Daniel McIntosh
Department of Astronomy
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA

Abstract

``Exploring Galaxy Evolution with Modern Surveys''

Observational astronomy is enjoying an exciting time of discovery with the advent of innovative and publicly-funded surveys of galaxies. With unprecedented samples of galaxy redshifts (distances), modern databases allow us to piece together the story of galaxy origins and lifetimes in the context of an hierarchically-evolving, cold dark matter-dominated cosmology. I will first show that billions of years of star formation and mass assembly have produced red and blue galaxy populations with unique characteristics. Then I will outline how new views with the Hubble Space Telescope on thousands of distant galaxies reveal that the bimodal galaxy population has changed significantly over cosmic time. These changes suggest separate evolutionary histories for red and blue galaxies, provide exciting clues to their fates, and have forced theorists to modify their models of galaxy evolution. Finally, I will focus on the most crowded regions of the universe, where evolution has advanced the furthest, to show that some gigantic galaxies continue to form in very violent processes. While far from complete, our understanding of the origins and complex lives of galaxies continues to come into sharper focus with new insights from modern surveys.

Please come meet the speaker over refreshments from 3:45-4:10pm in the foyer on floor G above the lecture hall. All Welcome Host: Guy Worthey