The Assembly of Galaxy Disks and Spheroids

哈勃太空望远镜的观测揭示了一群质量与我们银河系一样大的星系，其中一个主要的圆盘成分已经在红移z=1(大约60%的宇宙回顾时间)的位置上存在，这表明这些星系在宇宙历史的早期就已经聚集在一起了。首席研究员和他的团队将使用具有高分辨率和物理细节的N体数值模拟来研究大范围质量和宇宙年龄基线上恒星盘和球体的形成。他们的重点将是在完全宇宙学的背景下对星系形成进行少量非常高分辨率的模拟。这个项目的目标是：(1)预测当今大质量星系的形成和组装时间，以及宇宙早期连续恒星形成星系上方恒星爆发事件的相对数量密度；(2)预测银河系等星系的盘状星系如何以及何时形成并获得角动量；(3)预测星系的光谱能量分布，并将其与当前和未来太空任务的数据进行比较。研究人员将与华盛顿大学的“Pre-MAP”项目合作，为参与Pre-MAP的本科生提供资金，并设计合适的研究项目。他们还将为参与该研究项目的研究生和博士后助理提供辅导和培训。

The observations with Hubble Space Telescope have revealed a population of galaxies as massive as our own Milky Way with a dominant disk component already in place at redshift z = 1 (approximately 60% of the cosmic lookback time), suggesting that such galaxies were assembled early in the history of the Universe. The Principal Investigator and his team will use numerical N-Body simulations with high resolution and physical details to study the formation of stellar disks and spheroids over a large baseline of masses and cosmic ages. Their focus will be on a small number of very high-resolution simulations of galaxy formation in a fully cosmological context. This project is aimed to: (1) Predict when the present-day massive galaxies were formed and assembled and the relative number density of star-burst events over continuous star forming galaxies in the very early Universe, (2) Predict how and when the disks of galaxies like our Milky Way were formed and acquired their angular momentum, and (3) Predict the spectral energy distributions of galaxies and compare them with the data from current and future space missions.The Investigators will collaborate with University of Washington's "Pre-Major in Astronomy" (Pre-MAP) program, provide funding for undergraduate students involved in Pre-MAP and devise suitable research projects. They will also provide tutoring and training to graduate students and postdoctoral associates involved in this research project.