WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A SUITE OF ULTRA-HIGH RESOLUTION SIMULATIONS OF Z>6 GALAXIES WITH A PARTICULARLY WIDE RANGE OF RELEVANT PHYSICAL PROCESSES. WE WILL USE SYNTHETIC OBSERVATIONS OF SIMULATED GALAXIES TO CONDUCT A NUMBER OF TRANSFORMATIVE EXPLORATIONS ADDRESSING THE FOLLOWING TWO BROAD THEMES: 1) HOW THE OBSERVABLE PROPERTIES OF THE COSMIC DAWN GALAXIES ARE RELATED TO THEIR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES SUCH AS STAR FORMATION RATE AND STAR FORMATION HISTORY SIZE STELLAR MASS MOLECULAR GAS MASS MASS OF THEIR DARK MATTER HALOS AND THEIR MASS ACCRETION HISTORY AND 2) HOW THE PHYSICAL PROCESSES DRIVING EVOLUTION OF HIGH-$Z$ GALAXIES ARE REFLECTED IN THE THEIR OBSERVABLE PROPERTIES AND CORRELATIONS BETWEEN THEM. THE MODELS AND SIMULATIONS PLANNED IN THIS PROPOSAL WILL INCLUDE A RICH DATA SET WITH A SUFFICIENTLY WIDE RANGE OF PHYSICAL PROCESSES MODELED AT EXTREMELY HIGH-RESOLUTION. THIS WILL BE USED TO ADDRESS SEVERAL FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS IN THE INTERPRETATION OF OBSERVATIONS OF GALAXIES DURING THE COSMIC DAWN ERA. EXPLORATION OF THESE KEY ISSUES WILL BUILD UPON THE REMARKABLE RECENT PROGRESS IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW GALAXIES FORM AND USING STATE-OF-THE-ART MODELING OF STAR FORMATION AND FEEDBACK. RESULTS OF THIS PROJECT WILL HAVE A TRANSFORMATIVE IMPACT ON OUR BROADER UNDERSTANDING OF GALAXIES AND THEIR FORMATION ESPECIALLY DURING EARLIEST STAGES OF EVOLUTION WHEN SOME OF THE KEY PROPERTIES OF GALAXIES MAY BE SET. RESULTS AND FINDINGS OF THIS PROJECT WILL AID WITH PHYSICAL INTERPRETATION OF ONGOING AND NEAR FUTURE OBSERVATIONAL EFFORTS USING JWST WFIRST HST AND ALMA. SYNTHETIC OBSERVATIONS AND SIMULATION DATA THAT WILL BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE TO OTHER RESEARCHERS WILL HELP OBSERVERS TO FORECAST AND PREPARE OBSERVATIONS AND WILL ALLOW OTHER THEORETICAL GROUPS TO EXPLORE ADDITIONAL DIRECTIONS OR TO COMPARE RESULTS.
$438,292FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
University Of Chicago, Chicago IL