Galaxy Evolution in Dense Environments

密集环境中的星系演化

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-05981
• 负责人: Parker, Laura
• 金额: $ 2.99万
• 依托单位: McMaster University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=718141
• 关键词: Galaxy; Evolution; Dense; Environments

New telescope facilities and dedicated surveys have resulted in enormous progress in extra-galactic astronomy and cosmology over the past two decades. While we have now tightly constrained many of the fundamental cosmological parameters that describe our universe, there are still exciting unanswered questions concerning the formation and evolution of galaxies and larger structures. In my group we are interested in the evolution of galaxies and the connection between galaxies and their host environments. Many galaxies in the local universe do not live in isolation, but are clustered into systems called galaxy groups and clusters. In order to probe galaxy evolution in groups and clusters we will use a combination of multi-wavelength observations and state-of-the-art simulations. Galaxy populations are largely bimodal in their properties, with some galaxies being red and round and some galaxies being blue, star-forming, with disk-like shapes. There is evidence that over time galaxies transition from being blue and star-forming to red and passively evolving, but the precise mechanisms that drive this evolution are not well understood. Quenching is the process of shutting down star formation, which causes galaxies to transition from blue to red. We will study quenching by correlating observed galaxy properties with the properties of their host environment, including the host mass, host dynamical state, and the properties of X-ray gas that permeates groups and clusters. This proposal concentrates on three specific projects, which are an exciting new direction for us, because we combine cutting-edge observations and simulations to understand galaxy evolution in dense environments: 1) Study nearby and distant galaxy clusters with X-ray, optical and radio data to determine which quenching mechanisms are important at different epochs. 2) Using optical and radio data study the locations of quenching within individual galaxies and determine if quenching is dominated by internal or environmental processes for different galaxy populations. 3) Use simulations to study the dependence of galaxy evolution on the assembly history of their host halos. Through a combination of observations and simulations, we are ideally poised to understand the diverse ways in which galaxies evolve in different environments over cosmic time.

在过去的二十年中，新的望远镜设施和专门的调查导致了半乳酸天文学和宇宙学的巨大进展。尽管我们现在已经严格限制了描述我们宇宙的许多基本宇宙学参数，但关于星系和更大结构的形成和演变，仍然存在令人兴奋的未解决问题。在我的小组中，我们对星系的发展以及星系及其主机环境之间的联系感兴趣。本地宇宙中的许多星系都不孤立地生活，而是聚集在称为星系组和簇的系统中。为了探测组和簇中的星系进化，我们将使用多波长观测和最新模拟的组合。 星系群在其性质上基本上是双峰的，有些星系是红色和圆形的，有些星系是蓝色的，恒星形成的，具有磁盘状的形状。有证据表明，随着时间的流逝，星系从蓝色和恒星形成到红色和被动地发展，但是驱动这种进化的确切机制尚不清楚。淬火是关闭恒星形成的过程，这会导致星系从蓝色变为红色。我们将通过将观察到的星系性能与其宿主环境的特性相关联，包括宿主质量，宿主动力学状态以及渗透组和簇的X射线气体的性质，研究淬火。 该提案集中在三个特定的项目上，这对我们来说是一个令人兴奋的新方向，因为我们结合了尖端的观察和模拟，以了解密集环境中的星系发展： 1）使用X射线，光学和无线电数据在附近研究和遥远的星系簇，以确定在不同时期内哪些淬火机制很重要。 2）使用光学和无线电数据研究各个星系内淬火的位置，并确定淬火是否由不同星系种群的内部或环境过程主导。 3）使用模拟研究星系进化对宿主光晕的组装历史的依赖性。 通过观察和模拟的结合，我们可以理想地了解星系在宇宙时间内在不同环境中发展的多种方式。