This is a collaborative project between Dr Anatoly Klypin of New Mexico State University and Dr George Rhee of the University of Nevada Las Vegas. It will be an extensive observational and theoretical study of the dynamics and structure of galaxies, and includes confronting these with cosmological models. Detailed analysis of the central few kiloparsecs of galaxies is the only way to settle the small-scale disagreement between observations and theoretical predictions in the standard cosmological model. The project will study complex gas and star motions in the central regions of galaxies using full-scale cosmological simulations with a zoom-in technique for resolving a few individual galaxies, plus separate evolution of 'disk plus bulge plus dark matter halo' systems. The researchers will also work to improve the analytical treatment of different effects relevant for modeling these central regions. This includes non-circular motions, triaxiality and asymmetry, changes in eccentricity, asymmetric drift corrections, and a multi-phase gas medium. Finally, this research includes observations to measure the different effects which complicate the modeling of galaxies, such as the magnitude and structure of non-circular motions, the contribution of the stellar component, and the rotation and velocity dispersion of the old stellar component.
Results of the work will be made available to the media, who have in the past made use of this team's images, and will be disseminated through public lectures. The studies will train graduate students in the skills required to become independent researchers, and involve them in undergraduate teaching. The team will continue its tradition of organizing conferences which include both theorists and observers. This work helps to raise the profile of astronomy, and science in general, in Nevada.
