We find that the dust-scattering origin of the diffuse Hα emission cannot be ruled out. As opposed to the previous contention, the expected dust-scattered Hα halos surrounding H II regions are, in fact, in good agreement with the observed Hα morphology. We calculate an extensive set of photoionization models by varying elemental abundances, ionizing stellar types, and clumpiness of the interstellar medium (ISM) and find that the observed line ratios of [S II]/Hα, [N II]/Hα, and He I λ5876/Hα in the diffuse ISM accord well with the dust-scattered halos around H II regions, which are photoionized by late O- and/or early B-type stars. We also demonstrate that the Hα absorption feature in the underlying continuum from the dust-scattered starlight (“diffuse galactic light”) and unresolved stars is able to substantially increase the [S II]/Hα and [N II]/Hα line ratios in the diffuse ISM.

The project Galactic Cold Cores is studying the early stages of Galactic star formation using far-infrared and sub-millimetre observations of dust emission. The Planck satellite has located many sources of cold dust emission that are likely to be pre-stellar clumps in interstellar clouds. We have mapped a sample of Planck-detected clumps with the Herschel satellite at wavelengths 100-500 μm. Herschel has confirmed the Planck detections of cold dust and have revealed a significant amount of sub-structure in the clumps. The cloud cores have colour temperatures in the range of 10–15 K. However, star formation is often already in progress with cold clumps coinciding with mid-infrared point sources. In less than half of the cases, the cloud morphology is clearly dominated by filamentary structures. The sources include both nearby isolated globules and more distant, massive clouds that may be off-the-plane counterparts of infrared dark clouds.

The Herschel observations have been completed and the processed maps will be released to the community in 2013.

Inhomogenities were found in the distribution of the cold fraction in the interstellar medium (traced by Planck cold clumps). In large scales there is a significant overdensity on some shells, in small scales there are elongated groups. Critical column density for star formation is N(H2) = 7 × 1021 cm−2.

Feedback processes from massive stars plays a critical role in their formation, destroy the molecular clouds in which they are born and shape the evolution of galaxies. In this talk I will discuss our recent 3D AMR simulations that are the first to include the coupled feedback effects of protostellar outflows combined with protostellar heating and radiation pressure feedback and magnetic fields, in a single computation and their effects on the infalling dusty gas in the surrounding environs of the accreting core envelope. These simulations will address the detailed effects of feedback on the formation of high mass stars and massive clusters with implications for the IMF.

Supernovae (SNe) produce, fragment and destroy dust, molecules and nucleosynthetic elements, and reshape and modify the ISM. I will review recent infrared observations of supernova remnants (SNRs) and SNe which show that SNe are important sites of dust and molecule formation and are major dust creators in the Universe. Detection of carbon monoxide (CO) fundamental band from the young SNR Cas A indicates that astrochemical processes in SNRs interacting with molecular clouds provide astrophysical laboratories to study evolution of the ISM returning material from dense clouds into the more diffuse medium and galactic halo. Two dozen SNRs are known to be interacting with molecular clouds using H2 and millimeter observations. Recent Spitzer, Herschel and SOFIA observations along with ground-based observations have greatly advanced our understanding shock processing and astrochemistry of dust, H2, high J CO, and other neutral and ionized molecules and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). Ionized molecules and warm layer of molecules that are excited by UV radiation, X-rays, or cosmic rays will be described. Finally I will discuss how astrochemical processes of dust and molecules in SNRs impact the large scale structures in the ISM.

We have constructed three-dimensional hydrodynamical models to simulate the impact of massive star feedback, via winds and SNe, on inhomogeneous molecular material left over from the formation of a massive stellar cluster. We are studying the timescales for the molecular material to be removed from the environment of a massive stellar cluster and the mass and energy fluxes into the wider environment.

We develop the technique of ionization parameter mapping (IPM) to probe the optical depth of Hii regions, applying our method to the Magellanic Clouds. Our results dramatically clarify the radiative transfer in these galaxies. Based on Sii, Oiii, and Hα imaging from the Magellanic Clouds Emission Line Survey, we find that the frequency of optically thin objects correlates strongly with Hα luminosity and correlates inversely with Hi column density. The aggregate escape fraction for the Lyman continuum is sufficient to ionize the diffuse, warm ionized medium, but the galactic escape fraction is dominated by the few largest Hii regions. The quantitative trends are similar in both the LMC and SMC in spite of their different star formation and Hi properties.

