OBSERVED INTERSTELLAR MAGNETIZED SUPERSHELLS AND STELLAR-WIND THEORIES

Early theories of stellar winds from an association of OB stars predic ted the formation of a common superbubble enclosed by a thin, dense su pershell, through the combined effort of the winds from the stars at t he center. These early theories were adequate for explaining the prima ry observational features (defined as: shell age, outer radius, shell speed, shell mass, shell energy), but they were not adequate to explai n the secondary features (defined as: shell thickness, shell magnetic held, shell gas density). A recently published theory for a stellar-wi nd-bubble and supershell, predicting a range of thick supershells, can now be compared with the secondary observational features. Using the observed parameters from all large (> 100 pc) interstellar magnetized supershells near the sun (< 1 kpc away), I assemble for comparison wit h stellar-wind theories: (a) the primary observational features of the se shells - I find: large shell age, large outer radius, low shell spe ed, large shell mass, large shell energy; and (b) some of their second ary observational features - I find: thick shell, low shell magnetic f ield strengh, low shell gas density.