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
Siebert A
(2008)
Estimation of the tilt of the stellar velocity ellipsoid from RAVE and implications for mass models
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Verrier P
(2007)
Planetary stability zones in hierarchical triple star systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fellhauer M
(2007)
The tidal tails of NGC 5466
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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
Becker A
(2008)
Two-Micron All-Sky Survey J01542930+0053266: a new eclipsing M dwarf binary system
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Hodgkin S
(2009)
The UKIRT wide field camera ZYJHK photometric system: calibration from 2MASS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Macciò A
(2010)
Luminosity function and radial distribution of Milky Way satellites in a ?CDM Universe
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lawrence A
(2007)
The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS)
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lodieu N
(2009)
Two distant brown dwarfs in the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey Deep Extragalactic Survey Data Release 2
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Verrier P
(2009)
High-inclination planets and asteroids in multistellar systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society