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
Serjeant S
(2008)
The SCUBA Half Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES) - IX. The environment, mass and redshift dependence of star formation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Sen B
(2009)
Streaming motion in Leo I
in The Annals of Applied Statistics
Seabroke G
(2007)
Revisiting the relations: Galactic thin disc age-velocity dispersion relation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Seabroke G
(2008)
Is the sky falling? Searching for stellar streams in the local Milky Way disc in the CORAVEL and RAVE surveys
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ryan-Weber E
(2008)
The Local Group dwarf Leo T: H i on the brink of star formation H i in Leo T
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ryan-Weber E
(2009)
A downturn in intergalactic C iv as redshift 6 is approached
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Rix S
(2007)
The Sightline to Q2343-BX415: Clues to Galaxy Formation in a Quasar Environment
in The Astrophysical Journal
Richardson J
(2008)
THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF SUBSTRUCTURE IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF M31. I. SURVEYING THE STELLAR CONTENT WITH THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE ADVANCED CAMERA FOR SURVEYS
in The Astronomical Journal
Richardson J
(2009)
An HST /ACS view of the inhomogeneous outer halo of M31
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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