Abstract
Star formation is central to understanding galaxy formation and evolution and the dynamics of molecular cloud structures is intimately connected to this process. While galaxies at the Epoch of Reionization are believed to be the main source of reionization in the Universe, it remains unclear how star formation proceeds in the first galaxies even in the ALMA-era. In this talk, I will discuss latest findings based on observational studies and lack thereof, motivating our study to examine the dynamics of star-forming molecular structures at z~6 using state-of-the-art cosmological zoom-in simulation. I will present the main results of our study and discuss how they compare with observations of local galaxies and the physics behind such differences. I will end by discussing the implications and importance of our findings in future studies of high-redshift galaxies.
Daisy Leung is a PhD student at Cornell and the Flatiron Institute or CCA, working with Rachel Somerville. Her thesis work is on "The star-forming gas properties of high-z galaxies and quasar hosts". She will be visiting us next week and will be giving a talk on her Kavli summer project done in collaboration with Andrea Ferrara, Andrea Pallottini, and Mordecai Mac-Low.
