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• About

  NSF Fellowship | BS, University of Michigan | Advisor: Joel Bregman

  Hot halos

  Mike Anderson is using X-ray observations to test theoretical predictions that large galaxies formed from and are surrounded by diffuse hot gas. These “hot halos” have been difficult to detect, even with the best X-ray telescopes, but Anderson and his advisor have been the first to detect one around a spiral galaxy by employing novel observational techniques. Using estimates of the halo’s mass, density, and temperature, Anderson was able to rule it out as a solution to the enigmatic problem of galaxies’ “missing baryons.” He demonstrated that the galaxy’s missing matter could not be accounted for in a halo of the mass they detected. These results have recently been extended to another giant spiral galaxy. He is currently working on generalizing these constraints to larger samples of galaxies, and comparing the observational constraints to predictions from simulations.

  Publications

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