Radiation-pressure-driven dust waves inside bursting interstellar
  bubbles
  Massive stars drive the evolution of the interstellar medium through their
radiative and mechanical energy input. After their birth, they form bubbles of
hot gas surrounded by a dense shell. Traditionally, the formation of bubbles is
explained through the input of a powerful stellar wind, even though direct
evidence supporting this scenario is lacking. Here we explore the possibility
that interstellar bubbles seen by the Spitzer- and Herschel space telescopes,
blown by stars with log(L/L_sun) < 5.2, form and expand due to the thermal
pressure accompanying ionization of the surrounding gas. We show that density
gradients in the natal cloud or a puncture in the swept up shell lead to an
ionized gas flow through the bubble into the general interstellar medium, which
is traced by a dust wave near the star, demonstrating the importance of
radiation pressure during this phase. Dust waves provide a natural explanation
for the presence of dust inside H II bubbles, offer a novel method to study
dust in H II regions and provide direct evidence that bubbles are relieving
their pressure into the ISM through a champagne flow, acting as a probe of the
radiative interaction of a massive star with its surroundings. We create a
parameter space connecting the ambient density, the ionizing source luminosity,
and the position of the dust wave, while using the well-studied H II bubbles
RCW 120 and RCW 82 as benchmarks of our model. Finally, we briefly examine the
implications of our study for the environments of super star clusters formed in
UltraLuminous InfraRed Galaxies (ULIRGs), merging galaxies and the early
Universe, which occur in very luminous and dense environments and where
radiation pressure is expected to dominate the dynamical evolution.
