Project Details
Projekt
The Assembly of High Redshift Galaxies Probed by Imaging Spectroscopy
Applicant
Dr. Natascha M. Förster Schreiber
Subject Area
Astrophysics and Astronomy
Term
from 2005 to 2011
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5448583
Understanding how galaxies form and grow within the hierarchical framework of Cold Dark Matter remains a great challenge. Over the past four years, our ambitious program of near-infrared imaging spectroscopy with SINFONI at the ESO VLT and of millimeter interferometry at the IRAM Plateau de Bure of massive high-redshift star-forming galaxies has made substantial contributions, advancing our knowledge about the internal workings of galaxies in the early Universe. It has revealed the dynamics and properties of well over 50 distant galaxies in unprecendented detail, including the exciting discovery of a significant population of turbulent gas-rich disks at z ~ 2, whose evolution appears to be driven by efficient secular processes and whose star formation may be fueled by fairly smooth but rapid gas accretion via “cold flows”. The results are shedding new light on the origin of the massive spheroid and disk components of today's galaxies, the connection between bulge and disk formation, and the processes through which galaxies accrete their mass. In this proposal, we are asking for an extension of the support for this program in order to substantially boost the number of galaxies studied at the highest spatial resolution, apply our newly developed diagnostics for the dynamics, and extend the crucial interaction with theorists on the role of secular and merging processes in the early evolution of galaxies.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
