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
Begum A
(2007)
Life in the last lane: star formation and chemical evolution in an extremely gas rich dwarf NGC 3741
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Bramich D
(2008)
Light and motion in SDSS Stripe 82: the catalogues
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Amanullah R.
(2008)
Light curves of five type Ia supernovae at intermediate redshift
in ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Macciò A
(2010)
Luminosity function and radial distribution of Milky Way satellites in a ?CDM Universe
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Maddox N
(2008)
Luminous K -band selected quasars from UKIDSS
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Overzier R
(2008)
Lyman Break Galaxies, Lya Emitters, and a Radio Galaxy in a Protocluster at z = 4.1
in The Astrophysical Journal
Pettini M.
(2007)
Lyman break galaxies: A ten-year perspective
in NUOVO CIMENTO DELLA SOCIETA ITALIANA DI FISICA B-GENERAL PHYSICS RELATIVITY ASTRONOMY AND MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS AND METHODS
Batista V
(2009)
Mass measurement of a single unseen star and planetary detection efficiency for OGLE 2007-BLG-050
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Nestor D
(2008)
Measurements of Ca ii absorption, metals and dust in a sample of z ? 1 DLAs and subDLAs ?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Fellhauer M
(2009)
Merging time-scales of stellar subclumps in young star-forming regions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society