| Abstract: | At the meeting point of galaxies with the cosmic web lies the circumgalactic medium (CGM), the galactic diffuse atmosphere. Recent observations reveal that the CGM is extended, multiphase, and ubiquitous, detected around star forming and quiescent galaxies. However, due to the challenging nature of the measurements, many questions remain open - how much gas is out there, what are its thermal properties, spatial distribution, and morphology? These are linked to the properties of gas accretion onto galaxies, star formation, and feedback processes, and are crucial to our understanding of galaxy evolution.
In this talk I will present the multiphase CGM modeling framework I developed to address these questions. First, I will show what we learned from applying these models to observations of MW-mass galaxies, constraining the CGM mass, amount of non-thermal support, and cool gas cloud sizes. I will mention ongoing work on low-mass galaxies, and then discuss how this framework can be expanded to study a wide range of halo masses across cosmic times. Finally, I will show predictions for upcoming observations and future facilities (including CMB-S4, ELT, HWO, and more), which will allow us to test and improve our understanding of the physical processes governing the CGM. |