Atomic and Molecular Phases of the Interstellar Medium
Mordecai-Mark Mac Low
TL;DR
This review discusses key questions about the origins, composition, and dynamics of atomic and molecular gas in the interstellar medium, with implications for understanding galaxy evolution and star formation.
Contribution
It synthesizes current knowledge and debates on the sources, distribution, and role of atomic and molecular gas in galaxies, highlighting unresolved issues and future directions.
Findings
Atomic gas origins: cold streams vs. hot flows
Cold gas filling factor in molecular regions
Molecular hydrogen's role in star formation
Abstract
This review covers four current questions in the behavior of the atomic and molecular interstellar medium. These include whether the atomic gas originates primarily in cold streams or hot flows onto galaxies; what the filling factor of cold gas actually is in galactic regions observationally determined to be completely molecular; whether molecular hydrogen determines or merely traces star formation; and whether gravity or turbulence drives the dynamical motions observed in interstellar clouds, with implications on their star formation properties.
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.