Is Turbulence in the Interstellar Medium Driven by Feedback or Gravity? An Observational Test

Blakesley Burkhart; Mark R. Krumholz

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Is Turbulence in the Interstellar Medium Driven by Feedback or Gravity? An Observational Test

Mark R. Krumholz, Blakesley Burkhart

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Submitted 10 Dec 2015

abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review

The authors' main claim This suggests that gravity is the ultimate source of ISM turbulence, at least in the rapidly-star-forming, high velocity dispersion galaxies for which our test is most effective.

how it is stated · hedged possibility 1.00 read the record →

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arXiv ID1512.03439 (version 2)

Pith IDT4H327E2, Pith's permanent record of this paper and its review

CitationBlakesley Burkhart, Mark R. Krumholz. "Is Turbulence in the Interstellar Medium Driven by Feedback or Gravity? An Observational Test." arXiv:1512.03439 (2015). https://pith.science/paper/T4H327E2

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The paper's own sentences, arranged. Each label is drawn from a closed vocabulary; the number beside it is the probability the classifier gave that label. Numbers in the tables are the authors', checked by code. No sentence in this record was written by a model.

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Compiled by classifier-1.13.0 via TypeSafe API, question bank abstract-p1-20260923, 2026-09-23: 1 request, 5,843 input tokens.

What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.04 · states limitation 0.97 · human participants 0.01 · controlled comparison 0.19 · randomized assignment 0.01 · states quantitative result 0.20 · compares with prior results 0.68 · mentions code or data availability 0.02.

The abstract, sentence by sentence

arXiv listing abstract v2. Results and the main claim are underlined; show every role.

Galaxies' interstellar media (ISM) are observed to be supersonically-turbulent, but the ultimate power source that drives turbulent motion remains uncertain. The two dominant models are that the turbulence is driven by star formation feedback and/or that it is produced by gravitational instability in the gas. Here we show that, while both models predict that the galaxies' ISM velocity dispersions will be positively correlated with their star formation rates, the forms of the correlation predicted by these two models are subtly but measurably different. A feedback-driven origin for the turbulence predicts a velocity dispersion that rises more sharply with star formation rate, and that does not depend on the gas fraction (i.e. $\dot{M}_* \propto \sigma^2$), while a gravity-driven model yields a shallower rise and a strong dependence on gas fraction (i.e. $\dot{M}_* \propto f_g^2 \sigma$). We compare the models to a collection of data on local and high-redshift galaxies culled from the literature, and show that the correlation expected for gravity-driven turbulence is a better match to the observations than a feedback-driven model. This suggests that gravity is the ultimate source of ISM turbulence, at least in the rapidly-star-forming, high velocity dispersion galaxies for which our test is most effective. We conclude by discussing the limitations of the present data set, and the prospects for future measurements to enable a more definitive test of the two models.

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#	sentence	role	the authors' own work	states the main conclusion	strength
s0	Galaxies' interstellar media (ISM) are observed to be supersonically-turbulent, but the ultimate power source that drives turbulent motion remains uncertain.	background 0.71	0.06	0.02	asserted 1.00
s1	The two dominant models are that the turbulence is driven by star formation feedback and/or that it is produced by gravitational instability in the gas.	background 0.99	0.04	0.02	asserted 0.93
s2	Here we show that, while both models predict that the galaxies' ISM velocity dispersions will be positively correlated with their star formation rates, the forms of the correlation predicted by these two models are subtly but measurably different.	contribution 0.93	0.70	0.03	asserted 1.00
s3	A feedback-driven origin for the turbulence predicts a velocity dispersion that rises more sharply with star formation rate, and that does not depend on the gas fraction (i.e. $\dot{M}_* \propto \sigma^2$), while a gravity-driven model yields a shallower rise and a strong dependence on gas fraction (i.e. $\dot{M}_* \propto f_g^2 \sigma$).	contribution 0.59	0.29	0.05	asserted 1.00
s4	We compare the models to a collection of data on local and high-redshift galaxies culled from the literature, and show that the correlation expected for gravity-driven turbulence is a better match to the observations than a feedback-driven model.	result 0.97	0.93	0.49	asserted 1.00
s5	This suggests that gravity is the ultimate source of ISM turbulence, at least in the rapidly-star-forming, high velocity dispersion galaxies for which our test is most effective.	interpretation 1.00	0.61	0.90	hedged possibility 1.00
s6	We conclude by discussing the limitations of the present data set, and the prospects for future measurements to enable a more definitive test of the two models.	future work 0.66	0.34	0.02	unclear 0.85

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: empirical study 0.68 · evidence from analysis of existing data 1.00.

