EventsPast talk
Santa Barbara Astro Lunch
Scott Lucchini
CfA
The Circumgalactic Medium at 200 pc
- When
- Wednesday 11 Mar 2026
12:00–1:00 pm PDT - Where
- Broida 3302
- Series
- A weekly informal gathering of UCSB, LCO and KITP astrophysicists to hear about current research by locals and visitors.
From the calendar
The circumgalactic medium (CGM) plays a crucial role in the baryon cycle by mediating all of the gas flows in and out of the galaxy. However, simulating this region is difficult due to its immense volume and low densities. Fixed spatial resolution is an excellent tool to overcome this problem. In this talk, I will introduce a new suite of cosmological zoom simulations with 200 pc resolution covering the inner CGM of a Milky Way-mass galaxy, utilizing the full IllustrisTNG galaxy formation model. At this high resolution, we find increased cool gas column densities, increased turbulent velocities, many small, cold cloudlets, and an intricately structured hot phase.