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.
Organisations
Publications
Amanullah R.
(2008)
Light curves of five type Ia supernovae at intermediate redshift
in ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Koch Andreas
(2008)
THE HIGHLY UNUSUAL CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE HERCULES DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXY
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Coppin K
(2008)
The SCUBA HAlf Degree Extragalactic Survey - VI. 350-µm mapping of submillimetre galaxies
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pontzen A
(2008)
Damped Lyman a systems in galaxy formation simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chapman S
(2008)
The kinematic footprints of five stellar streams in Andromeda's halo ?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Casetti-Dinescu D
(2008)
KINEMATICS OF STARS IN KAPTEYN SELECTED AREA 71: SAMPLING THE MONOCEROS AND SAGITTARIUS TIDAL STREAMS
in The Astronomical Journal
Mackey A
(2008)
Black holes and core expansion in massive star clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Walker M
(2008)
Systemic Proper Motions of Milky Way Satellites from Stellar Redshifts: The Carina, Fornax, Sculptor, and Sextans Dwarf Spheroidals
in The Astrophysical Journal
Ellison S
(2008)
A search for damped Lyman systems towards radio-loud quasars I: the optical survey
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Xue X
(2008)
The Milky Way's Circular Velocity Curve to 60 kpc and an Estimate of the Dark Matter Halo Mass from the Kinematics of ~2400 SDSS Blue Horizontal-Branch Stars
in The Astrophysical Journal