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
Kniazev A
(2009)
The faint outer regions of the Pegasus dwarf irregular galaxy: a much larger and undisturbed galaxy The faint outer regions of the PegDIG
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Adelman-McCarthy J
(2007)
The Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series
Kodama T
(2007)
The first appearance of the red sequence of galaxies in proto-clusters at 2 lsimzlsim 3
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bresolin F
(2009)
THE FLAT OXYGEN ABUNDANCE GRADIENT IN THE EXTENDED DISK OF M83
in The Astrophysical Journal
Ibata R
(2007)
The Haunted Halos of Andromeda and Triangulum: A Panorama of Galaxy Formation in Action
in The Astrophysical Journal
Koch Andreas
(2008)
THE HIGHLY UNUSUAL CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE HERCULES DWARF SPHEROIDAL GALAXY
in ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
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
Perley D
(2009)
THE HOST GALAXIES OF SWIFT DARK GAMMA-RAY BURSTS: OBSERVATIONAL CONSTRAINTS ON HIGHLY OBSCURED AND VERY HIGH REDSHIFT GRBs
in The Astronomical Journal
Law D
(2009)
THE KILOPARSEC-SCALE KINEMATICS OF HIGH-REDSHIFT STAR-FORMING GALAXIES
in The Astrophysical Journal
Chapman S
(2008)
The kinematic footprints of five stellar streams in Andromeda's halo ?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Weiß A
(2009)
THE LARGE APEX BOLOMETER CAMERA SURVEY OF THE EXTENDED CHANDRA DEEP FIELD SOUTH
in The Astrophysical Journal
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
Koposov S.
(2008)
The luminosity function of the Milky Way satellites
in ASTROPHYSICAL 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
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
Pontzen A
(2010)
The nature of H i absorbers in gamma-ray burst afterglows: clues from hydrodynamic simulations
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bellazzini M
(2008)
THE NUCLEUS OF THE SAGITTARIUS DSPH GALAXY AND M54: A WINDOW ON THE PROCESS OF GALAXY NUCLEATION
in The Astronomical Journal
Gilmore G
(2007)
The Observed Properties of Dark Matter on Small Spatial Scales
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
Niederste-Ostholt M
(2009)
The origin of Segue 1
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Parmentier G
(2007)
The origin of the Gaussian initial mass function of old globular cluster systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Swinbank A
(2008)
The properties of submm galaxies in hierarchical models
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Nestor D
(2008)
The quasar-frame velocity distribution of narrow C iv absorbers
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Zwitter T
(2008)
THE RADIAL VELOCITY EXPERIMENT (RAVE): SECOND DATA RELEASE
in The Astronomical Journal