Speaker
Description
The interstellar medium (ISM) is heated and ionized by radiation, by stellar winds, and finally, by supernova explosions. Since these processes are often correlated in space and time, they can form large interstellar structures called superbubbles, which are filled with hot thin plasma. If superbubbles expand and break, the hot plasma will escape into the galactic disk and also out of the disk, forming galactic winds and fountains. The hot plasma can be studied best in X-rays due to its high temperature (10^6 − 10^7 K), while particles are also accelerated in the shock waves. I will present recent results of studies of the hot phase of the ISM in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, in particular in the Magellanic Clouds, and discuss the physics of the hot plasma, the evolution and energetics of supernova remnants and superbubbles, and the implications for the star formation history of the galaxies.
