ASTROPHYSICISTS DISCOVER MASSIVE FORMING GALAXIES

Public release date: 17-Sep-2003

Contact: Anne Stark
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
925-422-9799
University of California - Berkeley 

Astrophysicists discover massive forming galaxies

LIVERMORE, Calif. - A Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory astrophysicist, in collaboration with
international researchers, has found evidence for the
synchronous formation of massive, luminous elliptical
galaxies in young galaxy clusters. 

The forming galaxies were detected at sub-millimeter
wavelengths. Emission at these wavelengths is due to dust
from young stars that is heated by the stars or by active
black holes. The galaxies were grouped around high-red
shift radio galaxies, the most massive systems known,
suggesting that they all formed at approximately the same
time.

In the present universe, the most massive galaxies are
elliptical galaxies, which are found in the centers of
rich galaxy clusters. The stars in these galaxies are now
old, and must have formed at much earlier times. The
enormous bursts of star formation that build these
galaxies produce large quantities of dust that can be
observed at submillimeter wavelengths. 

Wil van Breugel, of Livermore's Institute of Geophysics
and Planetary Physics, along with scientists from the
University of Edinburgh, the University of Durham,
Instituto Nacional de Astrofiscia and Leiden Observatory
in The Netherlands, present their research, "The
Formation of Cluster Elliptical Galaxies as Revealed by
Extensive Star Formation," in the Sept. 18 edition of
Nature.

Earlier sub-millimeter studies of high-red shift radio
galaxies have shown that their star-formation rates are
large enough to build a massive galaxy. However, that
research provided no information on the spatial extent of
the emission or on the star-formation in their
environments. By mapping seven objects with varying red
shifts, the team was able to illustrate the distribution
of dust-reradiated emission in and around the radio
galaxies.

"One of the most striking aspects of these maps is that
we can see that the dust emission from the central radio
galaxy is very extended, the size of many times the
diameter of our own galaxy," van Breugel said. "But even
more interesting is that we also found other massive
forming galaxies near these radio galaxies, suggesting
that they all started their formation at approximately
the same time." Models of galaxy formation show that the
most massive galaxies form in overdense regions that then
form clusters of galaxies.

The discovery of groups of luminous, dusty galaxies at
high red shift suggests that the scientists may have
witnessed this process for the first time. 

   ###
Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
is a national security laboratory, with a mission to
ensure national security and apply science and technology
to the important issues of our time. Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory is managed by the University of
California for the U.S. Department of Energy's National
Nuclear Security Administration.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-09/uoc--adm091703.php

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