The Galactic Onion: Unwrapping the Accretion History of Galaxies

Project Description:

In this project, you will learn how to unwrap the accretion history of galaxies in the Universe. You will use state-of-the-art, high-resolution data from the IllustrisTNG cosmological simulations to identify stellar shells—the faint, concentric "smoking guns" left behind when galaxies collide and merge. You will systematically survey massive galaxies to map phase-space caustics and extract chemical fingerprints, such as metallicity and age, to reconstruct the exact timing and nature of shredded satellite progenitors. This is a unique opportunity to master industry-standard Python coding and HDF5 software while contributing to potentially publishable research, all with no prior simulation experience required. See the provided document for more details.

Research Area:

Astronomy

Project Level:

Honours

This Project Is Offered At The Following Node(s):

(NWU)