The Assembly of Galaxy Disks and Spheroids

哈勃太空望远镜的观测揭示了一群星系的质量与我们的银河系一样大，在红移z = 1（大约宇宙回望时间的60%）时已经有了一个占主导地位的盘成分，这表明这些星系在宇宙历史的早期就已经聚集在一起。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数值N体模拟来研究恒星盘和球状体在大质量和宇宙年龄基线上的形成。他们的重点将是在完全宇宙学的背景下对星系形成的少量非常高分辨率的模拟。该项目旨在：（1）预测现今大质量星系何时形成和聚集，以及在非常早期的宇宙中连续的星星形成星系上的恒星爆发事件的相对数密度，（2）预测像我们银河系这样的星系盘如何以及何时形成并获得它们的角动量，（3）预测星系的光谱能量分布，并将其与当前和未来空间任务的数据进行比较。调查人员将与华盛顿大学的“Pre.天文学专业”（Pre-MAP）计划，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研究员提供辅导和培训。

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.