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The Milky Way is not only our galactic home. It is also a Rosetta Stone of galaxy formation, because it is the only galaxy that we can see truly in three dimensions. Recent years have seen dramatic progress in mapping the Milky Way, and we have found many signposts of its successive formation history.
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The very centers of galaxies are not only geometrically unique, they also exhibit also a wealth of physical phenomena found nowhere else in the galaxies. Many of these phenomena, called »active galactic nuclei« or AGN can be traced to a super-massive black hole at the center that at times accretes matter. Exploring the origin, growth and properties of these black holes, and understanding their »feeding«, is under active debate.
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Local Galaxies: the population of galaxies represents the end-point of galaxy evolution to date. MPIA researchers try to assess and understand the stellar, gaseous, dust and dark matter content as well as the overall structural properties and their spatial distribution within the »cosmic web«.
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High-redshift Galaxies: Due to the finite velocity of light we look back in time when studying distant objects. So the most distant galaxies currently known are seen in a stage when the universe was only about 1 billion years old. Finding these galaxies and studying their properties in comparison to present-day galaxies provide important information about the formation and evolution of galaxies.
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Galaxy Surveys: To study particular sets of galaxies, at a given redshift or of a given mass, one first has to find or identify them. Galaxy surveys are a core part of the scientific activity at the MPIA.
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Theory: In order to interpret galaxy observations, it is important to have a theoretical framework that is grounded in a cosmological context. We observe »snapshots« of parts of the Universe at a particular time in cosmic history, and at different wavelengths. Theoretical models can predict how galaxies evolve over time, how they cluster in space, and how they appear at different wavelengths, allowing us to stitch together these snapshots into a comprehensive picture of galaxy evolution.
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