A wide spectral coverage from near-infrared (NIR) to far-infrared (FIR) of AKARI both for imaging and spectroscopy enables us to eciently study the emission from gas and dust in the interstellar medium (ISM). In particular, the Infrared Camera (IRC) onboard AKARI oers a unique opportunity to carry out sensitive spectroscopy in the NIR (2{5 m) for the rst time from a spaceborn telescope. This spectral range contains a number of important dust bands and gas lines, such as the aromatic and aliphatic emission bands at 3.3 and 3.4{3.5 m, H2O and CO2 ices at 3.0 and 4.3 m, CO, H2, and HI gas emission lines. In this paper we concentrate on the aromatic and aliphatic emission and ice absorption features. The balance between dust supply and destruction suggests signicant dust processing taking place as well as dust formation in the ISM. Detailed analysis of the aromatic and aliphatic bands of AKARI observations for a number of Hii regions and Hii region-like objects suggests processing of carbonaceous dust in the ISM. The ice formation process can also be studied with IRC NIR spectroscopy eciently. In this review, dust processing in the ISM divulged by recent analysis of AKARI data is discussed.

The traditional view of dust in the interstellar medium is that it is made of graphite and silicates. In this paper, we discuss the evidence for complex organics being a major component of interstellar dust. Comparison between astronomical infrared spectra and laboratory spectra of amorphous carbonaceous materials suggests that organics of mixed aromatic-aliphatic structures are widely present in circumstellar, interstellar, and galactic environments. Scenarios for the synthesis of these compounds in the late stages of stellar evolution are presented.

Observed spectra of stars around the Sun have indicated that the Sun is located in a gas cavity, extending to 100pc. This gas cavity is called the "Local Bubble". The density of the interstellar medium (ISM) in the local bubble is about one tenth that of the average for the ISM in the Milky Way. Furthermore, some structures such as gas planes and strings in the local bubble are probably the result of supernovae. These, due to their low temperatures, can not be observed in the visible and infrared. The only way to do so is to measure the spectra of nearby stars so that the light of stars passing through the local bubble is absorbed by existing gas and the resulting spectral lines from absorption can be measured. In this study, we use binary stars to trace the local bubble structures through lines such as the Na I Doublet. First, we determined the observed spectral lines of stars by HARPS and FEROS echelle spectrographs. Then, we made synthetic spectra with the ATLAS9 code. Finally, the difference between the observational and synthetic spectra confirms the existence of the Na I Doublet in the local ISM.

AKARI has 4 imaging bands in the far-infrared (FIR) and 9 imaging bands that cover the near-infrared (NIR) to mid-infrared (MIR) contiguously. The FIR bands probe the thermal emission from sub-micron dust grains, while the MIR bands observe emission from stochastically-heated very small grains and the unidentified infrared (UIR) band emissions from carbonaceous materials that contain aromatic and aliphatic bonds. The multi-band characteristics of the AKARI instruments are quite efficient to study the spectral energy distribution of the interstellar medium, which always shows multi-component nature, as well as its variations in the various environments. AKARI also has spectroscopic capabilities. In particular, one of the onboard instruments, Infrared Camera (IRC), can obtain a continuous spectrum from 2.5 to 13 μm with the same slit. This allows us to make a comparative study of the UIR bands in the diffuse emission from the 3.3 to 11.3 μm for the first time. The IRC explores high-sensitivity spectroscopy in the NIR, which enables the study of interstellar ices and the UIR band emission at 3.3 − 3.5 μm in various objects. Particularly, the UIR bands in this spectral range contain unique information on the aromatic and aliphatic bonds in the band carriers. This presentation reviews the results of AKARI observations of the interstellar medium with an emphasis on the observations of the NIR spectroscopy.

