DGCE SIG Seminar, 27 Aug 2026

Open Questions in Galactic Wind Physics and Phenomenology

Speaker

Todd Thompson, Professor and Department Chair, Ohio State University

Abstract

Galactic winds are a critical ingredient in our recipes for galaxy formation and evolution. They are multi-phase and multi-dynamical. The physics of the ubiquitous cool and cold outflowing high velocity gas seen from rapidly star-forming galaxies remains uncertain and perhaps unknown. I will present recent work designed to shed light on these questions, with a focus on how to produce cool atomic and warm photo-ionized gas at high velocities. One idea is to precipitate the cool gas from the super-heated hot phase on scales outside the host galaxy. Another option is to directly accelerate the cool gas from the galaxy with momentum injection, perhaps provided by cosmic rays, radiation pressure on dust grains, or a putative fast, hot wind. I will highlight the challenges and open questions on both the observational and theoretical fronts, and connect to observational constraints on physical scales ranging from molecular clouds to the near-galactic medium and the circumgalactic medium.

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The post DGCE SIG Seminar, 27 Aug 2026 appeared first on NASA Science.