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April 11, 2007 - The Hierarchical Formation of the Milky Way - Dr.
Julio Navarro, UVic, Department of Astronomy
Abstract:
 The
Cold Dark Matter paradigm of structure formation has proved remarkably
successful at accounting for the large-sale properties of the Universe, as
measured by the clustering and motions of galaxies, as well as by the
detailed structure of the temperature fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave
Background. Some of its "natural" predictions regarding the hierarchical
assembly of galaxy systems, however, appear at odds with observational data
on the dynamics of individual galaxies and of the Milky Way.
I will re-evaluate the constraints that stellar dynamical data in the solar
neighbourhood place on the Milky Way's formation history, and I will argue
that, contrary to standard wisdom, the accretion and tidal disruption events
that characterize hierarchical galaxy formation have played an important
role in the formation of the Milky Way. Particularly interesting relicts of
these events are the most massive globular cluster in the Galaxy, Omega
Centauri, and by the third-brightest star of the northern night-sky,
Arcturus.
Bio:
Julio Navarro is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at
the University of Victoria. He obtained his B.Sc. from Universidad Nacional
de C�rdoba, Argentina 1986 and received his Ph.D in 1990 from Universidad
Nacional de C�rdoba, Argentina.
Julio is fluent in Spanish (mother tongue), English and Italian, has working
knowledge in Portuguese and French.
He is the author or co-other of 61 scientific papers.
Among his many Honours, Awards and Fellowships:
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ISI Thomson Highly-Cited Researcher 2004
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Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
2002/2007 |
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U.K. Leverhulme Foundation Visiting Professor 2004/2005
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Fellow of the J.S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
2003/2005 |
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F.W. Bessel Prize (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation)
2003/2005 |
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Biography included in Who's Who in the World 2004 |
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University of Victoria Faculty of Science Research
Award 2003 |
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Fellow of the IAS, Hebrew University of Jerusalem 2003
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Scholar of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
1998/2002 |
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Fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation 1999/2001 |
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