I will discuss stellar metallicities in cosmological hydrodynamics simulations and observations at z=0 and z=2. The dramatic trend of how stellar metallicities vary with galactic mass holds clues to how galactic superwind feedback shapes different types of galaxies. Our hydrodynamic simulations with a chemodynamic model following the nucleosynthetic production from Type II+Ia SNe and AGB stars, plus galactic superwind feedback results in metals residing in a variety of phases: stars, ISM, the circumgalactic (CGM) medium, and the IGM. We confront observations of metals in all these phases, and find that more massive galaxies retain most of their metals in galaxies while dwarf galaxies lose most of their metals to the IGM and the CGM. Contrasting the z=2 and z=0 Universe shows that there are some surprising similarities in galaxies 10 billion years apart, but there are also some key differences. I will emphasize some of the processes associated with feedback that result in setting stellar metallicities at all redshifts.

It is generally assumed that the central galaxy in a dark matter halo, that is, the galaxy with the lowest specific potential energy, is also the brightest halo galaxy (BHG), and that it resides at rest at the center of the dark matter potential well. This central galaxy paradigm (CGP) is an essential assumption made in various fields of astronomical research. I test the validity of the CGP using a galaxy group catalog constructed from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and many mock group catalogs (Skibba et al. 2011). For each group I compute two statistics, R and S, which quantify the offsets of the line-of-sight velocities and projected positions of brightest group galaxies relative to the other group members. By comparing the cumulative distributions of R and S to those obtained from the mock catalogs, I rule out the null-hypothesis that the CGP is correct, and I constrain possible explanations of this, such as central galaxies in motion, and prevalent massive substructures.

Instead, the data indicate that in a non-zero fraction of haloes the BHG is not the central galaxy, but instead, a satellite galaxy. In particular, I find that this fraction increases from 0.25 in low-mass haloes to 0.40 in massive haloes. I show that these values are uncomfortably high compared to predictions from halo occupation statistics and from semi-analytical models of galaxy formation. I end by discussing various implications of these results.

Young metal atoms, after they have been violently and suddenly ejected into the ambient ISM from their dead, massive birth stars, are faced with some options. Some may stay close to home, some may travel within their galaxies, some are taken in by newly forming stars along the way, and others perhaps even leave their galaxies. I have been investigating the fates of the metal atoms in galaxies by measuring gas-phase abundances in two largely uncharted regimes: the far outskirts of galactic disks and the circumgalactic medium (CGM). In the first part of this talk, I will describe a search for outlying HII regions in the gaseous outskirts of extended, disturbed, and/or interacting gas-rich galaxies, and subsequent Gemini Telescope multi-slit spectroscopy from which I obtain the nebular oxygen abundances of numerous outlying and centrally-located HII regions. In the second part of this talk, I will describe ongoing work that aims to map and characterize the diffuse gas of the CGM around 67 galaxies using QSO absorption line spectroscopy with the new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on HST. Analyzing the metal content of both regimes offers some rather surprising clues about the overall fates of galactic metal atoms.

The Radioastron spacecraft, now in a 9-day orbit, is the largest radio telescope yet placed in orbit. It is designed to work in conjunction with Earth-based radio telescopes as a very-long baseline interferometer, to attain angular resolution of microarcseconds by using baselines of up to 330,000 km -- nearly the distance to the Moon. The primary program sources are blazars, astrophysical masers, and pulsars; as well as the interstellar turbulence that scatters radio emission from these sources. We will discuss the spacecraft, and its construction and launch, within the context of the Russian space program, and describe early test observations. We'll describe our involvement in the pulsar program, and some of the science results we hope to see.

Simulations based on the magnetorotational instability provide a first principles physical description of black hole accretion flows, and are starting to be used to interpret observations of astrophysical sources. Most codes neglect radiation, but in low-luminosity systems observables can be calculated from simulations after the fact via ray tracing. I will describe time-dependent, general relativistic radiative models of Sagittarius A* and M87 constructed in this fashion and their comparison to event horizon scale resolution VLBI observations at millimeter wavelengths. I will also address the prospect of detecting the black hole shadow in these sources, which would constitute direct evidence for the existence of an event horizon. In luminous objects such as AGN and the thermal (high/soft) state of black hole X-ray binaries, the comparison between simulations and observations is still necessarily indirect. I will discuss some recent progress in understanding these systems both from radiation MHD simulations and multiwavelength quasar microlensing observations.