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D. Chappell (University of La Verne), J. Scalo (University of Texas at Austin)
Collisions between expanding wind-blown or supernova-induced shells may have important consequences on structure formation, star formation, energy balance, and mixing of chemical elements in the ISM. We estimate the importance of shell-shell collisions using simple analytic models, Monte Carlo simulations, and a quasi-hydrodynamic simulation. We explore the dependence of the shell collision rates on galactic parameters such as the star formation rate, cluster luminosity function, porosity of the ISM, and spatial correlations between young star clusters. We also present algebraic solutions for the evolution of a cold, dense layer that forms at the interface between two colliding shells.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: chappell@ulv.edu