Event

The circumgalactic medium (CGM) serves as a fuel supply, waste dump, and recycling center for galaxies' baryons and metals. Our empirical understanding of this vast reservoir of gas surrounding galaxies has been revolutionized in the seven years since the installation of the Cosmic Origins Spectrographic (COS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009. I will review the observational landscape of the low-redshift CGM and how it is challenging prevailing theories of galaxy evolution. I will then delve in to how trying to understand the underlying physical conditions and relevant physical processes governing the observed CGM is uncovering more and more questions as to the origin and fate of circumgalactic gas.