 |
Populations of Galaxies and their Formation at
Redshifts z < 7 Christopher Conselice Caltech abstract New ground and space based surveys are allowing us to begin to trace how galaxy properties have changed over cosmic time and how this is related to the general evolution of large scale structure and central black holes. These imaging surveys combined with ground based spectroscopic studies over the last 10 years have further allowed us to determine for the first time how the galaxy population evolved from redshifts z ~ 0 to 7. An important approach to this problem is to understand how measurable properties of galaxies, such as masses, luminosities, sizes and morphologies change from initial galaxy formation until the present day, and how these characteristics are related to modes of formation, such as galaxy merging. Other important aspects for understanding galaxies are their environments and central massive black holes that are likely to have an important, but still unclear, role in galaxy formation. I will discuss these issues and trace out our current physically based models concerning galaxy formation, including problems with the standard model. |