Robert Feldmann

SNF Professor

Personal homepage

http://www.ics.uzh.ch/~feldmann

Research Interests

How do galaxies and many of their properties evolve over cosmic history? Which processes determine their sizes, regulate their star formation rates, or shape their morphology? Nobody really knows for sure. However, compared with just 10 years ago, we are now much closer to answering those questions. This remarkable development is largely a result of three major advances. First, with the advent of large scale, digital galaxy surveys the quantitative analysis of millions of galaxies became possible -- a development that is still revolutionizing our understanding of galaxy evolution. Secondly, the continuous increase in computing power enables theoretical astrophysicists like myself to develop and evaluate increasingly sophisticated computational models. Finally, advances in data analysis, driven by recent developments in data science and machine learning, have dramatically simplified the extraction of physical insights from complex data sets. In my work, I employ a combination of methods, including state-of-the-art high-performance computing and data analysis, to study how galaxies evolve in a cosmological setting.

Selected Papers

R. Feldmann, P. F. Hopkins, E. Quataert, C. A. Faucher-Giguère, D. Kereš
“The formation of massive, quiescent galaxies at cosmic noon”
Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 458, L14 (2016), ADS

D. Narayanan, M. Turk, R. Feldmann et al.
"The formation of sub-millimetre bright galaxies from gas infall over a billion years",
Nature 525, 496-499 (2015), ADS, News & Views

R. Feldmann
"The equilibrium view on dust and metals in galaxies: Galactic outflows drive low dust-to-metal ratios in dwarf galaxies",
Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc.449, 3274 (2015), ADS

R. Feldmann, L. Mayer
"The Argo Simulation: I. Quenching of Massive Galaxies at High Redshift as a Result of Cosmological Starvation", 
Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 446, 1939 (2015), ADS

R. Feldmann, N. Y. Gnedin, A. V. Kravtsov
"The X-factor in Galaxies: I. Dependence on Environment and Scale", 
Astrophys. J. 747, 124 (2012), ADS
 

Link to the full list of ADS published papers 

ZEBRA - the Zurich Extragalactic Bayesian Redshift Analyzer: official website , on Bitbucket