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The structure and dynamics of diffuse gas in the Milky Way and other disk galaxies may be strongly influenced by thermal and magnetorotational instabilities (TI and MRI) on scales of about 1-100 pc. We initiate a study of these processes,…
(Abridged) The formation of molecular clouds (MCs) from the diffuse interstellar gas appears to be a necessary step for star formation, as young stars invariably occur within them. However, the mechanisms controlling the formation of MCs…
We discuss HD and MHD compressible turbulence as a cloud-forming and cloud-structuring mechanism in the ISM. Results from a numerical model of the turbulent ISM at large scales suggest that the phase-like appearance of the medium, the…
It is generally recognized that the interstellar medium has a vast range of densities and temperatures. While these two properties are usually anticorrelated with each other, there are nevertheless variations in their product, i.e., the…
To examine how non-uniform nature of the Galactic gravity might affect length and time scales of the Parker instability, we took three models of gravity, uniform, linear and realistic ones. To make comparisons of the three gravity models on…
How does turbulence contribute to the formation and structure of the dense interstellar medium (ISM)? Molecular clouds are dense, high-pressure objects. It is usually argued that gravitational confinement causes the high pressures, and that…
In galaxy clusters, the hot intracluster medium (ICM) can develop a striking multi-phase structure around the brightest cluster galaxy. Much work has been done on understanding the origin of this central nebula, but less work has studied…
I model the multi-phase interstellar medium (ISM) randomly heated and shocked by supernovae, with gravity, differential rotation and other parameters we understand to be typical of the solar neighbourhood. The simulations are 3D extending…
Molecular clouds typically consist of 3/4 H2, 1/4 He and traces of heavier elements. In an earlier work we showed that at very low temperatures and high densities, H2 can be in a phase transition leading to the formation of ice clumps as…
A population of discrete HI clouds in the halo of the inner Galaxy has been discovered in 21cm observations made with the Green Bank Telescope. The halo clouds are seen up to 1.5 kpc from the Galactic plane at many longitudes. Their…
We discuss molecular cloud formation by large-scale supersonic compressions in the diffuse warm neutral medium (WNM). Initially, a shocked layer forms, and within it, a thin cold layer. An analytical model and high-resolution 1D simulations…
Atomic gas in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) is organized in filamentary structures. These structures usually host cold and dense molecular clumps. The Galactic magnetic field is considered to play an important role in the formation…
We investigate data from the Galactic Effelsberg--Bonn HI Survey (EBHIS), supplemented with data from the third release of the Galactic All Sky Survey (GASS III) observed at Parkes. We explore the all sky distribution of the local Galactic…
The interstellar medium in star-forming galaxies is a multiphase gas in which turbulent support is at least as important as thermal pressure. Sustaining this configuration requires continuous radiative cooling, such that the overall average…
To characterize the initial conditions for intermediate- to high-mass star formation, we observed two Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDCs) that remain absorption features up to 70mum wavelength, with the PdBI in the 3.23mm dust continuum as well as…
Several sets of data show that small interstellar grains captured in interstellar magnetic fields draped over the heliosphere appear to polarize the light of nearby stars. The maximum polarization direction is offset in ecliptic longitude…
We investigate numerically the role of thermal instability (TI) as a generator of density structures in the interstellar medium (ISM), both by itself and in the context of a globally turbulent medium. Simulations of the instability alone…
Linear analysis of the stability of diffuse clouds in the cold neutral medium with uniform magnetic field is performed. We consider that gas in equilibrium state is heated by cosmic rays, X-rays and electronic photoeffect on the surface of…
New 21cm observations with the Green Bank Telescope show that a significant fraction of the HI in the inner Galaxy's halo 1 kpc from the midplane exists in the form of discrete clouds. Some look very much like a Spitzer ``standard'' diffuse…
This chapter reviews the nature of turbulence in the Galactic interstellar medium (ISM) and its connections to the star formation (SF) process. The ISM is turbulent, magnetized, self-gravitating, and is subject to heating and cooling…