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
Barb
(2011)
Advances in the VVV-2MASS photometric transformations from Galactic disk CASU catalogues: Milky Way demographics with the VVV survey
in Boletin de la Asociacion Argentina de Astronomia La Plata Argentina
Barker M
(2011)
The star formation history in the far outer disc of M33 M33's outer disc star formation history
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barker M
(2012)
Quantifying the faint structure of galaxies: the late-type spiral NGC 2403?† The Faint Structure of NGC 2403
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barnabè M
(2012)
The SWELLS survey - IV. Precision measurements of the stellar and dark matter distributions in a spiral lens galaxy The SWELLS survey - IV
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barnabè M
(2010)
The non-evolving internal structure of early-type galaxies: the case study SDSS J0728+3835 at z= 0.206 The internal structure of ellipticals: J0728
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barnes L
(2010)
Faint extended Lya emission due to star formation at the centre of high column density QSO absorption systems Extended Lya emission from DLAs
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barnes L
(2011)
Galactic winds and extended Lya emission from the host galaxies of high column density quasi-stellar object absorption systems Galactic winds and extended Lya emission
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barrado D
(2010)
XMM- Newton investigations of the Lambda Orionis star-forming region (XILO) I. The young cluster Collinder 69?
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Bastian N
(2011)
The evolution of stellar structures in dwarf galaxies The evolution of stellar structures
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Battaglia G
(2012)
THE EXTENSIVE AGE GRADIENT OF THE CARINA DWARF GALAXY
in The Astrophysical Journal