The origin of galaxies

The origin of galaxies is one of the great outstanding problems in astrophysics. Besides the fact that galaxy formation involves so many physical processes that it is intrinsically difficult to model, much of their birth is hidden by large amounts of interstellar dust. This means that traditional optical telescopes cannot be used, and one needs to observe the dust properties and so derive what the hidden young galaxy looks like. The dust mainly emits in the far-infrared and submillimetre wavebands, which have not been explore much, as only relatively recently large enough far-IR and submm telescopes have become available. The situation will further improve drastically with the planned Herschel Space Observatory and the Atacama Large Millimetre Array. This is therefore the best time to tackle the problem of the formation of galaxies. The project aims to measure and understand the epoch of galaxy formation, the star formation histories and merger rates of young galaxies, the dependence on their environment, and their clustering properties. The observational effort will be driven by on-going and planned (within the timescale of the project) surveys in the submm and far-IR wavebands, and by selectively chosen follow-up observations in radio and other wavebands. The theoretical effort is focussed on enhancing and extending an existing model for galaxy formation and evolution that works well for the local universe, but has not been tested at the time when most galaxies form. This requires the inclusion of a good model for the processes important at that time, especially anything related to the dust production and evolution. Also, because galaxies form hierarchically from smaller proto-galaxies, a higher resolution for the modelling is required. The final aim is to produce a model that compares well to the observational data, which helps to interpret these data, but also aids in the design of future surveys in the submm waveand. Specifically, we strive to understand, at the end of the project, which physical processes determine the abundance and clustering of submm sources on the sky, what most influences their properties like bolometric luminosity and dust temperature, and what the consequences are for galaxy formation models and cosmology.

The origin of galaxies is one of the great outstanding problems in astrophysics. Besides the fact that galaxy formation involves so many physical processes that it is intrinsically difficult to model, much of their birth is hidden by large amounts of interstellar dust. This means that traditional optical telescopes cannot be used, and one needs to observe the dust properties and so derive what the hidden young galaxy looks like. The dust mainly emits in the far-infrared and submillimetre wavebands, which have not been explore much, as only relatively recently large enough far-IR and submm telescopes have become available. The situation will further improve drastically with the planned Herschel Space Observatory and the Atacama Large Millimetre Array. This is therefore the best time to tackle the problem of the formation of galaxies. The project aims to measure and understand the epoch of galaxy formation, the star formation histories and merger rates of young galaxies, the dependence on their environment, and their clustering properties. The observational effort will be driven by on-going and planned (within the timescale of the project) surveys in the submm and far-IR wavebands, and by selectively chosen follow-up observations in radio and other wavebands. The theoretical effort is focussed on enhancing and extending an existing model for galaxy formation and evolution that works well for the local universe, but has not been tested at the time when most galaxies form. This requires the inclusion of a good model for the processes important at that time, especially anything related to the dust production and evolution. Also, because galaxies form hierarchically from smaller proto-galaxies, a higher resolution for the modelling is required. The final aim is to produce a model that compares well to the observational data, which helps to interpret these data, but also aids in the design of future surveys in the submm waveand. Specifically, we strive to understand, at the end of the project, which physical processes determine the abundance and clustering of submm sources on the sky, what most influences their properties like bolometric luminosity and dust temperature, and what the consequences are for galaxy formation models and cosmology.