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arXiv listing abstract v2

not examined

full text
figures and tables
references and citing sentences
relations to other papers

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P abstract

not run

S sections
T body sentences
C citations
R cross-paper relations

Every quoted sentence on this record is the authors'. Every label is from Pith's closed vocabulary, with the probability shown beside it. Every number in the measurements table is the authors', checked by code. Record as JSON

The paper

Original abstract

Galaxies' interstellar media (ISM) are observed to be supersonically-turbulent, but the ultimate power source that drives turbulent motion remains uncertain. The two dominant models are that the turbulence is driven by star formation feedback and/or that it is produced by gravitational instability in the gas. Here we show that, while both models predict that the galaxies' ISM velocity dispersions will be positively correlated with their star formation rates, the forms of the correlation predicted by these two models are subtly but measurably different. A feedback-driven origin for the turbulence predicts a velocity dispersion that rises more sharply with star formation rate, and that does not depend on the gas fraction (i.e. $\dot{M}_* \propto \sigma^2$), while a gravity-driven model yields a shallower rise and a strong dependence on gas fraction (i.e. $\dot{M}_* \propto f_g^2 \sigma$). We compare the models to a collection of data on local and high-redshift galaxies culled from the literature, and show that the correlation expected for gravity-driven turbulence is a better match to the observations than a feedback-driven model. This suggests that gravity is the ultimate source of ISM turbulence, at least in the rapidly-star-forming, high velocity dispersion galaxies for which our test is most effective. We conclude by discussing the limitations of the present data set, and the prospects for future measurements to enable a more definitive test of the two models.

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References

Forward citations

Cited by 7 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

The Stellar-Mass Dependence of Feedback-Driven Outflows in DESI DR1 Star-Forming Galaxies
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Using 1199 DESI galaxies, this paper finds that the predicted 'breathing mode' correlation between gas motions and recent star formation disappears above a stellar mass near 10^9.8 to 10^10 solar masses.
BlackTHUNDER Reveals a Massive Filament around a Compact AGN at $z\simeq5.23$
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GN-77652, a compact broad-line AGN at z=5.229, lies beside a 12 kpc multi-source filament at the same redshift whose coalescence will erase the compact AGN appearance within ~150–440 Myr.
Investigating the Young Stellar Populations and Hierarchies in Nearby Galaxies with the UVIT. III. Evidence for a Largest Scale of Correlated Stellar Structures and a Non-universal Fractal Dimension
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Star formation hierarchies in nearby galaxies exhibit a maximum spatial scale (correlation length) that correlates with galactic mass and morphology, and the fractal dimension varies among galaxies, indicating a non-u...
On the Origin of the Ly$\alpha$ Damping Wing in Galaxies at $8\le z \le 10$: Explorations using the NINJA Simulations
astro-ph.GA 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

At z=8-10, the strongest JWST damped Lyα absorbers require neutral gas inside and around galaxies, and the NINJA models still underproduce them unless additional unresolved birth-cloud gas is invoked.
A Multiwavelength Inventory for the Local Group L-band Survey I: Atlas and Radial Profiles of Local Group Galaxies
astro-ph.GA 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

Atomic gas is the most extended component in six Local Group galaxies, and atomic-gas depletion times rise from about 1 Gyr in the inner disks to tens-to-hundreds of Gyr in the outer disks.

Show 2 more citing papers

The impact of the turbulent Mach number on star formation and the initial mass function
astro-ph.GA 2026-09 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

Turbulence strength strongly reshapes the stellar mass distribution: the lowest-Mach-number cloud in these simulations forms a bimodal IMF, while higher-Mach clouds resemble observed IMFs.
A brief overview of the baryon cycle in galaxies
astro-ph.GA 2026-11 unverdicted

A concise review of the baryon cycle in galaxies, summarizing gas accretion, star formation, stellar feedback, AGN feeding and feedback, and outstanding open questions.

How later papers used it

76 later papers cite it

Evidence: substantial. 66 of the citing papers share no author with it, and 14 of those carry a confident label from Pith's citation classifier.

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1 later paper by other authors is listed below: 1 used its method or tool.

Uses its method or tool 1 of 3 papers with this label

Measured the total Toomre Q parameter for both gas and stars using the approximation described in this paper.

Formation and settling of a disc galaxy during the last 8 billion years in a cosmological simulation (2016) · 1.00 · paraphrased: the licence does not allow quoting

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7 arXiv papers cite this in 7 sentences

Each citing sentence is taken from the citing paper's LaTeX source and typed by Pith's classifier. A label appears at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), a contest at 0.7 or more; the quoted words are the citing authors'. How each label was checked · JSON

Papers citing it · 2 sentences without a confident label

Cites it as support 1 paper

A recent observational test would suggest that gravity is the ultimate source of such velocity dispersions [ref] .

MHD simulation of the formation of clumps and filaments in quiescent diffuse medium by thermal instability · Clumps · 0.98

Cites it as background 4 papers

External mechanisms like gas accretion from the intergalactic medium and minor mergers [ref] , and internal mechanisms such as star formation feedback (stellar winds, supernovae), cloud-cloud collisions in the disc [ref] , the release of gravitational energy via accretion of cold gas streams from the halo or the inspiral of clumps [ref] , galactic shear from the differential rotation in disc galaxies [ref] , spiral-arms shocks in spiral galaxies, magnetorotational instability (MRI) [ref] and others can poteintially drive such turbulence [ref] .

The SAMI Galaxy Survey: energy sources of the turbulent velocity dispersion in spatially-resolved local star-forming galaxies · Introduction · 0.97
Turbulence in MCs is primarily driven by the conversion of gravitational potential and rotational energy through gas accretion, large-scale interstellar flows, and galactic shear [ref] .

CO Structures with Narrow Lines in Nearby Quiescent Regions · introduction · 0.86
The balance between compressive and solenoidal driving is itself an observable and model parameter of growing interest in both astrophysical and laboratory shock-turbulence studies [ref] .

Numerical simulations of shock-driven, supersonic turbulence in colliding three-temperature laboratory plasmas · Introduction · 0.81

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