Publisher's Synopsis
Observational progress on numerous fronts, particularly with
the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope, have revealed that most
of the gas associated with a galaxy lies outside of it, in its atmosphere and have also
shown that what happens inside a galaxy is closely connected to what is happening in its
atmosphere. Driven by these findings, astronomers are increasingly reconsidering the
critical role of galactic atmospheres in regulating galaxy evolution.
This book will present a unique perspective on galaxies and how they evolve, motivated by
these recent findings about the surrounding gas. It will show how atmospheres around all
galaxies, from small dwarf galaxies to the giant galaxies at the centers of galaxy clusters,
respond to a common set of physical principles. Its focus will be on building physical
intuition about how galaxies function as self-regulating systems, emphasizing how feedback powered by supernova explosions and gas accretion onto supermassive black
holes shapes the populations of stars within galaxies. And it will conclude by pointing
forward into the near future, anticipating what astronomers may soon learn about galactic
atmospheres from coming advances in observational capabilities.
Key Features:
- Written by a world leading expert in the field
- Gives a unique synthesis of the atmospheric properties of galaxies, going from dwarf galaxies all the way up to the universe's biggest galaxies
- Provides a pedagogical approach that builds upon concepts from undergraduate physics and connects them with current research topics
- Suitable for supporting graduate courses that include galaxy evolution
