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
Bunker A.
(2007)
Galaxies at high redshift and reionization
in NUOVO CIMENTO DELLA SOCIETA ITALIANA DI FISICA B-BASIC TOPICS IN PHYSICS
Burningham B
(2008)
Exploring the substellar temperature regime down to ~550 K
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Caccianiga A.
(2008)
The
XMM-
Newton bright serendipitous survey -: Identification and optical spectral properties
in ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Cao C
(2008)
Mid-Infrared spectroscopic properties of ultra-luminous infrared quasars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Casetti-Dinescu D
(2008)
KINEMATICS OF STARS IN KAPTEYN SELECTED AREA 71: SAMPLING THE MONOCEROS AND SAGITTARIUS TIDAL STREAMS
in The Astronomical Journal
Casey C
(2009)
Confirming a population of hot-dust dominated, star-forming, ultraluminous galaxies at high redshift
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Casey C
(2009)
A search for neutral carbon towards two z = 4.05 submillimetre galaxies, GN???20 and GN???20.2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Casey C
(2009)
Constraining star formation and AGN in z ~ 2 massive galaxies using high-resolution MERLIN radio observations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chapman S
(2008)
The kinematic footprints of five stellar streams in Andromeda's halo ?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Chapman S
(2009)
Submillimetre detection of the z = 2.83 Lyman-break galaxy, Westphal-MM8, and implications for SCUBA2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society