Program: GN-2010A-Q-41

Large surveys of the NaI D absorption-line feature in ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) reveal extended, massive outflows of neutral gas and dust in all of these galaxies. The impact of these winds on the evolution of galaxies is substantial, as ULIRGs may host much of the star formation in the universe at z > 1. However, very little is known about the structure of ULIRG winds. Following up on observations of two nearby ULIRGs, we propose to map the outflows in four more of the nearest and brightest ULIRGs using the integral field unit of Gemini/GMOS. The GMOS IFU will allow us to observe the projected three-dimensional structure of these winds, which is highly uncertain. Tripling our currently tiny sample will allow us to probe multiple outflow viewing angles and create a robust wind model for ULIRGs, which is not possible with only 2 systems.