Missing metals and baryons in galaxies: Clues from our Milky Way

Abstract: It is well-known that most galaxies are missing most of their baryonic mass.  Perhaps more surprisingly, they also seem to be missing most of their metals. 

I will present Chandra observations probing our Milky Way halo in absorption. Together with XMM and Suzaku data on emission, our results show that the Milky Way halo contains a huge reservoir of warm-hot gas that may account for a large fraction of missing baryons and metals. I'll review the current status of this field, discuss implications of our results to models of galaxy formation and evolution and outline paths for future progress.