Cleland, Cressida (2023). Local to global: galaxy evolution across spatial scales. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.
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Cleland2023PhD.pdf
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Abstract
It has been the aim of astronomers for the past century to understand the workings and evolution of galaxies. In particular, the transformative processes that take place in order to turn a galaxy from ‘alive’ to ‘dead’ have been an exciting topic of active research. It is now understood that galaxies are broadly split into two classes, blue spirals and red ellipticals (and lenticulars), featuring great differences in their properties. The mechanisms that move galaxies from blue to red (or spiral to elliptical) are referred to as quenching mechanisms. The region of parameter space through which a galaxy moves as it quenches is sometimes referred to as the ‘green valley’. This thesis summarises the state of the field and then presents three novel studies on topics related to quenching mechanisms and galaxy evolution: environmental quenching, active galactic nucleus feedback, and superluminous supernova host galaxies.
These studies each find interesting and compelling results, and evidence of galaxies in the green valley. In the first, I found that the star-forming/quenched status of a satellite galaxy depends significantly on its stellar mass, the mass of its group halo, and its position within the group halo. The second study found evidence of young active galactic nuclei within star-forming galaxies and illustrated a scenario where variability of the active galactic nucleus has a profound effect on the lifecycle of the galaxy. In the third study, I investigated the environments of host galaxies of superluminous supernovae. I used simulations to explore the metallicities and star-formation rates, and environments, of similar galaxies and found that low metallicity is more important for the production of these explosive transients.
| Type of Work: | Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.) | |||||||||
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| Award Type: | Doctorates > Ph.D. | |||||||||
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| Licence: | All rights reserved | |||||||||
| College/Faculty: | Colleges (2008 onwards) > College of Engineering & Physical Sciences | |||||||||
| School or Department: | School of Physics and Astronomy | |||||||||
| Funders: | Science and Technology Facilities Council | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Q Science > QB Astronomy | |||||||||
| URI: | http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/14124 |
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