Interstellar Medium Structure and Evolution

The interstellar medium provides insights about the Galactic matter cycles --- how the Milky Way regulates its star formation activity. Its densest gas structures (although roughly a million time more diffuse than the best technical vacuum achievable on Earth) are organized in molecular clouds, the sites of star formation. Fabian Heitsch studies the dynamics and evolution of the interstellar medium on its transition from diffuse gas to molecular clouds, and eventually to stars.