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Zehavi awarded NSF grant to study galaxy clustering
Posted 8-Oct-2009
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The National Science Foundation has awarded CWRU astronomer Idit Zehavi a three year
grant to study galaxy clustering and inferences relating to galaxy
formation and evolution. The spatial clustering of galaxies encodes
important information about how galaxies form and evolve. Zehavi and
collaborator Zheng Zheng (Yale) are working at the interface of theory
and observations to study these topics using data from the recently-
completed Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).
This figure shows the spatial distribution of galaxies in a
slice from the SDSS. Each point represents a galaxy, color coded by
its intrinsic color. Zehavi and collaborators study this distinct
clustering pattern and its dependence on different galaxy properties.
Interpreting these measurements can shed light on the relation between
galaxies and dark matter and provide insight on the complex picture
of galaxy formation. Comparing and connecting clustering measures from
surveys at different epochs, through the growth of dark matter halos,
will also enable a detailed study of galaxy evolution.
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