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
Zych B
(2007)
The host galaxies of strong Ca II quasar absorption systems at z < 0.5
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Zych B
(2009)
Dust depletion, chemical uniformity and environment of Ca ii H&K quasar absorbers
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Zwitter T
(2008)
THE RADIAL VELOCITY EXPERIMENT (RAVE): SECOND DATA RELEASE
in The Astronomical Journal
Zwaan M
(2008)
ARE THE KINEMATICS OF DLAs IN AGREEMENT WITH THEIR ARISING IN THE GAS DISKS OF GALAXIES?
in The Astronomical Journal
Zucker D
(2007)
Andromeda X, a New Dwarf Spheroidal Satellite of M31: Photometry
in The Astrophysical Journal
York B
(2007)
Discovery of 21-cm absorption in a z abs = 2.289 damped Lyman a system towards TXS 0311+430: the first low spin temperature absorber at z > 1
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Yanny B
(2009)
SEGUE: A SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY OF 240,000 STARS WITH g = 14-20
in The Astronomical Journal
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
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