The evolution of disk angular momentum of the past 10-Gyr


Richard Bower

The redshift range z=1-3 corresponds to the era when the co-moving star formation density of the Universe peaked. Galaxies at these early times were drastically different from those locally, with massive, gas-rich galaxies undergoing rapid star formation in globally unstable disks, and the Hubble sequence not yet in place. To understand the physical processes driving their star formation, we must spatially resolve the star formation and gas dynamics within the ISM of high-redshift galaxies. In this talk, I will present the latest multi-wavelength observations which aim to measure the kinematics and the interaction between star formation and gas dynamics within the ISM of almost 1000 high-redshift galaxies (using KMOS and MUSE on the ESO VLT). The goal of the observations is to constrain how the angular momentum of disks evolves with cosmic time, and the role the angular momentum has defining star formation and crystallising the Hubble sequence below z~1.5.