Colloquium by Dennis Zaritsky, University of Arizona
The (re)discovery of large, local, extremely low surface brightness (ultra-diffuse) galaxies has generated a variety of ideas regarding their formation -- both within the standard galaxy formation cannon (these galaxies simply represent an extreme in properties, such as high angular momentum halos or extremely burst episodic star formation) or beyond it (these galaxies represent a unicorn event - formation in tidal tails, debris from direct collisions, extreme quenching events). I'll present results from an ongoing survey to systematically measure ultra-diffuse galaxies (SMUDGes) that aims to provide a large, all-sky, homogeneous sample with which to address the question of their formation and evolution. I will describe the various challenges in assembling the required sample, with a few interesting detours along the way.
Followed by wine and cheese.
Host: Greg Bryan