Letters of Intent received in 2019

LoI 2021-2111
Galaxy Evolution within the Cosmic Web from Dawn to Noon

Date: 16 August 2021 to 27 August 2021
Category: GA Symposium
Location: Busan, Korea, Rep of
Contact: Helmut Dannerbauer (helmut@iac.es)
Coordinating division: Division J Galaxies and Cosmology
Other divisions: Division B Facilities, Technologies and Data Science
Division H Interstellar Matter and Local Universe
Chair of SOC: Helmut Dannerbauer (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias)
Chair of LOC: Helmut Dannerbauer (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias)

 

Topics

-definition of environments
-impact of environment on scaling relations
-evolution of star-formation activity at different environments in the early universe
-protoclusters up to the epoch of reionization
-current and future missions/surveys

 

Rationale

Understanding how the environment may matter to the evolution of galaxies across cosmic time is a major question in extragalactic astrophysics. Already more than 30 years ago, the discovered morphology-density relation indicated the importance of environment on the evolution of galaxies. The favorable combination of novel techniques, space missions and ground-based telescopes was crucial to reveal that the environment plays an important role in the evolution of galaxies and it is well-recognized that galaxy environment has a fundamental effect in shaping galaxy properties. Models of hierarchical galaxy and structure formation predict that mass is assembled inhomogenously along filaments, forming a cosmic web. However, the impact of the cosmic web in the formation and evolution of galaxies is still relatively unexplored.

A crucial epoch for galaxy evolution and formation are the first billion years of the universe (beyond redshift z=1) associated with enhanced star-formation and black hole activity compared to the local universe and a huge growth of stellar mass both in cluster and field galaxies. Furthermore, observations suggest that the onset of environmental effects starts at about z=0.5-1.0. The patchiness of the intergalactic medium during the epoch of reionization (z=6-15) could have different implications for the star-formation history of galaxy cluster progenitors and on the evolution of environmental effects. Therefore, the focus of our proposed IAUS will be on exploring the impact of environment on galaxy evolution from the epoch of reionization to the peak of star-formation and black hole activity, from cosmic dawn to cosmic noon.

On the occasion of the General Assembly in Busan in summer 2021, our proposed IAU symposium ‘Galaxy Evolution within the Cosmic Web from Dawn to Noon’ aims to bring together the international community in order to discuss the current status of studies of the impact of environment on galaxy evolution in the distant universe. The contributions will be based both on observational and theoretical studies spanning the whole range of the electromagnetic spectrum.