Galaxies and the Intergalactic Medium

10th Dennis Sciama Memorial Lecture by Prof. James Binney. Cosmology tells us that most “ordinary” matter such as we are made of is not in stars or in the interstellar media of galaxies. So it must lie between galaxies. In rich clusters of galaxies it is so dense and so hot that its thermal X-ray emission has long been detected. But cluster galaxies have long had very low star-formation rates, while field galaxies like ours have continued to form stars even though the surrounding intergalactic medium is too rarefied to be detected. Chemical signatures indicate that our Galaxy has continued to accrete relatively pristine gas but there is much evidence that star formation leads to efficient ejection of gas from galaxies. A picture will be assembled of how galaxies like ours exchange matter with the intergalactic medium. This exchange influences the radial distribution of star formation and implies a specific role of massive black holes in galaxy evolution. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

Om Podcasten

The Department of Physics public lecture series. An exciting series of lectures about the research at Oxford Physics take place throughout the academic year. Looking at topics diverse as the creation of the universe to the science of climate change. Features episodes previously published as: (1) 'Oxford Physics Alumni': "Informal interviews with physics alumni at events, lectures and other alumni related activities." (2) 'Physics and Philosophy: Arguments, Experiments and a Few Things in Between': "A series which explores some of the links between physics and philosophy, two of the most fundamental ways with which we try to answer our questions about the world around us. A number of the most pertinent topics which bridge the disciplines are discussed - the nature of space and time, the unpredictable results of quantum mechanics and their surprising consequences and perhaps most fundamentally, the nature of the mind and how far science can go towards explaining and understanding it. Featuring interviews with Dr. Christopher Palmer, Prof. Frank Arntzenius, Prof. Vlatko Vedral, Dr. David Wallace and Prof. Roger Penrose."