Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

High redshift ULIRGs and the formation of massive galaxies

Scott Chapman

Dalhousie University

Studying ultraluminous galaxies (ULIRGs) at early times (z>2) provides insight into the formative phases of massive galaxies around us today. While the field has now become a relatively mature science, there remain various aspects that are still mired in uncertainty, and new facilities offer possibilities for great leaps forward in our understanding.

I will provide an overview of this exciting field, and present new avenues of research into high-redshift ULIRGs which are significantly pushing our understanding of the population. These include Herschel-HerMES, the South Pole Telescope (SPT), our recently completed IRAM-PdBI survey of CO gas in 50 high-z SMGs (Bothwell,Chapman,Smail et al. 2011), and the CDFS-LESS survey with the 870um camera, LABOCA, and its followup studies.