We present a new model for the formation of dense clumps and pillars around HII regions based on shocks curvature at the interface between a HII region and a molecular cloud. UV radiation leads to the formation of an ionization front and of a shock ahead. The gas is compressed between them forming a dense shell at the interface. This shell may be curved due to initial interface or density modulation caused by the turbulence of the molecular cloud. Low curvature leads to instabilities in the shell that form dense clumps while sufficiently curved shells collapse on itself to form pillars. When turbulence is high compared to the ionized-gas pressure, bubbles of cold gas have sufficient kinetic energy to penetrate into the HII region and detach themselves from the parent cloud, forming cometary globules.

Using computational simulations, we show that these new models are extremely efficient to form dense clumps and stable and growing elongated structures, pillars, in which star formation might occur (see Tremblin et al.2012a). The inclusion of turbulence in the model shows its importance in the formation of cometary globules (see Tremblin et al.2012b). Globally, the density enhancement in the simulations is of one or two orders of magnitude higher than the density enhancement of the classical “collect and collapse“ scenario. The code used for the simulation is the HERACLES code, that comprises hydrodynamics with various equation of state, radiative transfer, gravity, cooling and heating.

Our recent observations with Herschel (see Schneider et al.2012a) and SOFIA (see Schneider et al.2012b) and additional Spitzer data archives revealed many more of these structures in regions where OB stars have already formed such as the Rosette Nebula, Cygnus X, M16 and Vela, suggesting that the UV radiation from massive stars plays an important role in their formation. We present a first comparison between the simulations described above and recent observations of these regions.

Hydrodynamic simulations on the evolution of molecular clouds (MCs) at HII boundaries are used to show that radiation driven implosion (RDI) model can create almost all of the different morphological structures, such as a single bright-rimmed cloud (BRC), fragment structure and multiple elephant trunk (ET) structures.

The W43 region is one of the most massive star forming regions in our Galaxy. It is subject to a large IRAM 30m project that observes high spectral resolution maps of the complete complex in the 13CO (2–1) and C18O (2–1) lines. We find a variety of different sources of which we calculate excitation temperature, H2 column density and mass. We find the total mass of dense clouds in the complex to be 1.2×106 M⊙.

Molecular lines are used to trace the physical conditions of the gas in different environments, from high-z galaxies to proto-planetary disks. To fully benefit from the diagnostic power of the molecular lines, the formation and destruction paths of the molecules must be quantitatively understood. This is challenging because the physical conditions are extreme and the dynamic plays an important role. In this context the PDR of the Horsehead mane is a particularly interesting case because the geometry is simple (almost 1D, viewed edge-on; Abergel et al.2003), the density profile is well constrained and we are making several efforts to constrain the thermal profile. The combination of small distance to Earth (at 400 pc, 1″ corresponds to 0.002 pc), low illumination (χ = 60) and high density (nH ~ 105 cm−3) implies that all the interesting physical and chemical processes can be probed in a field-of-view of less than 50″ (with typical spatial scales ranging between 1″ and 10″). Hence, the Horsehead PDR is a good source to benchmark the physics and chemistry of UV illuminated neutral gas.

In our recent work on the ISM physics and chemistry in the Horsehead we have shown the importance of the interplay between the solid and gas phase chemistry in the formation of (complex) organic molecules, like H2CO, CH3OH and CH3CN, which reveal that photo-desorption of ices is an efficient mechanism to release molecules into the gas phase (Guzmán et al.2011, Gratier et al. in prep, Guzman et al. in prep)}. We have also provided new diagnostics of the UV illuminated matter. For example, we detected CF+ and resolved its hyperfine structure (Guzman et al.2012b). We propose that CF+, which is observable from the ground, can be used as a proxy of C+ (Guzman et al.2012). Finally, we reported the first detection of the small hydrocarbon C3H+, which sheds light on the formation pathways of other observed small hydrocarbons, like C3H and C3H2 ((Pety et al. 2012). Part of these results were possible thanks to a complete an unbiased line survey at 1, 2 and 3 mm performed with the IRAM-30m telescope (Horsehead WHISPER), where approximately 30 species (plus their isotopologues) are detected.

