi, Satoshi and Enoto, T. and Ezoe, Y. and Foster, A. and Fujimoto, R. and Fujita, Y. and Fukazawa, Yasushi and Fukushima, Kotaro and Furuzawa, A. and Gallo, L. and Garc'ia, Javier A. and Gu, Liyi and Guainazzi, M. and Hagino, Kouichi and Hamaguchi, Kenji and Hatsukade, I. and Hayashi, K. and Hayashi, T. and Hell, N. and Hodges-Kluck, E. and Hornschemeier, A. and Ichinohe, Y. and Ishi, D. and Ishida, Manabu and Ishikawa, K. and Ishisaki, Y. and Kaastra, J. and Kallman, T. and Kara, Erin and Katsuda, S. and Kanemaru, Y. and Kelley, Richard and Kilbourne, C. and Kitamoto, S. and Kobayashi, S. and Kohmura, T. and Kubota, A. and Leutenegger, M. and Loewenstein, M. and Maeda, Yoshitomo and Markevitch, M. and Matsumoto, Hironori and Matsushita, K. and McCammon, D. and McNamara, Brian and Mernier, F. and Miller, E. and Miller, Jon M. and Mitsuishi, I. and Mizumoto, M. and Mizuno, T. and Mori, K. and Mukai, K. and Murakami, Hiroshi and Mushotzky, R. and Nakajima, H. and Nakazawa, K. and Ness, J. and Nobukawa, K. and Nobukawa, M. and Noda, Hirofumi and Odaka, H. and Ogawa, S. and Ogorzałek, A. and Okajima, T. and Ota, Naomi and Paltani, S. and Petre, R. and Plucinsky, P. and Porter, F. and Pottschmidt, K. and Sato, Kosuke and Sato, Toshiki and Sawada, Makoto and Seta, H. and Shidatsu, M. and Simionescu, A. and Smith, Randall K. and Suzuki, Hiromasa and Szymkowiak, A. and Takahashi, H. and Takeo, M. and Tamagawa, T. and Tamura, Keisuke and Tanaka, Takaaki and Tanimoto, A. and Tashiro, M. and Terada, Y. and Terashima, Y. and Tsuboi, Y. and Tsujimoto, M. and Tsunemi, H. and Tsuru, T. and Tümer, Ayşegül and Uchida, Hiroyuki and Uchida, N. and Uchida, Y. and Uchiyama, H. and Ueda, Y. and Uno, S. and Vink, J. and Watanabe, S. and Williams, Brian J. and Yamada, Satoshi and Yamada, S. and Yamaguchi, Hiroya and Yamaoka, K. and Yamasaki, N. and Yamauchi, M. and Yamauchi, S. and Yaqoob, T. and Yoneyama, T. and Yoshida, Tessei and Yukita, M. and Zhuravleva, I. and Ampuku, Kazuki and Boettcher, E. and Grayson, Skylar and Grell, Gabriel J. and Kosec, P. and Sasamata, Seiya and Scannapieco, Evan}
}

Abstract

Galaxies with intense star formation often host multiphase, galaxy-scale winds powered by supernovae and fast stellar winds. These are strong enough to disrupt the star-forming interstellar medium, and they chemically enrich the surrounding circumgalactic medium. However, their launching mechanism remains unknown. Here we show that thermal gas pressure is sufficient to drive the multiphase wind in the prototypical starburst galaxy M82. Using a high energy-resolution ($\Delta E = 4.5$ eV) XRISM Resolve spectrum, including detections of FeXXV 6.7 keV, ArXVII 3.1 keV, and SXVI 2.6 keV, we measure the temperature ($T = 2.3^{+0.5}{-0.2} \times 10^7$ K) and mass ($M \approx 6 \pm 2 \times 10^5$ M$\odot$) of the hot gas in the starburst and provide the first direct measurement of its line-of-sight velocity dispersion ($\sigma = 595^{+464}{-128}$ km s$^{-1}$). These values are consistent with a freely-expanding wind exceeding the galactic escape velocity. The size of the FeXXV-emitting region suggests a hot gas outflow rate of $\dot{M} \approx 4$ M$\odot$ yr$^{-1}$, carrying a total energy of $\dot{E} \approx 2 \times 10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$. This is sufficient to drive the molecular, atomic, and ionized outflows while transporting up to $\approx 2$ M$_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ of hot gas to the intergalactic medium. The estimated supernova rate implies that $\approx$ 60% of the supernova energy must be thermalized in hot gas. Our results suggest that additional driving mechanisms, such as cosmic-ray pressure, are not required to launch the wind.


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