Speaker: Dawn Erb, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Abstract: The circumgalactic medium modulates most of the key processes of galaxy evolution. Outflows powered by star formation drive gas out of galaxies and into the CGM, while new fuel for star formation may be accreted through the CGM, likely via dense, cold streams of gas. Ionizing photons that make their way out of the galaxy must also traverse the neutral hydrogen in the CGM. Because Lyα photons resonantly scatter from neutral hydrogen in the halos of galaxies, observations of Lyα emission can offer constraints on the properties of circumgalactic gas. I will present spatially extended integral field spectroscopic observations of Lyα emission in the circumgalactic medium of galaxies at z~2 from the Keck Cosmic Web Imager. In combination with new spatially resolved radiative transfer models, these data enable constraints on the kinematics and distribution of neutral hydrogen in the CGM on scales of tens of kiloparsecs.