Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Observational cosmology is an attempt to understand the processes which initiated the universe we live in, and how the rich and complex structure in the present-day universe formed and evolved. My research focuses on studying both the fundamental physics of cosmology via the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and measurements of structure on very large scales, down to the details of galaxy evolution and the complex physics which manifests on small scales. There are many unanswered questions, starting from how the primordial density fluctuations in the very early universe inflated to produce the observed distribution of structure and galaxies, all the way to how environment drives galaxy evolution. Studying the Sub-millimetre Galaxies (SMGs) in particular in the distant universe gives us insight into the peak epoch in which massive galaxies were forming the bulk of their stars. This leads to a host of questions, such as whether massive galaxies form in a single burst of star formation or is their growth extended over time. My laboratory is involved in several experiments aimed at studying SMGs as well as the CMB: the South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a 10 metre telescope we have been actively involved with for the past two years, simultaneously gaining new information on the brightest SMGs, galaxy clusters (the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect), and primary CMB. The POLARization of the Background Radiation (POLARBeaR) experiment focuses on the polarized B-mode radiation from the CMB - the `smoking gun' of the Early Universe inflationary epoch in the first 10^-38sec after the Big Bang. We are partners with Berkeley and Chicago in these experiments and take an active role in both leading areas of the science and in instrumentation development. These experiments will provide important new results during the period of this grant. I'm also active in the space-based Herschel telescope studies of distant SMGs, with large PI and co-I allocated projects in my Herschel-HerMES, LESS/SHRUGS, and SPT collaborations, and I am working towards various projects with the newly commissioned SCUBA-2 camera on the Canada/UK/Dutch JCMT telescope. My approach to research in this area is multifaceted, combining a number of different yet complementary studies. I work on detailed studies of small numbers of galaxies, which can teach us about very specific physics driving their evolution; but I also undertake statistical studies of large samples, which provides information on global proerties of galaxies and the overall trends in galaxy evolution. By studying galaxies which exist in isolation as well as those evolving in unique high density regions I can constrain the role of the environment in forming galaxies. I also sample the entire electromagnetic spectrum, though with a strong focus on the relatively unexplored infrared regime. Such mulitwavelength data are crucial as observations at different wavelengths probe different physical processes which are relevant to galaxy evolution. For example, the infrared allows us to study the current star formation in a galaxy, while optical light gives us information on (amongst other things) previous star formation. Using these complementary techniques and the new generation of telescopes and detectors, I, along with my team of graduate students and postdocs, will shed light on the process of cosmology and galaxy evolution.