Page History
PI: Dr. Kate Rowlands (krowlands@stsci.edu, https://www.stsci.edu/~krowlands/), co-Is & Dr. Katey Alatalo, Dr. Andreea Petric, Prof. Vivienne Wild, Prof. Omar Almaini
Project Duration: 1 year rotation with potential for thesis project. Funding available for three years.
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Project motivation
One of the key unsolved problems in astronomy is to understand how galaxies evolve and transform over cosmic time. Over the last 10 billion years the demographics of the galaxy population has changed, with the number of star-forming galaxies staying roughly constant and quiescent galaxies increasing. To explain the bimodal galaxy population there must be processes that both disrupt the supply of gas that is fueling star formation and transforms the galaxies’ morphologies. Reproducing these trends is a key test for galaxy evolution models. There is much debate regarding the exact physical mechanisms and timescales involved in galaxy transformation. The general consensus until recently was that star formation stops because cold gas is consumed by star formation, or heated or removed by large-scale outflows driven by either supernovae or supermassive black holes. Recent discoveries of large amounts of gas in transitioning galaxies in the local Universe challenge this traditional picture. Over the past decade, while large-area galaxy surveys have revolutionized our knowledge of the demographics of the quiescent galaxy population and its build-up over cosmic time, the mechanisms that lead to the disruption of the gas supply and hence the shut-down of star formation are still poorly understood. This project seeks to understand the processes which trigger the shutdown in star formation and answer this major open question in astronomy.
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Coding in Python and/or IDL
Experience with photometry and/or spectroscopy, large datasets
Understanding of galaxy evolution
Academic/technical writing
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