Gas Accretion onto the Milky Way

TL;DR

This paper reviews current observational and theoretical understanding of how the Milky Way accretes gas from its halo, highlighting the processes, distribution, and rate of gas inflow that sustain star formation.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of the spatial distribution, origin, and dynamics of gas accretion in the Milky Way, integrating recent observational and theoretical findings.

Findings

Current gas accretion rate is a few solar masses per year.

Gas inflow is sufficient to sustain the Galaxy's star formation.

The study synthesizes recent advances in understanding gas flow processes.

Abstract

The Milky Way is surrounded by large amounts of gaseous matter that are slowly being accreted over cosmic timescales to support star formation in the disk. The corresponding gas-accretion rate represents a key parameter for the past, present, and future evolution of the Milky Way. In this article, I discuss our current understanding of gas accretion processes in the Galaxy by reviewing past and recent observational and theoretical studies. The first part of this review deals with the spatial distribution of the different gas phases in the Milky Way halo, the origin of the gas, and its total mass. The second part discusses the gas dynamics and the physical processes that regulate the gas flow from the outer Galactic halo to the disk. From the most recent studies follows that the present-day gas accretion rate of the Milky Way is a few solar masses per year, which is sufficient to maintain the Galaxy's star-formation rate at its current level.