Laura Lenkić (Caltech/IPAC): "New Views on Extreme Starbursts: Clumps in Local ULIRGs with JWST"

Although rare, ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (L_IR > 10^12 L_sun; ULIRGs) host the most extreme, merger-driven, stellar nurseries in the local Universe, which rival in size and star formation rate surface density those of high-redshift galaxies. Now, with the unprecedented sensitivity and resolving power of JWST, individual clumps forming in the densest and dustiest regions of the ISM can be identified and characterized in the near-IR for the first time in these systems on ~40-120 pc scales. I will present the results of a Cycle 2 JWST program which obtained NIRCam and MIRI imaging, along with MIRI/MRS and NIRSpec IFU spectroscopy of 13 ULIRGs drawn from the Great Observatories All-Sky LIRG Survey (GOALS). We detect Brackett alpha, 3.3 micron PAH, and molecular hydrogen emission for ~150 clumps, allowing us to measure their ages and SFRs directly and investigate the effects of feedback in terms of clearing material in these star forming regions.