Institute for Advanced Study Informal Astrophysics Seminar

ABSTRACT: Radiation pressure on dust grains may be an important mechanism in driving winds in a wide variety of astrophysical environments, from the envelopes of red giants to young star clusters to starburst galaxies to the tori around AGN. I outline a general theoretical framework for describing such winds, and I describe a series of numerical experiments that elucidate their properties. Using this framework, I derive strong limits on the potential impact of radiation pressure as a feedback mechanism in regulating star formation in galaxies.