We have estimated the fractal dimension of the molecular clouds associated with the H ΙΙ region Sh 156 in the Outer Galaxy. We selected the 12CO cube data from the FCRAO CO Survey of the Outer Galaxy. Using a developed code within IRAF, we identified slice-clouds (2-dimensional clouds in velocity-channel maps) with two threshold temperatures to estimate the fractal dimension. With the threshold temperatures of 1.8 K, and 3 K, we identified 317 slice-clouds and 217 slice-clouds, respectively. There seems to be a turn-over location in fractional dimension slope around NP (area; number of pixel) = 40. The fractal dimensions was estimated to be D = 1.5 ∼ 1.53 for NP ≥ 40, where P ∝ AD/2 (P is perimeter and A is area), which is slightly larger than other results. The sampling rate (spatial resolution) of observed data must be an important parameter when estimating fractal dimension. Fractal dimension is apparently invariant when varying the threshold temperatures applied to slice-clouds identification.

The FIMS (Far-ultraviolet IMaging Spectrograph; also known as SPEAR, Spectroscopy of Plasma Evolution from Astrophysical Radiation) is the primary payload of the STSAT-1, the first Korean science satellite, which was launched in September, 2003. The FIMS performs spectral imaging of diffuse far-ultraviolet emission with the unprecedented wide field of view and the relatively good spectral resolution. We present far-ultraviolet spectral observations of highly ionized interstellar medium including supernova remnants, superbubbles, soft X-ray shadows, and the molecular hydrogen fluorescent emission lines. The FIMS has detected He II, C III, 0 III, O IV, Si IV, O VI, and H2 fluorescent emission lines. The emission lines arise in shocked or thermally heated and in photo-ionized gases. We present an overview of the FIMS instrument and its initial observational results.

In this paper, the intensity ratio of [O I] λ6300 and Hα lines, which plays an important role in the study of warm (or diffuse) ionized interstellar medium, is calculated assuming collisional ionization equilibrium (or coronal equilibrium). The calculated ratio is compared with the previous works, and with the observations, obtained by Reynolds (1989) and Reynolds et al. (1998) with the Wisconsin Ha Mapper facility, toward the directions that sample the faint interstellar emission-line background. The comparison confirms that most of the Ha originates from nearly fully ionized regions along the lines of sight rather than from partially ionized H I clouds or layers of H II on the surfaces of H I clouds.

We perform numerical experiments on supernova-driven turbulent flows in order to see whether or not supernovae playa major role in driving turbulence in the interstellar medium. In a (200pc)3 computational box, we set up, as initial conditions, uniformly magnetized gas distributions with different pairs of hydrogen number densities and magnetic field strengths, which cover the observed values in the Galactic midplane. We then explode supernovae at randomly chosen positions at a Galactic explosion rate and follow up the evolution of the supernova-driven turbulent flows by integrating numerically the ideal MHD equations with cooling and heating terms. From the numerical experiments we find that the density-weighted velocity dispersions of the flows are in the range of 5-10 km s-l, which are consistent with the observed velocity dispersions of cold and warm neutral media. Additionally, we find that strong compressible flows driven by supernova explosions quickly change into solenoidal flows.

We have estimated the fractal dimension of the molecular clouds in the Antigalactic Center based on the 12CO (J = 1- 0) and 13CO (J = 1- 0) database obtained using the 14m telescope at Taeduk Radio Astronomy Observatory. Using a developed code within IRAF, we were able to identify slice-clouds, and determined the dispersions of two spatial coordinates as well as perimeters and areas. The fractal dimension of the target region was estimated to be D = 1.34 for low resolution 12CO (J = 1 - 0) database, and D = 1.4 for higher resolution 12CO (J = 1 - 0) and 13CO (J = 1 - 0) database, where P ∝ AD/2. The sampling rate (spatial resolution) of observed data must be an important parameter when estimating fractal dimension. Our database with higher resolution of 1 arcminute, which is corresponding to 0.2 pc at a distance of 1.1 kpc, gives us the same estimate of fractal dimension to that of local dark clouds. Fractal dimension is apparently invariant when varying the threshold temperatures applied to cloud identification. According to the dispersion pattern of longitudes and latitudes of identified slice-clouds, there is no preference of elongation direction.

