Events in Physics
Richard Ellis (Caltech)
Location: PS0.17a
Note: This is a group seminar. Prof Ellis will also give a Distinguished Lecture at 18:00 this same evening. Everyone in Physics (and the rest of the university) is welcome to attend both! Please note that you need to reserve a place for the evening lecture.
Title: Obesity in the Universe: How Did Early-Type Galaxies Grow in Size?
Speaker: Prof. Richard Ellis (Caltech)
Once considered the simplest class of galaxy to model and explain, the assembly history of early type galaxies still presents many puzzles. Spectroscopic observations show that the most massive examples completed their star formation earlier than that in their less massive counterparts, in apparent contradiction to popularly-held hierarchical models. Hubble observations have also revealed that many of the most massive early types seen at high redshift are much more compact than their present-day equivalents. This suggests they somehow expanded in size without growing significantly in mass. Clearly, early type galaxies still have a lot to tell us about galaxy formation and assembly. I will reveal the progress being made with new spectroscopic and Hubble data (....but don't promise to solve all the puzzles).