Cosmology and galactic evolution

Cosmology is the branch of astrophysics that studies the formation and evolution of our Universe from its beginnings to the present day. To do so, it combines theoretical models with observables available to us such as the cosmic microwave background, gravitational lensing phenomena and information on the three-dimensional distribution of galaxies in the cosmos from a few hundred million years after the Big Bang to the present day.

At IAPS, the work focuses mainly on studying the distribution of galaxies and active galactic black holes (AGN) in the cosmos and the so-called cosmic web that these celestial bodies form. To do this, we rely mainly on two flagship surveys: those carried out by the ESA Euclid satellite, which started in July 2023, and the MOONS instrument, a spectrograph capable of receiving light simultaneously from 1,000 celestial objects that will begin its work on the VLT telescope in early 2025.

The main focus of the work carried out in IAPS is on the formation and evolution of galaxies and AGN as a function of the environment surrounding these objects. In fact, galaxies and AGN can be found in diametrically opposed environments such as cosmic voids up to superclusters that are the most extreme overdense structures we have in our universe. The positioning of galaxies and AGN within different large-scale structures (in addition to voids and superclusters we also find filaments, clusters and galaxy clusters) greatly influences the physical processes that lead to the formation and subsequent evolution of these celestial bodies. The aim of the work we are carrying out with Euclid, MOONS (and in the radio band also with LOFAR and - in the future - SKA) is to provide definitive answers on these topics also as a function of the age of our Universe, i.e. how these phenomena are influenced by cosmological time.