Related papers: Galactic Traversability: A New Concept for Extraga…
Recent studies of Galactic evolution revealed that the dynamics of the stellar component might be one of the key factors when considering galactic habitability. We run an N-body simulation model of the Milky Way, which we evolve for 10 Gyr,…
In this contribution I summarize our current knowledge of the nature and significance of starburst-driven galactic superwinds. These flows are driven primarily by the kinetic energy supplied by supernovae. Superwinds are complex, multiphase…
Dust and stars in the plane of the Milky Way create a "Zone of Avoidance" in the extragalactic sky. Galaxies are distributed in gigantic labyrinth formations, filaments and great walls with occasional dense clusters. They can be traced all…
If advanced civilizations appear in the universe with an ability and desire to expand, the entire universe can become saturated with life on a short timescale, even if such expanders appear rarely. Our presence in an apparently untouched…
The interaction of galaxies with their environment, the Intergalactic Medium (IGM), is an important aspect of galaxy formation. One of the most fundamental, but unanswered questions in the evolution of galaxies is how gas circulates in and…
It has been widely acknowledged that self-replicating space-probes (SRPs) could explore the galaxy very quickly relative to the age of the galaxy. An obvious implication is that SRPs produced by extraterrestrial civilizations should have…
Civilization cannot sustain an exponential growth for long time even when neglecting numerous laws of physics! In this paper, we examine what are fundamental obstacles to long term survival of a civilization and its possibility to colonize…
High redshift disc galaxies are more gas rich, clumpier, and more turbulent than local Universe galaxies. This early era of galaxy formation imprints the distribution and kinematics of the stars that we observe today, but it is not yet well…
The dust in galaxies makes radiation transport calculations in them absolutely necessary. It is not only common practice in Astrophysics, but also wisdom, to try to make as simple models as possible to simulate physical systems. For spiral…
It is known that the shape of a planet (oblateness, rings, etc.) slightly modifies the shape of the transit light curve. The forthcoming space missions (Corot, Kepler), able to detect the transit of Earth-like planets, could a fortiori also…
The combination of gas-phase oxygen abundances and stellar metallicities can provide us with unique insights into the metal enrichment histories of galaxies. In this work, we compare the stellar and gas-phase metallicities measured within a…
The galaxy population hosting long-duration GRBs provides a means to constrain the progenitor and an opportunity to use these violent explosions to characterize the nature of the high-redshift universe. Studies of GRB host galaxies in…
Gamma-ray emission produced by interactions between cosmic rays (CRs) and interstellar gas traces the product of their densities throughout the Milky Way. The outer Galaxy is a privileged target of investigation to separate interstellar…
Turbulence is ubiquitous in the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Milky Way and other spiral galaxies. The energy source for this turbulence has been much debated with many possible origins proposed. The universality of turbulence, its…
This article gives an overview of the constitution, physical conditions and observables of dust in the interstellar medium of nearby galaxies. We first review the macroscopic, spatial distribution of dust in these objects, and its…
The limitations of current technology do not allow one to foresee the expansion of the humankind beyond our planet for at least a few decades. Furthermore, the laws of physics, as for as they are known, preclude any form of traveling beyond…
(ABBREVIATED) Understanding the formation of stars in galaxies is central to much of modern astrophysics. In this review the relation between interstellar turbulence and star formation is discussed. Supersonic turbulence can provide support…
Motivated by recent developments impacting our view of Fermi's paradox (absence of extraterrestrials and their manifestations from our past light cone), we suggest a reassessment of the problem itself, as well as of strategies employed by…
Hypervelocity stars are those that have speeds exceeding the escape speed and are hence unbound from the Milky Way. We investigate a sample of low-mass hypervelocity candidates obtained using data from the high-precision SDSS Stripe 82…
The primary difficulty with using transits to discover extrasolar planets is the low probability a planet has of transiting its parent star. One way of overcoming this difficulty is to search for transits in dense stellar fields, such as…