When viewed at the largest scales, the distribution of galaxies in the Universe resembles a complex, tangled web: an interconnected network of filaments of galaxies that surround vast, empty voids. Simulations and theory have established that filaments – the largest, most densely populated structures in the Universe - have formed in the billions of years after the Big Bang, and serve as conduits for transporting gas into galaxies, which they then turn into stars. Thanks to advances in telescope instrumentation the current generation of galaxy surveys is finally able to observe the night sky in sufficient detail as to accurately map the Cosmic Web for the first time, and begin to understand the role it plays in influencing the evolutionary fate of galaxy. In this talk, Dr. Alpaslan will review advances in mapping out the filamentary network of the Universe using data from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, as well as discuss some recent advances in understanding how the galaxies that live in dense filament differ from those that exist alone in isolated voids.
Speaker: Dr. Mehmet Alpaslan
Dr. Alpaslan is a postdoctoral researcher at NYU's Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, working with Jeremy Tinker. Prior to this, he spent three years at NASA's Ames Research Center as a postdoctoral researcher. His astrophysics work focuses primarily on understanding the role that environment (both local and large-scale) plays on the formation and evolution of galaxies using data from galaxy redshift surveys. He is also deeply interested in astrostatistics, and big data astronomy, and am a member of the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey.
Dr. Alpaslan doctoral studies took place at the University of St Andrews (with a two year sojourn at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research at the University of Western Australia), working with Simon Driver and Aaron Robotham. I obtained my PhD in the summer of 2014 from St Andrews, and began his appointment at NASA Ames in July 2014.
When possible, he enjoys taking part in science outreach events.