Simulating the universe: the evolution of the most massive galaxies

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorRennehan, Douglas
dc.contributor.supervisorBabul, Arif
dc.date.accessioned2022-04-19T16:25:34Z
dc.date.available2022-04-19T16:25:34Z
dc.date.copyright2022en_US
dc.date.issued2022-04-19
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Physics and Astronomyen_US
dc.degree.levelDoctor of Philosophy Ph.D.en_US
dc.description.abstractThe cores of galaxy clusters contain the most massive galaxies in the Universe, the brightest cluster galaxies. These galaxies are unique compared to their counterpart galaxies outside of clusters as they have much brighter cores, and vast spatially- extended stellar envelopes. The theoretical picture of how they reached their huge masses relied on the idea of gradual stellar mass growth during the second half of the history of the Universe. However, recent observational evidence of highly-overdense protoclusters, the progenitors of these galaxies, demonstrates that some brightest cluster galaxies may have assembled within the first few billion years after the Big Bang – seemingly contradicting our theoretical predictions. I include my theoretical work that shows the short timescales over which these observed protoclusters trans- form into the brightest cluster galaxies and discuss the likelihood of finding these rare protoclusters in the early Universe. To push our understanding of the rapid evolution of these galaxies even further for- ward demands the use of numerical simulations due to the highly coupled, non-linear astrophysical processes that occur during the process. In this dissertation, I include improvements to our numerical models of hydrodynamical turbulence and supermas- sive black holes that I incorporated into a state-of-the-art hydrodynamical+gravity simulation code, in effort to provide the groundwork to improving our understanding of the build-up of the brightest cluster galaxies in the early Universe, and galaxy evolution in general.en_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationD. Rennehan. 2021. Mixing matters. MNRAS, 506, 2, pp. 2836–2852.en_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationD. Rennehan, A. Babul, C. C. Hayward, C. Bottrell, M. H. Hani, S. C. Chapman. 2020. Rapid coeval star formation and assembly of the most massive galaxies in the universe. MNRAS, 493, pp. 4607-4621.en_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationD. Rennehan, A. Babul, P. F. Hopkins, R. Davé, B. Moa. 2019. Dynamic Localised Turbulent Diffusion and its Impact on the Galactic Ecosystem. MNRAS, 483, pp. 3810-3831.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/13859
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjecthydrodynamicsen_US
dc.subjectturbulenceen_US
dc.subjectblack holesen_US
dc.subjectgalaxy evolutionen_US
dc.subjectnumerical simulationen_US
dc.subjectbrightest cluster galaxyen_US
dc.subjectgalaxy clusteren_US
dc.titleSimulating the universe: the evolution of the most massive galaxiesen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Rennehan_Douglas_PhD_2022.pdf
Size:
8.56 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
2 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD)
Theses (Physics and Astronomy)
 
University of Victoria Libraries

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.