We propose to study the evolution of galaxies through detailed analysis of observational data obtained with the most modern ground- and space-based telescopes. We will concentrate on two related important open questions in modern astrophysical research: how do galaxies evolve over their lifetimes, possibly changing their appearance and morphological type; and how and in exactly which circumstances do galaxy centres become 'active' - forming large quantities of massive stars or emitting non-stellar radiation as a result of material falling into a central massive black hole.
The evolution of galaxies, one of the main questions in modern astrophysics, must be studied with two complementary and powerful approaches: observations of galaxies in the early Universe, and highly precise measurements of the detailed physical properties of local galaxies. We will concentrate on the latter. The key to understanding the underlying astrophysics driving the overall cosmological and internal evolution of galaxies is to combine studies of their stellar structure, star formation properties, and (circum)nuclear starburst or nonstellar activity.
We will use state-of-the-art observations in optical, infrared, and mm/radio to study the structural components of nearby galaxies and the activity in and near their centres, as well as the relations between them. We will target two different but strongly related areas within nearby galaxies. The first of these is the disk region where galaxy-galaxy interactions and structural galaxy components such as bars, ovals and spirals regulate the gas motions, thereby regulating star formation, producing inflow towards the centre, and driving the evolution of galaxies and their bulges and rings. We will use new LSST ultra-deep images to study the structure in the outskirts of galaxies, and will add WEAVE kinematic data to study the gas and stellar movements in a number of selected galaxies.
The second comprises the innermost regions where gas inflow leads to starbursts and possibly AGNs, and where we can now use a radio, optical, and mid-IR data set at a resolution of around 0.1 arcsec for over 200 galaxies to study how the nuclear activity relates to the host galaxies, with implications for the evolution of both host and central region. We will also use the MUSE integral-field spectrograph on the ESO VLT with full adaptive optics correction, employing a set of four sodium lasers, to study the detailed interplay between gas and stars in a small number of AGN or starburst+AGN composite galaxy centres. This will yield a privileged detailed view of the physics leading to nuclear activity.
Given the large and specialised data sets and competitive international research environment, we propose funding for two postdocs, one to work in each of these two main lines, as well as for an FPI PhD student to work on a project analysing the structure of galaxies from UV and optical deep imaging
