Speaker: Huanian Zhang

Galaxies are surrounded by diffuse and extended gas, which is often called the circumgalactic medium (CGM) and is the least understood part of galactic ecosystems. The CGM harbors more than 60% of the total baryons in a galaxy, is both the reservoir of gas for subsequent star formation and the depository of chemically processed gas, energy, and angular momentum from feedback. Observations and simulations of the CGM suggest that it is a multi-phase medium characterized by rich dynamics and complex ionization states. The study of the CGM has so far generally come from absorption line studies of the spectra of distant objects, typically QSOs, whose lines of sight intersect lower redshift galaxy halos. However, such study is limited by statistics. Instead, I will describe a novel approach to study the CGM via emission lines, which allows for direct mapping of individual galaxies and a variety of results obtained.