Galaxies in the local Universe fall into two main categories of spirals and ellipticals. In this Thesis, we explore the structural evolution of galaxies into this bimodal distribution.

The origin and evolution of galaxies are closely linked to many different physical phenomena.

Labbe

Promotor: Prof.dr. H.J.A. Rottgering, Co-promotor: David Sobral

Galaxies are environments where gas coalesces, cools, and is converted into stars. However, it remains unclear the exact mechanisms through which galaxies acquire, redistribute and lose their gas.

The formation and evolution of galaxies is fundamentally driven by the formation of new stars out of cold gas.

Promotor: M. Franx, Co-Promotor: I.F. Labbé

Promotor: Koen Kuijken Co-promotor: Henk Hoekstra

Radio jets are important to the evoultion of galaxies. However, it is still not fully understood how a radio jet can be triggered.

This thesis investigates how galaxies form and what diversifies the evolutionary histories of galaxies.

This thesis explores the theoretical and observational properties of distant massive galaxies that harbour active black holes in their centres and shine brightly at radio wavelengths.

The thesis deals with the study of giant radio galaxies (GRGs), which are radio galaxies of megaparsec sizes.

Promotor: Prof.dr. M. Franx, Co-Promotor: Rychard Bouwens

Promotores: Prof.dr. J. Schaye & Prof.dr. C. Steidel (California Institute of Technology)

Outflows are crucially important for the gas budget and evolution of luminous star-forming galaxies and AGNs, with observed mass outflow rates of the same order as the star formation rate. Greater star formation and black hole growth lead to more intense feedback and outflows, resulting in self-regulated…

Franx

This thesis focuses on the X-ray spectral analysis of merging galaxy clusters and the plasma code development for future high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy observations.

Galaxies form and evolve through close interaction with their surroundings. As a result, the heavy elements ('metals') that are synthesized in stars, are found both inside and outside galaxies.

When observing star-forming galaxies, we are not only seeing stellar light, but we also see how this interacts with galactic gas and dust. This thesis contains studies of the stellar, nebular and dust properties of low mass star-forming galaxies.

Galaxies form and live inside dark matter haloes. As a consequence, they are exposed to the tidal fields generated by the surrounding matter distribution: this imprints a preferential direction to the galaxy shapes, which leads to a coherent alignment on physically close galaxies, called intrinsic a…

Promotores: Prof.dr. M. Franx, Prof.dr. M. Kriek (Univ. of California at Berkeley)

Galaxy intrinsic alignments induce a major astrophysical contamination to weak gravitational lensing measurements and need to be modelled and mitigated when extracting cosmological information from such measurements.

Promotores: Prof.dr. F.P. Israel, Prof.dr. P.P. van der Werf

We explored how to morphologically classify well-resolved jetted radio-loud active galactic nuclei (RLAGN) in the LOw Frequency Array (LOFAR) Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS) using machine learning.

In this thesis, the research focuses on the properties of dark matter and dark matter haloes and how they connect with the galaxies we can observe in the Universe.

Promotores: Prof.dr. J. Schaye, Prof.dr. S.D.M. White (MPA Garching)

Promotor: J. Schaye

Promotor: H.J.A. Röttgering, Co-promotor: M. Haverkorn

Promotores: Prof.dr. M. Franx & Prof.dr. P.G. van Dokkum (Yale University)

How did galaxies form? How did galaxies evolve?

Understanding how galaxies form, interact, and evolve comes largely from comparing theory predictions with observational data. Numerical simulations of galaxies provide the most accurate approach to testing the theory, as they follow the non-linear evolution of gas and dark matter in great detail and…

We investigate the buildup of galaxies from various vantage points. The first two chapters focus on the stellar content of galaxies, especially the distribution of stellar masses at birth and potential variations therein in various galactic environments.

Promotor: Prof.dr. K.H. Kuijken, Co-Promotor: Dr. H.Hoekstra

This thesis investigates the structural evolution and assembly of galaxies since the first few billions years after the big bang.

Promotor: F.P. Israel, Co-Promoter: R. Meijerink

The China Region Group develops and monitors Leiden University's cooperation with China. It is chaired by the Dean of the Faculty of Science, Prof. Jasper Knoester, and consists of representatives of Leiden University's faculties and various policy departments.

Promotor: H.J.A. Röttgering, Co-promotor: G.K. Miley

Of all the mass in our Universe, 80% is thought to consist of a hypothetical and invisible substance called dark matter (DM).

On the largest scale, the Universe resembles a cosmic spiderweb. Most galaxies coexist in small groups within the threads of this web. At the nodes of the threads are enormous groups of galaxies forming the largest structures in the universe still held together by gravity: clusters of galaxies.

In this thesis, I study the formation of large-scale structure and the physics of particle acceleration at large scales (~Mpc).

Researchers at Leiden Observatory study the fundamental physics that creates structure in the Universe. These processes collect matter into galaxies and gas into stars. With the use of powerful telescopes and advanced calculations and computer simulations, Leiden astronomers seek to understand the origin,…

Researchers at Leiden Observatory study the fundamental physics that creates structure in the Universe. These processes collect matter into galaxies and gas into stars. With the use of powerful telescopes and advanced calculations and computer simulations, Leiden astronomers seek to understand the origin,…

Following the Big Bang, structure in the Universe started collapsing under the force of gravity. This resulted in the formation of the first stars, galaxies and clusters of galaxies.

This thesis aims to enhance our understanding of galaxies by testing theoretical models of galaxy formation against observations, particularly in the cases of extreme systems which have been found to have an excess of baryonic mass in their central regions, in the form of either supermassive black holes…

Rossi

In this thesis, I studied the origin and evolution of the non-thermal radiation in merging galaxy clusters.

Promotor: Jelle S. Kaastra Co-promotor: Jelle de Plaa

For the first time, astronomers have observed in three dimensions that gas from spiral galaxies is blown upwards and downwards at high speed, far out of the galaxy. They thereby confirm the theory of galaxy evolution: that star-forming galaxies create intergalactic gas flows by discharging gas along…

Galaxies in the Universe are distributed along the intricate framework of the Cosmic Web. Groups and clusters of galaxies comprise the densest regions in this network, and therefore, are excellent cosmic laboratories to study different aspects of galaxy evolution in extreme environments.