RSN1: Cold gas driving the evolution of galaxies over cosmic history

Dottorato - PhD thesis

Area Tematica: RSN 1 - Galassie e cosmologia

Referente: Gabriella De Lucia (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Stefano Cristiani (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Titolo: Cold gas driving the evolution of galaxies over cosmic history

The PhD project will focus on the study of the connection between the denser absorbers in the intergalactic medium and the gaseous (atomic and molecular hydrogen) content of galaxies.  In particular, the project will build on

• an existing theoretical model of galaxy formation that reproduces the basic scaling relations including atomic and molecular gas mass and other physical properties of galaxies in the local Universe (see Xie et al. 2020; Di Gioia et al. 2020);
• data obtained with state-of-the-art instrumentation (e.g. ESPRESSO, MUSE, X-shooter, UVES, ALMA, JWST) that in this density regime uniquely link observations of the luminous and absorbing baryonic components;
• other theoretical models (e.g. the simulations Illustris, THESAN etc.).

The student will focus on: the cosmic evolution of neutral*and molecular*  hydrogen, the distribution of diffuse gas and the gas cycle in galaxies, the evolution of galaxy metallicity and on how these vary depending on the specific treatment adopted for a number of physical processes, including the adopted partitioning of the cold gas phase. The project will allow the candidate student to characterize the physical and observational properties of the densest absorbers, and correlate them with the physical/observed properties of galaxies as a function of cosmic
time. The candidate student is also expected to contribute to the design of future experiments with current and upcoming instrumentation (e.g. the CUBES and ANDES spectrographs).