2021 Project Description

Growing in dual - the co-evolution of two massive galaxy populations at high redshifts

Supervisors

Chian-Chou Chen (TC), Zhen-Kai Gao
Find out more about supervisors on ASIAA website

Task Description and Goals

To form the most massive galaxies seen in the local universe, the current studies suggest that their projenitors must have gone through two important phases; One that allows formation of a significant amount of stellar masses within a very short period of time, and the other, presumably occurred after the first phase, is one that having their black holes outshining their host galaxies. The connection between the first star-bursting phase and the second quasar phase is at the moment not well understood, partly due to the difficulty of finding them together at the same place and time. We have been undertaking submillimeter surveys using the SCUBA-2 instrument around a sample of high-redshift quasars in order to first identify the star-bursting galaxies around quasars, and our preliminary results on a subsample suggest that indeed, based on simple number counts analyses, these star-bursting galaxies ubiquitously co-exist with the quasars. However it is unclear whether this is the case for the whole sample or only applicable for this subsample.

The student will work with our team and lead the number counts analyses using the SCUBA-2 data on the remaining quasar sample, which will be compared with the results from other fields to answer whether star-bursting galaxies ubiquitously co-exist with quasars at high redshifts, testing the current hypothesis of co-evolution between these two massive galaxy populations.

Required Background

• Basic knowledge of physics and mathematics.
• Additional knowledge of astrophysics in particular on galaxies would be an asset.
• Basic knowldge and skills of computer programing would be desirable.