Related papers: The Neutral Medium
(Abridged) Although both Warm (WNM, 10^4 K) and Cool (CNM, about 100 K) atomic phases coexist in many environments, the dominant mass contribution within a galaxy's star-forming disk (R_25) is that of the CNM. Mass fractions of 60 to 90%…
Rotation curves constrain a galaxy's underlying mass density profile, under the assumption that the observed rotation produces a centripetal force that exactly balances the inward force of gravity. However, most rotation curves are measured…
Theoretical and observational arguments suggest that there is a large amount of hot ($\sim 10^6$ K), diffuse gas residing in the Milky Way's halo, while its total mass and spatial distribution are still unclear. In this work, we present a…
Galaxies are surrounded by extended atmospheres, which are often called the circumgalactic medium (CGM) and are the least understood part of galactic ecosystems. The CGM serves as a reservoir of both diffuse, metal-poor gas accreted from…
We investigate the propagation of a shock wave into a warm neutral medium and cold neutral medium by one-dimensional hydrodynamic calculations with detailed treatment of thermal and chemical processes. Our main result shows that thermal…
Dynamic and thermal processes regulate the structure of the multi-phase interstellar medium (ISM), and ultimately establish how galaxies evolve through star formation. Thus, to constrain ISM models and better understand the interplay of…
An overview is presented of the main properties of the interstellar medium. Evidence is summarized that the interstellar medium is highly turbulent, driven on different length scales by various energetic processes. Large-scale turbulence…
The magnetic structure in the Galactic disk, the Galactic center and the Galactic halo can be delineated more clearly than ever before. In the Galactic disk, the magnetic structure has been revealed by starlight polarization within 2 or 3…
Many of the baryons in our Galaxy probably lie outside the well known disk and bulge components. Despite a wealth of evidence for the presence of some gas in galactic halos, including absorption line systems in the spectra of quasars, high…
This paper shows that gravitating bodies travelling through the Galaxy can trap lighter interstellar particles that pass nearby with small relative velocities onto temporarily-bound orbits. The capture mechanism is driven by the Galactic…
Ionized nebulae have been targets of interest since the introduction of the telescope centuries ago. These isolated, "classical" H II regions gave us some of the earliest insight into the copious feedback energy that stars inject into the…
Using linear kinetic plasma theory the relation between electron density and magnetic field fluctuations for low-frequency plasma waves for Maxwellian background distribution functions of arbitrary temperatures in an uniform magnetic field…
The Circumgalactic Medium (CGM) of late-type galaxies is characterized using UV spectroscopy of 11 targeted QSO/galaxy pairs at z < 0.02 with the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and ~60 serendipitous absorber/galaxy pairs…
We propose that turbulent heating, wave pressure and gas exchanges between different regions of disks play a dominant role in determining the preferred, quasi-equilibrium, self-similar states of gas disks on large-scales. We present simple…
The magnetic field within a few hundred parsecs of the center of the Galaxy is an essential component of any description of that region. The field has several pronounced observational manifestations: 1) morphological structures such as…
A common situation in galactic and intergalactic gas involves cold dense gas in motion relative to hot diffuse gas. Kelvin-Helmholtz instability creates a turbulent mixing layer and populates the intermediate-temperature phase, which often…
The Milky Way galaxy is surrounded by a circumgalactic medium (CGM) that may play a key role in galaxy evolution as the source of gas for star formation and a repository of metals and energy produced by star formation and nuclear activity.…
Spiral galaxies host dynamically important magnetic fields which can affect gas flows in the disks and halos. Total magnetic fields in spiral galaxies are strongest (up to 30 \muG) in the spiral arms where they are mostly turbulent or…
Ambient interstellar material may become entrained in outflows from massive stars as a result of shear flow instabilities. We study the linear theory of the Kelvin - Helmholtz instability, the simplest example of shear flow instability, in…
The physical properties of galactic halo gas have a profound impact on the life cycle of galaxies. As gas travels through a galactic halo, it undergoes dynamical interactions, influencing its impact on star formation and the chemical…