We study the properties of supernova (SN) driven interstellar turbulence with a numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model. Calculations were done using the RIEMANN framework for MHD, which is highly suited for astrophysical flows because it tracks shocks using a Riemann solver and ensures pressure positivity and a divergence-free magnetic field. We start our simulations with a uniform density threaded by a uniform magnetic field. A simplified radiative cooling curve and a constant heating rate are also included. In this radiatively-cooling magnetized medium, we explode SNe one at a time at randomly chosen positions with SN explosion rates equal to and 12 times higher than the Galactic value. The evolution of the system is basically determined by the input energy of SN explosions and the output energy of radiative cooling. We follow the simulations to the point where the total energy of the system, as well as thermal, kinetic, and magnetic energy individually, has reached a quasi-stationary value. From the numerical experiments, we find that: i) both thermal and dynamical processes are important in determining the phases of the interstellar medium, and ii) the power index n of the B-p n relation is consistent with observed values.

Strong thermal X-ray emission, called Galactic Ridge X-ray Emission, is observed along the Galactic plane (Koyama et al. 1986). The origin of hot (~7 keV) component of GRXE is not known, while cool (~0.8 keV) one is associated with supernovae (Kaneda et al. 1997, Sugizaki et al. 2001). We propose a possible mechanism to explain the origin; locally strong magnetic fields of Blocal ~30 μG heat interstellar gas to ~7 keV via magnetic reconnection (Tanuma et al. 1999). There will be the small-scale (< 10 pc) strong magnetic fields, which can be observed as (B)obs ~3 μG by integration of Faraday Rotation Measure, if it is localized by a volume filling factor of f ~ 0.1. In order to examine this model, we solved three-dimensional (3D) resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations numerically to examine the magnetic reconnect ion triggered by a supernova shock (fig.l). We assume that the magnetic field is Bx = 30tanh(y/20pc) μG, By = Bz = 0, and the temperature is uniform, at the initial condition. We put a supernova explosion outside the current sheet. The supernova-shock, as a result, triggers the magnetic reconnect ion, and the gas is heatd to > 7 keV. The magnetic reconnect ion heats the interstellar gas to ~7 keV in the Galactic plane, if it occurs in the locally strong magnetic fields of Blocal ~30 μG. The heated plasma is confined by the magnetic field for ~10 5.5 yr. The required interval of the magnetic reconnect ions (triggered by anything) is ~1 - 10 yr. The magnetic reconnect ion will explain the origin of X-rays from the Galactic ridge, furthermore the Galactic halo, and clusters of galaxies.

The dependencies of the chemical element abundances in stellar atmospheres with respect to solar abundances on the second ionization potentials of the same elements were investigated using the published stellar abundance patterns for 1,149 G and K giants in the Local Region of the Galaxy. The correlations between the relative abundances of chemical elements and their second ionization potentials were calculated for groups of stars with effective temperatures between 3,764 and 7,725 K. Correlations were identified for chemical elements with second ionization potentials of 12.5 eV to 20 eV and for elements with second ionization potentials higher than 20 eV. For the first group of elements, the correlation coefficients were positive for stars with effective temperatures lower than 5,300 K and negative for stars with effective temperatures from 5,300 K to 7,725 K. The results of this study and the comparison with earlier results for hotter stars confirm the variations in these correlations with the effective temperature. A possible explanation for the observed effects is the accretion of hydrogen and helium atoms from the interstellar medium.

The reanalysis of the previously published abundance pattern of mild barium star HD202109 (ζ Cyg) and the chemical compositions of 129 thin disk barium stars facilitated the search for possible correlations of different stellar parameters with second ionization potentials of chemical elements. Results show that three valuable correlations exist in the atmospheres of barium stars. The first is the relationship between relative abundances and second ionization potentials. The second is the age dependence of mean correlation coefficients of relative abundances vs. second ionization potentials, and the third one is the changes in correlation coefficients of relative abundances vs. second ionization potentials as a function of stellar spatial velocities and overabundances of s-process elements. These findings demonstrate the possibility of hydrogen and helium accretion from the interstellar medium on the atmospheres of barium stars.