ACP Seminar (Astronomy - Cosmology - Particle Physics)

Speaker: Marcin Sawicki (Saint Mary's University)
Title: The Life and Death of Galaxies at Cosmic High Noon
Date (JST): Thu, Mar 07, 2013, 14:00 - 15:00
Place: Seminar Room A
Abstract: Galaxies are giant machines that turn gas into stars. The rate at which they do this was highest around redshift z=2, when the universe was only 1/4 of its present age. This is "cosmic high noon", and I will speak about three related topics in this epoch. First, I will talk about the very faint, sub L* star-forming galaxies at z~2. They are often ignored, but they are very numerous and rather different compared to their L* cousins. Second, I will talk about more massive galaxies that we study using wide field CFHT images. Here I will focus primarily on the numbers of quiescent galaxies. Finally, if time allows, I would like to talk about some currently ongoing work that may connect the star-forming and passive galaxies using a life-insurance approach.