Title:   

Radio observations of starburst galaxies: the case of NGC2146

Abstract:

A starburst manifests itself mainly by a high far-infrared flux density
together with an extended region of radio emission. Radio studies can be
used to understand star-formation mechanisms, supernova remnants and the
interstellar medium in starburst galaxies. Furthermore, radio observations
can be useful to determine the star formation rate in more distant
galaxies, without being affected by extinction and largely independent of
theoretical models. In this talk results from continuum and spectral radio
observations of the starburst galaxy NGC2146 with MERLIN and the VLA will
be presented. A comparison with previous similar works, especially on the
'prototypical' starburst M82, will be also discussed.