Distribution and Structure of Matter in and around Galaxies

Understanding the origins and distribution of matter in the Universe is one of the most important quests in physics and astronomy. Themes range from astro-particle physics to chemical evolution in the Galaxy to cosmic nucleosynthesis and chemistry in an anticipation of a full account of matter in the Universe. Studies of chemical evolution in the early Universe will answer questions about when and where the majority of metals were formed, how they spread and why they appar today as they are. The evolution of matter in our Universe cannot be characterized as a simple path of development. In fact the state of matter today tells us that mass and matter is under constant reformation through on-going star formation, nucleosynthesis and mass loss on stellar and galactic scales. X-ray absorption studies have evolved in recent years into powerful means to probe the various phases of interstellar and intergalactic media. Future observatories such as IXO and Gen-X will provide vast new opportunities to study structure and distribution of matter with high resolution X-ray spectra. Specifically the capabilities of the soft energy gratings with a resolution of R=3000 onboard IXO will provide ground breaking determinations of element abundance, ionization structure, and dispersion velocities of the interstellar and intergalactic media of our Galaxy and the Local Group
Comment: A White Paper Submitted to the Astro2010 Decadal Survey