The Cosmic Web and Galaxy Ecology

The Cosmic Web and Galaxy Ecology

מרצה: Dr. Caterina Lani

Tel-Aviv University

רביעי, 17.2.2016, 19:00, אולם לב

ההרצאה תתקיים באנגלית

תקציר ההרצאה

In recent years it has become apparent that galaxies are not randomly distributed across the sky. Instead, they form a well-defined large-scale structure dubbed the Cosmic Web. This consists of highly clustered regions (clusters), connected by filamentary structures (filaments) and surrounded by sparser regions (voids). The formation, evolution and properties of galaxies are related to where they reside in the Cosmic Web, i.e. their environment. In this talk I will start by briefly describing the composition of galaxies and the range of properties with which astronomers characterize them. Then I will discuss galaxy environments and how these, together with the large-scale dark matter distribution, strongly correlate with fundamental properties of galaxies. I will conclude by drawing together several astronomical observations, offering the current interpretation of why environments may be fundamental in shaping the galaxy population as we know it today.

The Accelerating Universe: Einstein’s Blunder Undone

The Accelerating Universe: Einstein's Blunder Undone

מרצה: Prof. Robert P. Kirshner

Clowes Professor of Science, Harvard University

חתן פרס וולף בפיזיקה 2015

הרצאה מיוחדת!

רביעי, 27.5.2015, 19:00, אולם לב

ההרצאה תתקיים באנגלית

תקציר ההרצאה

One hundred years ago, Einstein famously introduced an extra term into his equations to describe a static universe.  A decade later, when astronomers found the Universe is not static, but expanding, he discarded that “cosmological constant.”  In the past 20 years, astronomers, including Prof. Kirshner, have found that cosmic expansion is speeding up, driven by a mysterious “dark energy” whose nature we do not fully understand, but which makes up ~70% of the mass-energy in the Universe and which bears an uncanny resemblance to Einstein’s idea.