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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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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

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Dye S (2008) Models of the Cosmic Horseshoe gravitational lens J10044112 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Shin E (2008) Lensing by binary galaxies modelled as isothermal spheres in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Shin E (2008) The effect of satellite galaxies on gravitational lensing flux ratios in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Pettini M (2008) Deuterium abundance in the most metal-poor damped Lyman alpha system: converging on O b,0 h 2 in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Zwitter T (2008) THE RADIAL VELOCITY EXPERIMENT (RAVE): SECOND DATA RELEASE in The Astronomical Journal

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Kniazev A (2008) Spectroscopy of two PN candidates in IC 10 ? in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Goncalves Thiago S. (2008) Detection of the transverse proximity effect:: Radiative feedback from bright QSOs in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL

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Belokurov V. (2008) LEO V: A COMPANION OF A COMPANION OF THE MILKY WAY GALAXY? in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS

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Chen X (2008) Gaseous versus Stellar Velocity Dispersion in Emission-Line Galaxies in Chinese Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics