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
Lehmer B
(2009)
THE CHANDRA DEEP PROTOCLUSTER SURVEY: EVIDENCE FOR AN ENHANCEMENT OF AGN ACTIVITY IN THE SSA22 PROTOCLUSTER AT z = 3.09
in The Astrophysical Journal
Walker M
(2009)
LEO V: SPECTROSCOPY OF A DISTANT AND DISTURBED SATELLITE
in The Astrophysical Journal
Wyrzykowski L
(2009)
The OGLE view of microlensing towards the Magellanic Clouds - I. A trickle of events in the OGLE-II LMC data
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hainline L
(2009)
A MID-INFRARED IMAGING SURVEY OF SUBMILLIMETER-SELECTED GALAXIES WITH THE SPITZER SPACE TELESCOPE
in The Astrophysical Journal
An J
(2009)
A THEOREM ON CENTRAL VELOCITY DISPERSIONS
in The Astrophysical Journal
Walker M
(2009)
A UNIVERSAL MASS PROFILE FOR DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXIES?
in The Astrophysical Journal
Lehmer B
(2009)
The Chandra Deep Protocluster Survey: point-source catalogues for a 400-ks observation of the z = 3.09 protocluster in SSA22
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bresolin F
(2009)
THE FLAT OXYGEN ABUNDANCE GRADIENT IN THE EXTENDED DISK OF M83
in The Astrophysical Journal
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
Huang J
(2009)
INFRARED SPECTROGRAPH SPECTROSCOPY AND MULTI-WAVELENGTH STUDY OF LUMINOUS STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT z ? 1.9
in The Astrophysical Journal