2005AJ....129..745T

We present the results of a WIYN integral field unit study of the kinematics of the ionized gas in IC 10, a dwarf irregular starburst galaxy in the Local Group. Though the velocity field of the ionized gas closely matches that of the H I, there are several kinematically interesting features in the galaxy. The diffuse ionized gas in the galaxy exhibits larger Hα line widths than the bright complexes. In one case this is due to an infusion of energy into the gas associated with the radio superbubble discovered by Yang & Skillman. We find that the amount of energy in this region is consistent with their hypothesis that the region contains 10 supernova remnants. We also detect a high-velocity (70 km/s) expanding shell in the ionized gas, which is likely driven by three confirmed Wolf-Rayet stars that are located within the shell. Extrapolating from Hunter's initial mass function, we find that the central starburst region contains approximately equal energy contributions from stellar winds and supernovae (SNe), suggesting that SNe are just beginning to play a significant role in shaping the kinematics of the ionized gas. However, all of this energy cannot be easily accounted for in the kinematics of the gas. We detect an energetic flow of gas (3x10⁵² ergs), which we believe originates from the starburst region. We also detect a high-velocity (70 km/s) feature not coincident with any structure in our Hα image. This feature, along with the flow and shell, can account for the energy produced by stellar wind and SNe. The flow resembles one discovered by Wilcots & Thurow in NGC 4214; together they suggest that the porosity of the interstellar medium contributes significantly to the high velocity of some portion of the ionized gas in irregular galaxies.