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Galaxy formation and evolution 2010 - 2015

Lead Research Organisation: University of Cambridge
Department Name: Institute of Astronomy

Abstract

TThis programmatic five-year rolling grant application addresses one of the most important problems in extragalactic astronomy, the formation and evolution of galaxies. The task is one of the key goals in the current STFC Road Map and is a defining objective of virtually every national decadal survey world-wide. A full understanding of galaxy formation and evolution requires multiple lines of attack. Observations of the resolved stellar populations in the Milky Way and its Local Group companions provide a detailed fossil record of the dynamical assemblies of the galaxies, the formation of stars, and the buildup of heavy elements over a wide range of mass scales and initial conditions. At the other end of the scale, observations of distant galaxies spanning lookback times of up to 12 Gyr provide direct measurements of the evolution of galaxy populations and the buildup of stars and metals with cosmic time. Finally, measurements of the large-scale star formation and abundance properties of nearby galaxies form a vital astrophysical bridge between the studies of nearby resolved stellar populations and the distant high-redshift investigations, by allowing us to characterise the evolutionary properties of the Hubble sequence and the complex ``gastrophysical'' processes that regulate the accretion of gas and the formation of stars in galaxies. In this rolling grant application we propose a series of investigations that will advance our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution on all three fronts.

Publications

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Mentuch Cooper E (2012) SPATIALLY RESOLVED STELLAR, DUST, AND GAS PROPERTIES OF THE POST-INTERACTING WHIRLPOOL GALAXY SYSTEM in The Astrophysical Journal

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Zimmerman N (2010) PARALLACTIC MOTION FOR COMPANION DISCOVERY: AN M-DWARF ORBITING ALCOR in The Astrophysical Journal

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Obreschkow D (2013) A ROBUST MEASURE OF COSMIC STRUCTURE BEYOND THE POWER SPECTRUM: COSMIC FILAMENTS AND THE TEMPERATURE OF DARK MATTER in The Astrophysical Journal

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Sonnenfeld A (2013) THE SL2S GALAXY-SCALE LENS SAMPLE. IV. THE DEPENDENCE OF THE TOTAL MASS DENSITY PROFILE OF EARLY-TYPE GALAXIES ON REDSHIFT, STELLAR MASS, AND SIZE in The Astrophysical Journal

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Liu G (2013) THE Paa LUMINOSITY FUNCTION OF H II REGIONS IN NEARBY GALAXIES FROM HST /NICMOS in The Astrophysical Journal

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Suyu S (2014) COSMOLOGY FROM GRAVITATIONAL LENS TIME DELAYS AND PLANCK DATA in The Astrophysical Journal

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Deason A (2013) BROKEN AND UNBROKEN: THE MILKY WAY AND M31 STELLAR HALOS in The Astrophysical Journal

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Rudie G (2012) THE GASEOUS ENVIRONMENT OF HIGH- z GALAXIES: PRECISION MEASUREMENTS OF NEUTRAL HYDROGEN IN THE CIRCUMGALACTIC MEDIUM OF z ~ 2-3 GALAXIES IN THE KECK BARYONIC STRUCTURE SURVEY in The Astrophysical Journal

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Kirkpatrick A (2014) UNTANGLING THE NATURE OF SPATIAL VARIATIONS OF COLD DUST PROPERTIES IN STAR FORMING GALAXIES in The Astrophysical Journal

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Steidel C (2011) DIFFUSE Lya EMITTING HALOS: A GENERIC PROPERTY OF HIGH-REDSHIFT STAR-FORMING GALAXIES in The Astrophysical Journal