Galaxy formation and evolution 2010 - 2015
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Institute of Astronomy
Abstract
TThis programmatic five-year rolling grant application addresses one of the most important problems in extragalactic astronomy, the formation and evolution of galaxies. The task is one of the key goals in the current STFC Road Map and is a defining objective of virtually every national decadal survey world-wide. 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
Spina L
(2014)
The Gaia -ESO Survey: the first abundance determination of the pre-main-sequence cluster gamma Velorum
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Ponti G
(2012)
Multiwavelength campaign on Mrk 509 XI. Reverberation of the Fe K a line
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Zacchei A
(2011)
Planck early results. V. The Low Frequency Instrument data processing
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Donati P
(2014)
The Gaia -ESO Survey: Reevaluation of the parameters of the open cluster Trumpler 20 using photometry and spectroscopy
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Pinto C
(2013)
Interstellar medium composition through X-ray spectroscopy of low-mass X-ray binaries
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Sánchez S
(2012)
Integral field spectroscopy of a sample of nearby galaxies II. Properties of the H ii regions??????
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Tafelmeyer M
(2011)
Extremely metal-poor stars in classical dwarf spheroidal galaxies: Fornax, Sculptor, and Sextans ( Corrigendum )
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Spina L
(2014)
The Gaia -ESO Survey: Metallicity of the Chamaeleon I star-forming region
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Cantat-Gaudin T
(2014)
The Gaia -ESO Survey: Stellar content and elemental abundances in the massive cluster NGC 6705
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Abadie J
(2012)
First low-latency LIGO+Virgo search for binary inspirals and their electromagnetic counterparts
in Astronomy & Astrophysics