Cosmis rays are an essential component of the interstellar medium because of their high energy density. This paper reviews the origin of cosmic rays.

The interstellar medium in galactic halos is described as a consequence of feedback mechanisms from processes related to star-formation in the disk. The presence of gas in galactic halos is also expected due to accretion of gas from the circumgalactic environment. The observational evidence for gas in galactic halos - from the hot X-ray emitting coronal phase to cool molecular gas and dust - is reviewed and discussed in the context of current models of the ISM and the “infall vs. outflow“ debate.

High-velocity clouds (HVCs) consist of gas that does not take part in normal Galactic rotation, having velocities deviating by up to 400 km s−1 from those expected from rotation. Over the past five decades, studies have shown they these clouds trace a number of different processes, including the Galactic Fountain, tidal streams, and infall. Here, I summarize some recent results concerning measurements of cloud metallicities and distances and how these are used to understand individual clouds and derive the conclusion above.

In recent years we have seen a wealth of new observations and analysis that sheds light on the distribution and physical properties of various ISM phases. In particular the thermal pressure from C I (Jenkins & Tripp 2011) shows the bulk of the CNM phase with a log normal pressure distribution. It appears that thermal instability is important for phase separation, but with with a thermal pressure variation about the mean driven by turbulence. In additional, there is evidence from C I, H2, and complex molecules, of both higher and lower pressure environments. An additional “phase“ that is of increasing interest for high z, low metallicity galaxies is the C+/H2 gas that is not traced by H I or CO. This review presents the observational evidence for the existence and physical properties of these various ISM phases.

The Herschel/HIFI absorption spectroscopy surveys reveal the unexpected molecular richness of the Galactic diffuse ISM, even in gas of very low average H2 molecular fraction. In particular, two hydrides, CH+ and SH+ with highly endoenergetic formation routes have abundances that challenge models of UV-driven chemistry. The intermittent dissipation of turbulence appears as a plausible additional source of energy for the diffuse ISM chemistry. We present recent results of the so-called models of Turbulent Dissipation Regions (TDR). The abundances of many of the molecules observed in the diffuse ISM, including CO that is used as a tracer of the molecular clouds mass, may be understood in the framework of the TDR models.

Until recently the dynamical evolution of the interstellar medium (ISM) was simulated using collisional ionization equilibrium (CIE) conditions. However, the ISM is a dynamical system, in which the plasma is naturally driven out of equilibrium due to atomic and dynamic processes operating on different timescales. A step forward in the field comprises a multi-fluid approach taking into account the joint thermal and dynamical evolutions of the ISM gas.

Star formation is self-regulated by its feedback that drives turbulence and heats the gas. In equilibrium, the star formation rate (SFR) should be directly related to the total (thermal plus turbulent) midplane pressure and hence the total weight of the diffuse gas if energy balance and vertical dynamical equilibrium hold simultaneously. To investigate this quantitatively, we utilize numerical hydrodynamic simulations focused on outer-disk regions where diffuse atomic gas dominates. By analyzing gas properties at saturation, we obtain relationships between the turbulence driving and dissipation rates, heating and cooling rates, the total midplane pressure and the total weight of gas, and the SFR and the total midplane pressure. We find a nearly linear relationship between the SFR and the midplane pressure consistent with the theoretical prediction.

In a thermally bistable medium, cold, dense gas is separated from warm, rarified gas by thin phase transition layers, or fronts, in which radiative heating/cooling, thermal conduction, and convection of material are balanced. While these fronts have received only scant attention in the literature, and are not resolved by most current numerical simulations, they have been shown to have important ramifications for transport processes and structure formation in the diffuse interstellar medium. Here, we discuss calculations of their hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic stability properties.

Planck is a cosmology experiment, but significant interstellar dust and gas emission exists in the band where the CMB peaks. Therefore, Planck's all-sky surveys provide new views of the ISM and magnetic fields in the Galaxy, as well as the dust and gas in galaxies.