Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Galaxy formation and evolution
Summary
The study of galaxy formation and evolution is concerned with the processes that formed a heterogeneous universe from a homogeneous beginning, the formation of the first galaxies, the way galaxies change over time, and the processes that have generated the variety of structures observed in nearby galaxies. Galaxy formation is hypothesized to occur from structure formation theories, as a result of tiny quantum fluctuations in the aftermath of the Big Bang. The simplest model in general agreement with observed phenomena is the Lambda-CDM model—that is, that clustering and merging allows galaxies to accumulate mass, determining both their shape and structure. Hydrodynamics simulation, which simulates both baryons and dark matter, is widely used to study galaxy formation and evolution.
Because of the inability to conduct experiments in outer space, the only way to “test” theories and models of galaxy evolution is to compare them with observations. Explanations for how galaxies formed and evolved must be able to predict the observed properties and types of galaxies.
Edwin Hubble created the first galaxy classification scheme known as the Hubble tuning-fork diagram. It partitioned galaxies into ellipticals, normal spirals, barred spirals (such as the Milky Way), and irregulars. These galaxy types exhibit the following properties which can be explained by current galaxy evolution theories:
Many of the properties of galaxies (including the galaxy color–magnitude diagram) indicate that there are fundamentally two types of galaxies. These groups divide into blue star-forming galaxies that are more like spiral types, and red non-star forming galaxies that are more like elliptical galaxies.
Spiral galaxies are quite thin, dense, and rotate relatively fast, while the stars in elliptical galaxies have randomly oriented orbits.
The majority of giant galaxies contain a supermassive black hole in their centers, ranging in mass from millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun. The black hole mass is tied to the host galaxy bulge or spheroid mass.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Ontological neighbourhood
Related courses (12)
PHYS-465: Astrophysics III : galaxy formation and evolution
Galaxy formation & evolution is about studying how galaxies in our Universe come into existence, how they evolve and what shapes their properties. This course describes the observational facts of gala
PHYS-402: Astrophysics V : observational cosmology
Cosmology is the study of the structure and evolution of the universe as a whole. This course describes the principal themes of cosmology, as seen
from the point of view of observations.
PHYS-209: Astrophysics I: introduction to astrophysics
Ce cours décrit de façon simple les processus physiques qui expliquent l'univers dans lequel nous vivons. En couvrant une large gamme de sujets, le but du cours est aussi de donner un aperçu général d
Related lectures (75)
Galaxy Formation: Evolution and DestructionMOOC: Introduction to Astrophysics
Delves into the formation, evolution, and destruction of galaxies through simulations.
Studying the Universe with LightMOOC: Introduction to Astrophysics
Explores physical concepts in astrophysics to understand light radiation from celestial bodies.
Self-gravitating systemsMOOC: Introduction to Astrophysics
Explores the time evolution of self-gravitating systems and the conservation of energy.
Related publications (419)
Swift : a modern highly parallel gravity and smoothed particle hydrodynamics solver for astrophysical and cosmological applications
Yves Revaz, Loïc Hausammann, Matthieu Schaller, Mladen Ivkovic, Zhen Xiang
Numerical simulations have become one of the key tools used by theorists in all the fields of astrophysics and cosmology. The development of modern tools that target the largest existing computing systems and exploit state-of-the-art numerical methods and ...
2024COSMOS-Web: Intrinsically Luminous z ≳ 10 Galaxy Candidates Test Early Stellar Mass Assembly
We report the discovery of 15 exceptionally luminous 10 less than or similar to z less than or similar to 14 candidate galaxies discovered in the first 0.28 deg(2) of JWST/NIRCam imaging from the COSMOS-Web survey. These sources span rest-frame UV magnitud ...
Iop Publishing Ltd2024Related people (78)
Related units (12)
Related concepts (28)
Galaxy
A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek galaxias (γαλαξίας), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. Galaxies, averaging an estimated 100 million stars, range in size from dwarfs with less than a hundred million stars, to the largest galaxies known – supergiants with one hundred trillion stars, each orbiting its galaxy's center of mass.
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. The term Milky Way is a translation of the Latin via lactea, from the Greek γαλακτικὸς κύκλος (galaktikòs kýklos), meaning "milky circle". From Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within.
Supermassive black hole
A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical objects that have undergone gravitational collapse, leaving behind spheroidal regions of space from which nothing can escape, not even light. Observational evidence indicates that almost every large galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center.
Related MOOCs (4)
The Radio Sky I: Science and Observations
Be captivated by the exotic objects that populate the Radio Sky and gain a solid understanding of their physics and the fundamental techniques we use to observe them.
Introduction to Astrophysics
Ce cours décrit les principaux concepts physiques utilisés en astrophysique. Il est proposé à l'EPFL aux étudiants de 2eme année de Bachelor en physique.
Introduction à l'Astrophysique
Ce cours décrit les principaux concepts physiques utilisés en astrophysique. Il est proposé à l'EPFL aux étudiants de 2eme année de Bachelor en physique.