Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/03/2011
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Title: Galaxies with Gasoline: Recent progress in Galaxy Formation

Speaker: Dr. James Wadsley, McMaster University

Institute: McMaster University

Location: ABB 102

Description:

Galaxy formation simulations are making a big contribution to our understanding of galaxies but have also given a few false leads. I present galaxy formation insights gained with our Gasoline code, including how gas is accumulated and lost and how this affects observable galaxy properties. In particular, stellar feedback is able to create realistic dwarf galaxies with small bulges and cored dark matter profiles. Simulated observations in a range of frequency bands demonstrate how realistic the models are becoming. Stellar feedback can be more effective than previously realized but is probably insufficient to create realistic large galaxies where super-massive black holes (active galactic nuclei) are emerging as an important source of feedback and gas outflows.