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Understanding how galaxies interact with the circumgalactic medium (CGM) requires determining how galaxies morphological and stellar properties correlate with their CGM properties. We report an analysis of 66 well-imaged galaxies detected in HST and VLT MUSE observations and determined to be within $\pm$500 km s$^{-1}$ of the redshifts of strong intervening quasar absorbers at $0.2 \lesssim z \lesssim 1.4$ with H I column densities $N_{\rm H I}$ $>$ $10^{18}$ $\rm cm^{-2}$. We present the geometrical properties (S\'ersic indices, effective radii, axis ratios, and position angles) of these galaxies determined using GALFIT. Using these properties along with star formation rates (SFRs, estimated using the H$\alpha$ or [O II] luminosity) and stellar masses ($M_{*}$ estimated from spectral energy distribution fits), we examine correlations among various stellar and CGM properties. Our main findings are as follows: (1) SFR correlates well with $M_{*}$, and most absorption-selected galaxies are consistent with the star formation main sequence (SFMS) of the global population. (2) More massive absorber counterparts are more centrally concentrated and are larger in size. (3) Galaxy sizes and normalized impact parameters correlate negatively with $N_{\rm H I}$, consistent with higher $N_{\rm H I}$ absorption arising in smaller galaxies, and closer to galaxy centers. (4) Absorption and emission metallicities correlate with $M_{*}$ and sSFR, implying metal-poor absorbers arise in galaxies with low past star formation and faster current gas consumption rates. (5) SFR surface densities of absorption-selected galaxies are higher than predicted by the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation for local galaxies, suggesting a higher star formation efficiency in the absorption-selected galaxies., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 25 pages, 19 figures

The bimodal absorption system imaging campaign (BASIC) aims to characterize the galaxy environments of a sample of 36 HI-selected partial Lyman limit systems (pLLSs) and Lyman limit systems (LLSs) in 23 QSO fields at $z \lesssim 1$. These pLLSs/LLSs provide a unique sample of absorbers with unbiased and well-constrained metallicities, allowing us to explore the origins of metal-rich and low-metallicity circumgalactic medium (CGM) at $z 9.0$, whereas low-metallicity pLLSs/LLSs are found in more diverse locations, with one population arising in the CGM of galaxies and another more broadly distributed in overdense regions of the universe. Using absorbers not associated with galaxies, we estimate the unweighted geometric mean metallicity of the intergalactic medium to be [X/H] $\lesssim -2.1$ at $z, Key figures: 13 and 18. Modified abstract. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Updated after referee comments, expanded subsection 4.4

We characterize the chemical and physical conditions in an outflowing high-velocity cloud in the inner Galaxy. We report a super-solar metallicity of [O/H] = $+0.36\pm0.12$ for the high-velocity cloud at $v_\mathrm{LSR}$ = 125.6 km s$^{-1}$ toward the star HD 156359 ($l$ = 328.$^{\circ}$7, $b$ = $-$14.$^{\circ}$5, $d$ = 9 kpc, $z$ = $-$2.3 kpc). Using archival observations from FUSE, HST STIS, and ESO FEROS we measure high-velocity absorption in H I, O I, C II, N II, Si II, Ca II, Si III, Fe III, C IV, Si IV, N V, and O VI. We measure a low H I column density of log $N$(H I) = $15.54\pm0.05$ in the HVC from multiple unsaturated H I Lyman series lines in the FUSE data. We determine a low dust depletion level in the HVC from the relative strength of silicon, iron, and calcium absorption relative to oxygen, with [Si/O]=$-0.33\pm0.14$, [Fe/O]=$-0.30\pm0.20$, and [Ca/O] =$-0.56\pm0.16$. Analysis of the high-ion absorption using collisional ionization models indicates that the hot plasma is multi-phase, with the C IV and Si IV tracing 10$^{4.9}$ K gas and N V and O VI tracing 10$^{5.4}$ K gas. The cloud's metallicity, dust content, kinematics, and close proximity to the disk are all consistent with a Galactic wind origin. As the HD 156359 line of sight probes the inner Galaxy, the HVC appears to be a young cloud caught in the act of being entrained in a multi-phase Galactic outflow and driven out into the halo., Submitted to ApJ, 18 pages, 13 figures, comments welcome

