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
Koch Andreas
(2008)
THE HIGHLY UNUSUAL CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE HERCULES DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXY
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Belokurov V.
(2008)
LEO V: A COMPANION OF A COMPANION OF THE MILKY WAY GALAXY?
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Norris John E.
(2008)
THE ABUNDANCE SPREAD IN THE BOOTES I DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXY
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Reddy Naveen A.
(2008)
Multiwavelength constraints on the cosmic star formation history from spectroscopy:: The rest-frame ultraviolet, H
a, and infrared luminosity functions at redshifts 1.9 ? z ? 3.4
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL SUPPLEMENT SERIES
Chen X
(2008)
Gaseous versus Stellar Velocity Dispersion in Emission-Line Galaxies
in Chinese Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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
Lee H
(2007)
Interstellar medium oxygen abundances of dwarf irregular galaxies in Centaurus A and nearby groups*
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Smith M
(2007)
Blending in gravitational microlensing experiments: source confusion and related systematics
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Page M
(2007)
The XMM-SSC survey of hard-spectrum XMM-Newton sources - I. Optically bright sources
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society