The Role of Radiation and Cosmic Rays in Galaxy Formation

This project aims to solve one of the enduring questions about galaxy formation: why galaxies are so inefficient at turning gas into stars. This project will investigate two possible agents for this inefficiency, the pressures exerted by starlight photons and the relativistic cosmic rays produced by supernovae, using a combination of numerical simulations, basic physical analysis, and comparison to observations. The expected outcome will be a greatly improved understanding of the physics of the interaction of radiation and cosmic rays with star-forming interstellar gas. This will help complete the picture of how galaxies like our own came to be, and will provide tools for both future simulations and the interpretation of observations.