Small-Scale Mixing of the Elements

Abstract

The progressive mixing and contamination of interstellar gas by supernovae and other processes following the passage of a spiral density wave is reviewed, with an emphasis on the Solar neighborhood. Regions of star formation should begin their lives with an inhomogeneous mixture of abundances as a result of their chaotic and large-scale formation processes. These inhomogeneities should continue to increase during several generations of star formation until the gas enters the interarm region. Then cloud dispersal by large interarm tidal forces, high rates of shear, and internal star formation should all lead to cloud-to-cloud mixing, while increased ionization, heating, and evaporation should lead to mixing on the atomic level. Gradients in the dispersion of elemental abundances are expected for galaxy disks.