Outflows in Infrared‐Luminous Starbursts at z < 0.5. II. Analysis and Discussion

We have performed an absorption-line survey of outflowing gas in 78 starburst-dominated, infrared-luminous galaxies. This is the largest study of superwinds at z 10-100 Mₛun/yr), luminosities, and masses. This saturation is due to a lack of gas remaining in the wind's path, a common neutral gas terminal velocity, and/or a decrease in the efficiency of thermalization of the supernovae energy. It means that mass entrainment efficiency, rather than remaining constant, declines in galaxies with SFR > 10 Mₛun/yr and MK 1. The powerful, ubiquitous winds we observe in these galaxies imply that superwinds in massive galaxies at redshifts above unity play an important role in the evolution of galaxies and the intergalactic medium.