Timothy M. Heckman investigates how activity in galaxies drives large outflows of gas. His team used sodium absorption spectral lines in infrared-bright starburst galaxies to detect material moving toward the observer relative to each galaxy's overall velocity.
Absorption samples gas in front of the emitting background. A systematic blueshift can therefore reveal an outflow on the near side. The study found strongly shifted lines in twelve systems and argued, using their viewing geometry, that ambient gas was being accelerated along the minor axis by a hot starburst-driven galactic wind. Associated reddening also linked the outflow to interstellar dust transport.[ref]
Absorption-Line Probes of Gas and Dust in Galactic Superwinds by Timothy M. Heckman and others. Abstract: Na D sample, blueshifts, orientation and dusty outflow interpretation
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