What is beyond the “visible” galaxy?

Jiangtao Li

Assistant Research Scientist, University of Michigan Astronomy

Beyond the “visible” stellar light of the galaxy, there exist multi-phase gases, dust, cosmic ray, and magnetic field, which are typically invisible in optical light, and more or less fill in the dark matter halo or even to larger scale. These matters are often called the circum-galactic medium (CGM), which play critical roles in the co-evolution of galaxies and their environments. Dr. Li will talk about a few key questions related to the extended hot gas around galaxies, which is also known as the hot CGM or the galactic corona. He will show that although the hot CGM is ubiquitous around nearby galaxies, the physics related to it, as well as its mass and energy budget, are still poorly understood. Some future missions under development will help us to better understand this hottest gaseous phase of the CGM.

Dr. Li will also very briefly discuss some other projects he is working on right now, including multi-wavelength observations of other CGM phases in the local Universe, quasars, CGM, and IGM at high redshift, and local supernova remnants. He will also take a few minutes to introduce a few space- and ground-based missions he has been actively involved in and their relationship to his scientific projects.

About Li Jiangtao:

PhD: Nanjing University, 2010.06; Supervisor: Wang, Q. Daniel (UMASS), Chen, Yang (NJU)

Postdoc: University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2010.09-2012.07; Supervisor: Wang, Q. Daniel

Postdoc: CEA, Saclay, France, 2012.07-2014.10; Supervisor: Decourchelle, Anne

Postdoc: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2014.11-2018.01; Supervisor: Bregman, Joel N.

Assistant Research Scientist: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2018.02-