Two giant plasma lobes, known as the Fermi Bubbles, extend 10 kpc above and below the Galactic Center. Since their discovery in X-rays in 2003 (and in gamma-rays in 2010), the Bubbles have been recognized as a new morphological feature of our Galaxy and a striking example of energetic feedback from the nuclear region. They remain the subject of intense research and their origin via AGN activity or nuclear star formation is still debated. While imaging at gamma-ray, X-ray, microwave, and radio wavelengths has revealed their morphology and energetics, spectroscopy at radio and UV wavelengths has recently been used to study the kinematics and chemical abundances of outflowing gas clouds embedded in the Bubbles (the nuclear wind). Here we identify the scientific themes that have emerged from the spectroscopic studies, determine key open questions, and describe further observations needed in the next ten years to characterize the basic physical conditions in the nuclear wind and its impact on the rest of the Galaxy. Nuclear winds are ubiquitous in galaxies, and the Galactic Center represents the best opportunity to study the constitution and structure of a nuclear wind in close detail., Comment: Science White Paper submitted to Astro2020 Decadal Survey. 7 pages, 5 figures

Evolving developments in nanotechnology, materials science, and artificial intelligence are paving the way for exponential growth in humanity’s abilities to create-and destroy. Emerging Promethean technologies will deliver capabilities to average persons that, until recently, have been relegated only to governments, militaries, and large research laboratories. The responsibilities of the homeland security enterprise can be divided between two mission sets: the systemic mission (responding to known threats) and the future-shock mission (preparing for highly uncertain threats from emerging technologies). The latter mission encompasses forecasting which emerging Promethean technologies are most likely to be actualized and then used by bad actors, and which have the direst plausible consequences. Pandora’s Spyglass, a decision-support tool for performing a devil’s toy box analysis, fuses best practices from a wide variety of predictive analytical techniques. It produces an ordinal list of most-destructive scenarios involving emerging Promethean technologies likely to come to market within a five- to ten-year window-a to-do list for counter-future-shock research and development. It is a ranking tool, not meant to serve as a budget justification or formulation tool; however, the procedure’s assumptions and variables can be validated so that it could legitimately serve that latter function. http://archive.org/details/puttinglidondevi1094558296 Management and Program Analyst, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

The Milky Way provides an ideal opportunity to study baryon flows in the circumgalactic medium of a star-forming spiral galaxy. High velocity clouds (HVCs) seen in UV absorption toward background AGN probe the multi-phase ionized gas in the Galactic CGM. In this talk new observations from the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on Hubble will be presented, focusing on two Galactic regions: the biconical outflow from the Galactic Center, which drives gas into the Fermi Bubbles, and the Smith Cloud, an accreting HVC close to the Galactic disk showing clear signs of fragmentation. These observations allow us to constrain the rates of gas circulation in the Galactic halo.

We continue our recent work to characterize the plasma content of high-redshift damped and sub-damped Lyman-alpha systems (DLAs/sub-DLAs), which represent multi-phase gaseous (proto)galactic disks and halos seen toward a background source. We survey N V absorption in a sample of 91 DLAs and 18 sub-DLAs in the redshift range 1.67-2.3. The N V and CIV component b-value distributions in DLAs are statistically similar, but the median b(N V) of 18 km/s is lower than the median b(O VI) of 25 km/s. Some ~20% of the N V components have b14 or log N(O VI)>14.2] that present challenges to either galactic inflow or outflow models., Comment: 26 pages, accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics, updated with proof changes

The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) has observed over three hundred fifty sightlines to extragalactic targets. About one hundred fifty of these are of sufficient quality to measure OVI absorption in and near the Milky Way. High-velocity OVI absorption is detected in about 80% of the sightlines, with the detection rate going up for sightlines with higher signal-to-noise ratios. OVI is almost always seen in directions with previously known HI HVCs, including HVCs complex C, complex A, complex WD, the Magellanic Stream, and the Outer Arm. Studies of several sightlines through complex C suggest that the OVI absorption is produced in conductive interfaces between the cool HVC and a hotter surrounding medium, most likely a corona around the Milky Way. The OVI detections associated with the Magellanic Stream imply that this hot corona has a radius of at least 50 kpc. About half of the detections of high-velocity OVI are in directions where no high-velocity HI was previously known. Some of these are probably associated with the Magellanic Stream, others may represent Local Group gas. Still others often show up as a distinct wing on the low-velocity absorption; these may either represent an outflow from the Milky Way associated with the Galactic Fountain, they may be extragalactic HVCs, or they may be tracing a wind from the Galactic Center. Distance limits to the high-velocity OVI are scarce, but at least one of the clouds appear to be more distant than 4 kpc., Comment: Contribution for "Extraplanar Gas" conference, held in Dwingeloo, June 2004