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distant universe

Our work on high redshift objects consists of two major work areas:

  • The nature of high redshift sources in deep radio surveys
  • The evolution of extremely strong star forming galaxies in the distant universe

Using the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and soon the ASKAP radio telescope, as well as LOFAR we are performing deep radio continuum surveys exploring the AGN population and star formation rate out to high redshifts.

The early phases of galaxy formation and evolution are closely linked to the starburst phenomenon, the formation of prodigious amounts of (especially) massive stars in a galaxy.
Small (dwarf) galaxies at lower redshift appear to be the best proxies for these hard to observe early phases. This is especially true for the ones containing only a small amount of metals and therefore did not experience many previous bursts of star formation.
By searching for and analysing these starbursting dwarf galaxies we try to derive a more detailed picture of the many processes involved in the formation and early evolution of galaxies.


Current members:
Stefan Blex, Dominik Bomans, Noelia Herrera, Andreas Herzog, Marianne Langener, Enno Middelberg