The Chemical Enrichment of the Intergalactic Medium
Following the award of a Marie
Curie Excellence Grant, Leiden Observatory is hosting
an "excellence team" lead by Joop Schaye to work on problems related
to the chemical enrichment of the intergalactic medium.
Vacancies
Temporarily no vacancies.
The team:
Core members:
- Dr. Joop Schaye
(Leiden University)
- Rob Wiersma (Leiden University)
- Claudio Dalla Vecchia (Leiden University)
- Dr. Anthony Aguirre
(UC Santa Cruz)
- Dr. Tom Theuns (University of Durham)
- Dr. Marcus
Brüggen (International University Bremen)
- Dr. Tae-Sun Kim (University of Cambridge)
Recent collaborators:
- Prof. Robert Carswell (University of Cambridge)
- Prof. Lars Hernquist (Harvard University)
- Dr. Michael Rauch (Carnegie Observatories)
- Prof. Wallace Sargent (Caltech)
- Dr. Volker Springel (MPA Garching)
The plan:
The tenuous medium in between galaxies contains most of the matter in
the universe. The enrichment of this intergalactic medium (IGM) with
elements heavier than helium, which are all formed in stars, is
closely related to several questions central to astrophysical
cosmology. We will carry out a research program that will
provide accurate measurements of the abundances of heavy elements in
the IGM and a much better understanding of feedback from star
formation, the most poorly understood aspect of galaxy formation. We
will also gain insight into the nature of the first stars, the
relative importance of starlight and light from accretion flows onto
black holes, and the mechanism by which heavy elements are dispersed
throughout the universe.
We will adopt an innovative, multi-disciplinary approach, making use
of both high-quality observations and state-of-the-art numerical
simulations. We will carry out global analyses of quasar absorption
spectra using novel techniques, as well as studies of absorption by
individual, highly-enriched, intergalactic gas clouds. The former will
be interpreted using cosmological simulations, while the latter will
be compared with targeted simulations of various astrophysical
phenomena. The required observations and access to high-performance
computers have already been secured.
More information:
THIS PAGE WAS LAST MODIFIED: April 2005 by Joop
Schaye