Birth and Evolution in the structures of the local Universe

Due to the time it takes for light to travel from celestial objects to us, when we observe distant galaxies we are essentially seeing light emitted long ago. Thus, when we study the most distant objects we are actually studying the universe at an early age.

The big question that this area –of CATA- wants to resolve is: How Galaxies form, change and interact between each other? These massive star systems are very varied; nevertheless there are recognizable families such as ellipticals, spirals and dwarfs. Each of these groups has undergone processes that have an impact on how they look today, and researchers want to understand these processes and how they are linked with dark matter.

One of these processes is the interaction between galaxies. If two similar galaxies collide violently that situation give rise to an elliptical galaxy. But if a galaxy committed "cannibalism" with another smaller, will form a spiral galaxy.

This area of the CATA seeks high-redshift galaxies (increasing wavelength of radiation received by a electromagnetic detector compared to the wavelength emitted by the source rate due to the distance between the source and the observer). This is very complex challenge, because these objects are very faint and small. Due the remoteness, they look almost like stars and during the process we must capture very deep images of small areas.

One of the key projects of CATA is connected “MUSYC” (Multiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile). MUSYC has been the most important effort of the Chilean community in the study of high redshift galaxies. This initiative includes Chilean, Americans and Europeans researchers and has led to a large number of publications, generating worldwide recognition.

Principal Investigator: Leopoldo Infante

Associated Investigators: Felipe Barrientos, Andrés Escala, Gaspar Galaz, Douglas Geisler, Paulina Lira, Sebastián Lopez, Dante Minniti, Nelson Padilla, Hernán Quintana, Andreas Reisenegger, Tom Richtler.