To appear in the proceedings of IAU Symposium 277, Burkina Faso, December 2010, Tracing the Ancestry of Galaxies (on the Land of our Ancestors), eds. C. Carignan, F. Combes & K. Freeman.
astro-ph/1102.0283

For a PDF version of the article, click here.

FEEDBACK IN GALAXY FORMATION

Joseph Silk

Dept. of Physics and Beecroft Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology,
Denys Wilkinson Building, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
and Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore MD 21218, USA

Abstract: I review the outstanding problems in galaxy formation theory, and the role of feedback in resolving them. I address the efficiency of star formation, the galactic star formation rate, and the roles of supernovae and supermassive black holes.

Key Words: galaxy, formation, active galactic nuclei, feedback

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

THE LUMINOSITY FUNCTION OF GALAXIES

Low luminosity galaxies

Disk galaxies

Spheroidal galaxies

THE AGN-STAR FORMATION CONNECTION

Its not SN, its not AGN: maybe its both!

Triggering is observed

The role of AGN at high z

STAR FORMATION AND GAS ACCRETION

Galaxies downsize

Semi-analytical models of galaxy formation

SUMMARY

REFERENCES