The integrated bolometric effective surface brightness S_e distributions of
starbursts are investigated for samples observed in 1. the rest frame
ultraviolet (UV), 2. the far-infrared and H-alpha, and 3. 21cm radio continuum
emission. For the UV sample we exploit a tight empirical relationship between
UV reddening and extinction to recover the bolometric flux. Parameterizing the
S_e upper limit by the 90th percentile of the distribution, we find a mean
S_{e,90} = 2.0e11 L_{sun}/kpc^2 for the three samples, with a factor of three
difference between the samples. This is consistent with what is expected from
the calibration uncertainties alone. We find little variation in S_{e,90} with
effective radii for R_e ~ 0.1 - 10 kpc, and little evolution out to redshifts z
~ 3. The lack of a strong dependence of S_{e,90} on wavelength, and its
consistency with the pressure measured in strong galactic winds, argue that it
corresponds to a global star formation intensity limit (\dot\Sigma_{e,90} ~ 45
M_{sun}/kpc^2/yr) rather than being an opacity effect. There are several
important implications of these results: 1. There is a robust physical
mechanism limiting starburst intensity. We note that starbursts have S_e
consistent with the expectations of gravitational instability models applied to
the solid body rotation portion of galaxies. 2. Elliptical galaxies and spiral
bulges can plausibly be built with maximum intensity bursts, while normal
spiral disks can not. 3. The UV extinction of high-z galaxies is significant,
implying that star formation in the early universe is moderately obscured.
After correcting for extinction, the observed metal production rate at z ~ 3
agrees well with independent estimates made for the epoch of elliptical galaxy
formation.Comment: 31 pages Latex (aas2pp4.sty,psfig.sty), 9 figures, accepted for
publication in the Astronomical Journa
