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
Rémy-Ruyer A
(2014)
Gas-to-dust mass ratios in local galaxies over a 2 dex metallicity range
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Preibisch T
(2011)
Deep wide-field near-infrared survey of the Carina Nebula
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Pierini D
(2012)
First simultaneous optical/near-infrared imaging of an X-ray selected, high-redshift cluster of galaxies with GROND The galaxy population of XMMU J0338.7 + 0030 at z = 1.1?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Hughes T
(2014)
A resolved analysis of cold dust and gas in the nearby edge-on spiral NGC 891
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Nardini M
(2011)
On the nature of the extremely fast optical rebrightening of the afterglow of GRB 081029
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Sacco G
(2014)
The Gaia -ESO Survey: processing FLAMES-UVES spectra
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Van Leeuwen F
(2013)
The HIPPARCOS parallax for Polaris
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Pasetto S
(2012)
Thick disk kinematics from RAVE and the solar motion
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Pinto C
(2012)
Reflection and dissipation of Alfvén waves in interstellar clouds
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Pinto C
(2012)
A phenomenological model for the X-ray spectrum of nova V2491 Cygni
in Astronomy & Astrophysics