From 10 Kelvin to 10 TeraKelvin: Insights on the Interaction Between Cosmic Rays and Gas in Starbursts

Understand

Recent work has both illuminated and mystified our attempts to understand cosmic rays (CRs) in starburst galaxies.

• I discuss my new research exploring how CRs interact with the ISM in starbursts.
• Molecular clouds provide targets for CR protons to produce pionic gamma rays and ionization, but those same losses may shield the cloud interiors.
• In the densest molecular clouds, gamma rays and Al-26 decay can provide ionization, at rates up to those in Milky Way molecular clouds.