Andreas Burkert
09.05.2016
The origin and dynamics of high-redshift disk galaxies
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The redshift two Universe ist one of the most interesting
epochs of galaxy evolution. It is the era with the peak
of the cosmic star formation rate. Between redshift 3 and 1
the total stellar mass density in galaxies increased from
15% to 70%. It is also the time of rapid galaxy assembly and the epoch
where galaxy morphology was determined.
I will summarize recent observations of the SINS survey, a Spectroscopic
Imaging survey of z=2 galaxies in the near infrared with SINFONI.
This survey has opened a fascinating window into early galaxy evolution.
The SINS data show a diversity of galactic systems at redshift 2
with physical properties that are unparalleled in the z=0 Universe.
Gas-rich, extended, fast rotating and highly turbulent disks have been found
with star formation rates that are a factor of 10 to 100
larger than in present-day Milky-Way type galaxies. Kpc-sized, massive gas clumps dominate
the appearance of these galaxies. These giant clumps are considered to represent the progenitors of
present-day globular clusters. They could provide the seeds for supermassive black holes and they might
lead to the formation of young bulges in the centers of their galaxies.
These fascinating and puzzling observations will be confronted with theoretical ideas and numerical simulations of
gas-rich galactic disk evolution (Behrendt et al. 15, 16). I will argue that the high-redshift galaxies,
like present-day disks, are in a self-organized equilibrium state with their observed extreme
properties emerging naturally from self-regulated galactic evolution, controlled by gas inflow from the
cosmic web.