Project Details
Projekt
The coevolution of massive compact ellipticals and their black holes at high redshift
Applicant
Dr. Thorsten Naab
Subject Area
Astrophysics and Astronomy
Term
from 2009 to 2012
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 125644655
This project proposes a detailed investigation of the origin of massive compact evolved elliptical galaxies and their black holes at high redshift. These galaxies have very low star formation rates, are three to five times smaller than present day ellipticals and have one to two orders of magnitude higher mass densities than their low redshift counterparts. We will, for the first time, use sub kiloparsec resolution cosmological ”zoom” simulations of a statistical sample of massive galaxies in a cosmological volume to address two fundamental physical questions: 1) How do black holes in massive high redshift spheroids grow and which process is responsible for the termination of star formation in these systems? Is it mainly feedback from a central super-massive black hole, winds from a massive starburst or simply very efficient gas consumption or a combination? 2) Why are the high redshift ellipticals so compact and what is the main driver for the rapid size evolution? There is strong theoretical evidence that minor (gas poor) mergers are more important for the strong evolution in size and density than major mergers, in particular for massive galaxies at high redshift. This growth mechanism will be explored in detail. At the end of the funding period we expect to be able to answer both questions.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
