Related papers: What Drives the Central Velocity Dispersion in Nea…
Most stars form in compact, dense embedded clusters with memberships ranging from a dozen stars to many millions of stars. Embedded clusters containing more than a few hundred stars also contain O stars that disrupt the nebula abruptly.…
I review results from {\sl Chandra} observations of nearby normal edge-on galaxies (Sd to Sa types). These galaxies have a broad range of star formation rate, but none of them is dominated by a nuclear starburst. The galaxies are all in…
Studies of the molecular interstellar medium that fuels star formation and supermassive black hole growth in galaxies at cosmological distances have undergone tremendous progress over the past few years. Based on the detection of molecular…
We argue that nearby galaxy nuclei contain massive black holes that are fueled by low radiative efficiency accretion flows.
To test the cooling flow model of early-type galaxies, we obtained a complete magnitude-limited sample of 34 early-type galaxies, observed with the PSPC and HRI on ROSAT. The X-ray to optical distribution of galaxies implies a lower…
The hot, X-ray-emitting phase of the circumgalactic medium of massive galaxies is believed to be the reservoir of baryons from which gas flows onto the central galaxy and into which feedback from AGN and stars inject mass, momentum, energy,…
Observations of gravitational lensing indicate that the mass distribution in clusters of galaxies (where most of the mass is dark matter) is highly peaked towards the center, while X-ray observations imply that the gas is more extended. The…
Observations of turbulent velocity dispersions in the HI component of galactic disks show a characteristic floor in galaxies with low star formation rates and within individual galaxies the dispersion profiles decline with radius. We carry…
We discuss the nature of the velocity dispersion vs. size relation for molecular clouds. In particular, we add to previous observational results showing that the velocity dispersions in molecular clouds and cores are not purely functions of…
Mergers between gas--rich disks and less--massive dwarf galaxies are studied using numerical simulation. As the orbit of a satellite decays through dynamical friction, the primary disk develops large-amplitude spirals in response to its…
Gamma ray observations have found evidence of an extremely energetic outflow emanating from the Galactic Centre, and an `excess' of emission at GeV energies towards the Galactic Centre over that expected from current models. Determining…
By using the ENACS data, we have studied the properties of emission-line galaxies (ELG) in clusters. The fraction of ELG in clusters is 16~%; this fraction is slightly dependent on the cluster velocity dispersion, being larger for…
The nature of Galactic Center could be probed by lensing experiments capable of testing the spatial and velocity distributions of stars nearby and beyond it. Several hypotheses are possible (e.g. massive neutrino condensation, boson star)…
Observations of the interstellar medium are key to deciphering the physical processes regulating star formation in galaxies. However, observational uncertainties and detection limits can bias the interpretation unless carefully modeled.…
While we observe a large amount of cold interstellar gas and dust in a subset of the early-type galaxy (ETG) population, the source of this material remains unclear. The two main, competing scenarios are external accretion of lower mass,…
Gas accretion is necessary to maintain star formation, spiral and bar structure, and secular evolution in galaxies. This can occur through tidal interaction, or mass accretion from cosmic filaments. Different processes will be reviewed to…
The interstellar medium is a multiphase gas in which turbulent support is as important as thermal pressure. Sustaining this configuration requires both continuous turbulent stirring and continuous radiative cooling to match the decay of…
Particle acceleration in the inner ~ 200 pc of the Galaxy is discussed, where diffuse TeV gamma-rays have been detected by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (HESS) observation. The diffuse gamma-ray emission has a strong correlation with…
The barycenter of a massive black hole binary will lie outside the event horizon of the primary black hole for modest values of mass ratio and binary separation. Analagous to radial velocity shifts in stellar emission lines caused by the…
We present the germ of a new model for High Velocity Clouds, derived from the idea that the dark matter halo of our Galaxy is in the form of cold, planetary-mass gas clouds. In this picture HVCs arise as a result of disruptive collisions…