Witnessing the assembly of massive dark matter structures in the Universe and their impact on galaxy evolution

利用大型望远镜，我们能够窥视过去，观察宇宙，当时像我们银河系这样的星系刚刚开始聚集并形成恒星，而恒星反过来又是行星的宿主。天体物理学正处于其历史上一个激动人心的时刻，因为詹姆斯·韦伯空间望远镜(JWST)的发射将使我们能够比以往任何时候都看到更遥远的时间和更多的细节。加拿大是该望远镜的主要贡献者。这项研究计划将首先利用我们已经获得的关于星系系统的独特数据，当时宇宙只有现在年龄的三分之一，以了解宇宙气体吸积率的变化如何影响这些年轻星系中新恒星的形成。这些数据是双子座望远镜四年大计划的结果，将与JWST和其他设施一起跟进，以获得星系组装顶峰时期的宇宙精美图景。具体地说，我们将测量居住在不同质量暗晕中的星系的恒星质量、恒星形成率、气体含量和恒星的空间分布。这使得人们可以直接看到恒星的形成与暗物质的关系--暗物质是我们宇宙中主导结构增长的神秘组成部分。当今天文学中最大的谜团之一是，为什么恒星和星系的组装--我们可以看到的光--发生的速度与暗物质的组装非常不同。要将宇宙中的“正常”物质从暗物质中分离出来，需要以我们不了解的方式释放和分配巨大的能量。通过使用新技术仔细观察遥远的宇宙，我们有机会直接观察这些宇宙相互作用。通过详细的建模、模拟和与其他数据的比较，我们将为超新星爆炸、超大质量黑洞和星系相互作用如何共同塑造我们周围的宇宙建立一个一致的解释。这项研究工作旨在最大限度地为学生提供发展广泛适用技能的机会，并为他们进入天文学大数据时代做好准备，这将在欧几里德和大型天气观测望远镜(LSST)开始运行时实现。

With large telescopes we are able to peer into the past, observing the Universe at a time when galaxies like our own Milky Way were just started to assemble and form the stars that, in turn, host planets. Astrophysics is at an exciting point in its history, as the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), of which Canada is a major contributor, will allow us to see farther back in time, and in far more detail, than ever before. This research program will start by exploiting the unique data we have already obtained on galaxy systems observed as they were when the Universe was only a third of its present age, to learn about how changes to the cosmological gas accretion rate impacts the formation of new stars in these young galaxies. These data, the result of a four year Large Program on the Gemini Telescopes, will be followed up with JWST and other facilities to obtain an exquisite picture of the Universe at the peak epoch of galaxy assembly. Specifically, we will measure stellar masses, star formation rates, gas content and the spatial distribution of stars for galaxies that inhabit dark haloes of different mass. This allows a direct look at how the buildup of stars is related to that of the dark matter - that mysterious component of our Universe that dominates the growth of structure. One of the biggest mysteries in astronomy today is why the assembly of stars and galaxies - the light that we can see - happens at a very different rate compared with the assembly of dark matter. Decoupling the "normal" matter in the Universe from the dark matter requires enormous energy to be released and distributed in ways that we do not understand. By using new technology to make careful observations of the distant Universe, we have the opportunity to observe these cosmic interactions directly. Through detailed modeling, simulation, and comparison with other data we will establish a consistent explanation for how supernova explosions, supermassive black holes, and galaxy interactions together shape the Universe around us. This research endeavour is structured to provide maximum opportunity for students to develop widely applicable skills, and to prepare them for the era of Big Data in astronomy, that will be realized toward the end of this proposal when Euclid and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) begin operations.