Wine and Cheese Spring 2024

This page records the schedule, titles and abstracts of the JHU/STScI CAS Astrophysics Wine & Cheese Series in Fall 2022.

Wine and Cheese sessions with one speaker will have a 50 minute talk with 10 minutes for questions. Sessions with two speakers will have two 25 minute talks, each with 5 minutes for questions. Sessions in the Graduate Student Series will have three 15 minute talks, each with 5 minutes for questions.

29 February

Michael Fall (JHU)

Galaxy Scaling Relations: What They Reveal About Galaxy Formation
Despite the apparent complexity of galaxies, some of their most basic properties (mass M, binding energy E, angular momentum J, etc) obey simple power-law scaling relations. Such relations provide a useful but generally under-exploited window into galaxy formation. This talk focuses on the relations between circular velocity V (a proxy for specific energy e = E/M) and mass M and between specific angular momentum j = J/M and mass M. The observed forms of these scaling relations for the stellar components of galaxies are closely related to those of their dark matter halos, which in turn are inherited from the primordial spectrum of cosmic density perturbations. This talk presents some new observations, new interpretations, and comparisons with recent cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation. The analysis presented here offers insights into the physical origins of several basic properties of galaxies, including their sizes, morphologies (disk vs spheroid) and feedback drivers (stars vs active galactic nuclei).

05 February

Robbie Wilson (GSFC)

TBD
Abstract

TBD (TBD)

TBD
Abstract

12 February

Andy Harris (UMd)

TBD
Abstract