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
Strigari LE
(2008)
A common mass scale for satellite galaxies of the Milky Way.
in Nature
Chapman S
(2008)
The kinematic footprints of five stellar streams in Andromeda's halo ?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Adelman-McCarthy J
(2008)
The Sixth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Mackey A
(2008)
Black holes and core expansion in massive star clusters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hao C
(2008)
Growth of Black Holes and Their Host Spheroids in (Sub)mm-loud High-Redshift QSOs
in Chinese Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Chapman S
(2008)
Interferometric CO Observations of Submillimeter-faint, Radio-selected Starburst Galaxies at z ~ 2
in The Astrophysical Journal
Werner M
(2008)
On multiple Einstein rings
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Cao C
(2008)
Mid-Infrared spectroscopic properties of ultra-luminous infrared quasars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Koch A
(2008)
Kinematic and Chemical Constraints on the Formation of M31's Inner and Outer Halo
in The Astrophysical Journal