Abstract
Cosmic voids form an essential ingredient of the Cosmic Web and may
harbour a systematically different population of galaxies. Largely
unaffected by the complex processes modifying galaxies in high-density
environments, the pristine and isolated void regions must hold important
clues to the intrinsic process of formation and evolution of galaxies.
The Void Galaxy Survey (VGS) is a multi-wavelength program to study 60
void galaxies. Each has been selected from the deepest interior regions
of identified voids in the SDSS redshift survey on the basis of a unique
geometric technique, with no a prior selection of intrinsic properties
of the void galaxies. The project intends to study in detail the gas
content, star formation history and stellar content, as well as
kinematics and dynamics of void galaxies and their companions in a broad
sample of void environments. It involves the HI imaging of the gas
distribution in each of the VGS galaxies. Amongst its most tantalizing
findings is the possible evidence for cold gas accretion in some of the
most interesting objects, amongst which are a polar ring galaxy and a
filamentary configuration of void galaxies. An essential aspect for
understanding the formation and evolution of void galaxies concerns
their star formation history. The current IRAC proposal is meant to
study the older stellar population of void galaxies to constrain their
assembly history.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Spitzer Proposal |
| Publication status | Published - May-2011 |