Astronomer Lingyu Wang (SRON/RUG) receives an NWO Vidi grant to study merging galaxies. Wang will focus on the role of galaxy mergers in driving outbursts of star formation and black hole accretion. The grant allows her to create a team to join her in this research.
Galaxies are the building blocks of the visible Universe. Once in a while a galaxy merges with another one, triggering intense bursts of star formation and rapidly feeding the supermassive black holes in their centers. Eventually the two galaxies form a new single entity under the influence of gravity. Mergers are among the most violent events in the Universe and therefore have a profound influence on the structure of the cosmos.
driving starburst activity
At present, we lack a detailed understanding of the importance of mergers in driving starburst activity and black hole accretion. Astronomer Lingyu Wang now receives a Vidi grant from NWO to fill this gap in our knowledge. ‘This knowledge deficit is holding back progress in many fields of research,’ she says. ‘My goal is to greatly advance our knowledge of galaxy evolution by quantifying, in detail, the role of galaxy mergers across cosmic time.’
three recent breakthroughs
To achieve this goal, Wang will combine three recent breakthroughs. First of all, current and upcoming galaxy surveys, such as the Kilo-Degree survey and the Euclid mission, are detecting unprecedented numbers of galaxies in higher detail than ever before. Secondly, a revolution is happening in the field of computer science, where deep learning techniques are starting to exceed manual classification of mergers. And finally, cosmological simulations are now capable of producing sufficiently realistic galaxies. Wang: ‘The interaction of observations and simulations is crucial, not only for reliably interpreting observations, but also providing feedback into our theory and ultimately leading to a complete understanding of galaxy evolution.’
Vidi is a grant for experienced researchers as part of the NWO Talent Programme.