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Galaxy formation and evolution

Lead Research Organisation: UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Department Name: Institute of Astronomy

Abstract

This programmatic five-year rolling grant application addresses one of the most important problems in extragalactic astronomy, the formation and evolution of galaxies, one of the ``big questions'' in the current PPARC Road Map, and is a defining objective of virtually every national decadal survey of astronomy. 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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Breddels M (2010) Distance determination for RAVE stars using stellar models in Astronomy and Astrophysics

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Ural U (2010) Kinematic subpopulations in dwarf spheroidal galaxies in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Pettini M (2010) CASSOWARY 20: a wide separation Einstein Cross identified with the X-shooter spectrograph in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Mackey A (2010) Deep Gemini/GMOS imaging of an extremely isolated globular cluster in the Local Group in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Austermann J (2010) AzTEC half square degree survey of the SHADES fields â?? I. Maps, catalogues and source counts in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Niederste-Ostholt M (2010) RE-ASSEMBLING THE SAGITTARIUS DWARF GALAXY in The Astrophysical Journal

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Pontzen A (2010) The nature of H i absorbers in gamma-ray burst afterglows: clues from hydrodynamic simulations in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Macciò A (2010) Luminosity function and radial distribution of Milky Way satellites in a ?CDM Universe in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Belokurov V (2010) BIG FISH, LITTLE FISH: TWO NEW ULTRA-FAINT SATELLITES OF THE MILKY WAY in The Astrophysical Journal

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Donato F (2009) A constant dark matter halo surface density in galaxies in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Casey C (2009) A search for neutral carbon towards two z = 4.05 submillimetre galaxies, GN???20 and GN???20.2 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Zych B (2009) Dust depletion, chemical uniformity and environment of Ca ii H&K quasar absorbers in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Abazajian K (2009) THE SEVENTH DATA RELEASE OF THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series

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Letarte B (2009) A Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopic survey of the faint Mâ??31 satellites Andâ??XV and Andâ??XVI in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Walker M (2009) A UNIVERSAL MASS PROFILE FOR DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXIES? in The Astrophysical Journal

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Hodgkin S (2009) The UKIRT wide field camera ZYJHK photometric system: calibration from 2MASS in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Keel W (2009) THE DISAPPEARANCE OF Lya BLOBS: A GALEX SEARCH AT z = 0.8 in The Astronomical Journal

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An J (2009) A THEOREM ON CENTRAL VELOCITY DISPERSIONS in The Astrophysical Journal

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Smith M (2009) Kinematics of SDSS subdwarfs: structure and substructure of the Milky Way halo in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Lodieu N (2009) Two distant brown dwarfs in the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey Deep Extragalactic Survey Data Release 2 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Richardson J (2009) An HST /ACS view of the inhomogeneous outer halo of M31 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Yanny B (2009) SEGUE: A SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY OF 240,000 STARS WITH g = 14-20 in The Astronomical Journal

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Peñarrubia J (2009) THE SIGNATURE OF GALACTIC TIDES IN LOCAL GROUP DWARF SPHEROIDALS in The Astrophysical Journal

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Walker M (2009) LEO V: SPECTROSCOPY OF A DISTANT AND DISTURBED SATELLITE in The Astrophysical Journal

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Peñarrubia J (2009) Tidal disruption of globular clusters in dwarf galaxies with triaxial dark matter haloes in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Meurer G (2009) EVIDENCE FOR A NONUNIFORM INITIAL MASS FUNCTION IN THE LOCAL UNIVERSE in The Astrophysical Journal

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Gray M (2009) STAGES: the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Dutta P (2009) A study of interstellar medium of dwarf galaxies using H i power spectrum analysis in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society