Related papers: The Metagalactic Ionizing Field in the Local Group
The fraction of galaxies with strong Ly$\alpha$ emission has been observed to decrease rapidly with redshift at $z \ge 6$, after a gradual increase at $z< 6$. This has been interpreted as a hint of the reionization of the intergalactic…
Recent highly sensitive detections of line emission from extended gas in the local universe demonstrate the feasibility of detecting H$\alpha$ emitting galactic halos out to $z\sim1$. We determine the form of the surface brightness vs.…
The feedback effects of massive stars on their galactic and intergalactic environments can dominate evolutionary processes in galaxies and affect cosmic structure in the Universe. Only the Local Group offers the spatial resolution to…
The observed number density of Lyman-alpha sources implies a minimum volume of the inter-galactic medium that must be ionized, in order to allow the Lyman-alpha photons to escape attenuation. We estimate this volume by assigning to each…
We have used the Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) to observe the spatially extended distribution of ionized hydrogen in M31 beyond the stellar disk. We obtained five sets of observations, centered near the photometric major axis of M31, that…
Galaxy groups form the environment of the majority of galaxies in the local Universe, and many host an extended hot intra-group medium whose radiative cooling appears to fuel, and be stabilised by, feedback from AGN in group-central…
Recent suggestions of a "photon underproduction crisis" (Kollmeier \etal\ 2014) have generated concern over the intensity and spectrum of ionizing photons in the metagalactic ultraviolet background (UVB). The balance of hydrogen…
In this work we investigate the stellar population, metallicity distribution and ionized gas in the elliptical galaxy NGC 5044, using long-slit spectroscopy and a stellar population synthesis method. We found differences in the slope of…
Cosmic rays (CRs) can be studied through the galaxy-wide gamma-ray emission that they generate when propagating in the interstellar medium. The comparison of the diffuse signals from different systems may inform us about the key parameters…
We use a wide-field (0.9 square degree) X-ray sample with optical and GALEX ultraviolet observations to measure the contribution of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) to the ionizing flux as a function of redshift. Our analysis shows that the…
Cosmological hydrodynamic simulations predict that the low redshift universe comprises a web of warm-hot intergalactic gas and galaxies, with groups of galaxies and clusters forming at dense knots in these filaments. Our own Galaxy being no…
There is increasing observational evidence that hot, highly ionized interstellar and intergalactic gas plays a significant role in the evolution of galaxies in the local universe. The primary spectral diagnostics of the warm-hot…
We discuss new Keck/MOSFIRE spectroscopic observations of four luminous galaxies at z~7-9 selected to have intense optical line emission by Roberts-Borsani et al. (2016). Previous follow-up has revealed Lyman-alpha in two of the four…
We have recently identified several high velocity (V < -100 km/s) clouds in the directions of Mrk 509 and PKS 2155-304 that have unusual ionization properties. The clouds exhibit strong C IV absorption with little or no detectable low ion…
The molecular gas in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Galaxy has been studied using infrared absorption spectra of H$_3^+$ lines at 3.5-4.0 $\mu$m and CO lines near 2.34 $\mu$m. In addition to the previously reported spectra of these…
Elucidating the processes that shape the circumgalactic medium (CGM) is crucial for understanding galaxy evolution. Absorption and emission diagnostics can be interpreted using photoionization calculations to obtain information about the…
Reionization-era galaxies tend to exhibit weak Ly$\alpha$ emission, likely reflecting attenuation from an increasingly neutral IGM. Recent observations have begun to reveal exceptions to this picture, with strong Ly$\alpha$ emission now…
The physical properties of the faint and extremely tenuous plasma in the far outskirts of galaxy clusters, the circumgalactic media of normal galaxies, and filaments of the cosmic web, remain one of the biggest unknowns in our story of…
We report the results from a pilot study of 10 nearby starburst and active galaxies conducted with the Taurus Tunable Filter (TTF) on the Anglo-Australian and William Herschel Telescopes. The main purpose of this imaging survey is to search…
Galaxy integrated H{\alpha} star formation rate-stellar mass relation, or SFR(global)-M*(global) relation, is crucial for understanding star formation history and evolution of galaxies. However, many studies have dealt with SFR using…