Title:Studying Galaxy Population in the Big Data Era  

Speaker: Yingjie Peng (KIAA/Peking University) 

Time & Place: Wednesday, 3:00pm, January 20th, Lecture Hall, 3rd floor  

Abstract: The galaxy population appears to be composed of infinitely complex different types and properties at first sight. However, when large samples of galaxies are studied, it appears that the majority of galaxies just follow simple scaling relations while the outliers represent some minority. We demonstrate the astonishing underlying simplicities of the galaxy population emerged from large galaxy surveys and “reverse engineering” of the observed galaxy population at different epochs; derive the analytical forms for the dominant evolutionary processes that control the galaxy evolution. On the other hand, gas regulation is one of the keys to understanding galaxy formation and evolution, as gas regulation depicts the dynamical interplay of the key physical processes in galaxies: gas inflow, star formation, outflow and metal production. I will introduce how the gas regulation acts in galaxies and its dynamical behaviours, and discuss how to apply the gas regulation method to study the evolution of the galaxy population, including the scientific topics that demand forthcoming observing facilities such as MOONS for VLT and future TMT, ELT.