Research Division Seminar
Transitions from Clumpy to Smooth Galaxies over Cosmic Time

Abstract

Galaxies at redshifts z~2-5 are dominated by clumpy morphologies instead of the more familiar elliptical and spiral types seen in the local Universe. The clumpy galaxies are gas-rich and highly turbulent, with star-forming regions 100 times more massive than in today’s galaxies. Clumpy galaxies should evolve into spirals and barred spirals when the disks become less turbulent. We find transitional types midway between clumpy and spiral, primarily around z~1-2. We observed local analogs of these transitional spirals in the Kiso Survey of Ultraviolet Galaxies, whose clumps are comparable in mass and surface density to the clumps at high redshift. We also find local analogs of high redshift tadpole galaxies, whose measured low metallicities in star-forming regions suggest ongoing external gas accretion.