Ana S. P. Afonso
IA

Abstract
When galaxies first form in a turbulent young Universe, they have diverse and complex morphologies. That has changed dramatically over the last 13Gyr as elliptical and spiral shapes now dominate the bulk of local galaxy morphologies, as depicted by the Hubble diagram. The exact details of how and when these transformations happened still elude astronomers. On this seminar, I will show you a summary of my results on the evolution of galaxy structure through time and in different environments. I will focus on the evolution of Lyman-a emitting galaxies from z~6 to z~2 (roughly first 3 Gyr of galaxy evolution) and contextualize this population of galaxies on the global picture of galaxy structural evolution. That evolution is accompanied by the growth of the large-scale structure and the emergence of dense and void regions in the Universe. The properties of the regions galaxies reside in are also important in shaping the current population of galaxies. To shed some light on this topic I will present a detailed exploration of a spectroscopic survey in and around a large superstructure in the COSMOS field in an epoch when the Universe was half its current age (z~0.8). I will discuss the effects of environment on galaxy structure and star formation activity and talk about the implications that they have on the current paradigm of galaxy evolution.

2017 September 06, 11:00

IA/U.Porto
Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto (Classroom)
Rua das Estrelas, 4150-762 Porto