Yale Astronomy & Astrophysics Colloquium - Andy Burkert

Event time: 
Thursday, January 30, 2020 - 2:30pm
Speaker: 
Andy Burkert, Professor
Speaker Institution: 
Ludwig Maximilians University
Talk Title: 
The origin and dynamics of high-redshift disk galaxies
Event description: 

The redshift two Universe is one of the most interesting epochs of galaxy evolution. It is the era with the peak of the cosmic star formation rate. Between redshift 3 and 1 the total stellar mass density in galaxies increased from 15% to 70%. It is also the time of rapid galaxy assembly and the epoch where galaxy morphology was determined. I will discuss recent results of the SINS survey, a Spectroscopic Imaging survey of z=2 galaxies in the Near infrared with SINFONI. The SINS data show a diversity of galactic systems at redshift 2 with physical properties that are unparalleled in the z=0 Universe. Gas-rich, extended, fast rotating and highly turbulent disks have been found with an irregular surface density structure that is dominated by kpc-sized star-forming, massive clumps that might be the progenitors of globular clusters and supermassive black holes. The specific angular momentum in the disks appears to violate expectations from cosmological models. No signature of a dark matter component is found, despite the fact that at these redshifts dark halos should be more compact, dominating the rotation curves of extended disks. These observations open a fascinating window into early galaxy evolution. They reveal a rich variety of dynamical processes that shape the Hubble sequence of galaxies and that at moment are far from being understood. 

Location: 
Watson Center A-51 See map
60 Sachem Street
New Haven, CT 06511