The Origin of Morphologies of Galaxies : Explorations with Multi-Object and Integral-Field Spectroscopic Observations

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23224005
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Astronomy
• Research Institution: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
• Principal Investigator: ARIMOTO Nobuo 国立天文台, ハワイ観測所, 教授 (60242096)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): NISHIMURA Tetsuo 国立天文台ハワイ観測所, 名誉教授 (90260017) ; IWATA Ikuru 国立天文台ハワイ観測所, 准教授 (40399275) ; TANAKA Makoto 国立天文台ハワイ観測所, RCUH職員 (70374890)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KODAMA Tadayuki 国立天文台ハワイ観測所, 准教授 (80343101) ; USUDA Tomonori 国立天文台TMT推進室, 教授 (10311177) ; OYA Shin 国立天文台ハワイ観測所, RCUH職員 (80399287)
• Research Collaborator: ISHIGAKI Tsuyoshi 岩手大学, 人文社会科学部, 准教授 ; ANNA Ferré-Mateu 国立天文台ハワイ観測所, RCUH職員 ; ONODERA Masato ETH Zurich, 研究員
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 光赤外線天文学 / 銀河天文学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The cosmic star-formation activity is known to have its peak around 2-3 billion years after the Big Bang. Orderly morphologies such as spirals and ellipticals then emerge. What is the primary driver of such evolution? In order to answer this fundamental question, we initiated the upgrade of MOIRCS, near-infrared instrument for Subaru Telescope. We also conducted intensive observations of distant and nearby galaxies. We obtained some critically important insights of galaxy evolution. We found the star-forming galaxies at z~2.5 with abundant molecular gas generated their stellar content rapidly, and terminated their activity around z~1.5. Then such galaxies evolved passively and became giant elliptical galaxies in the present universe.

Free Research Field

光赤外線天文学