Research project BL/02/SA12 (Research action BL)
We propose funding for networking activities to support an on-going Belgium - South Africa project on the assessment of cosmological simulations of galaxy evolution using atomic gas. The atomic hydrogen gas is an important component in the interstellar medium of galaxies and is thus ideal for conducting a critical test of cosmological simulations of galaxy evolution. The numerical cosmological hydrodynamical simulations are a major tool for understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies. These simulations contain so-called sub-grid prescriptions, which are calibrated through a comparison of the simulated galaxy population to the galaxy population observed in the nearby Universe. In order to directly test the galaxy formation model, it is necessary to make a comparison based on properties that are not directly involved in this calibration process, a project we have been doing in a University of Ghent Belgium and University of the Western Cape South Africa collaboration.
We propose three workshops in South Africa and two in Belgium, to be arranged to coincide with related regional meetings in South Africa and Europe, so that the participants can use the opportunity both to attend the workshops and related regional meetings. We also propose student exchanges that will also precede or follow directly from the workshops so that the students attending the workshops can use the opportunity to then spend more time at the respective hosts to leverage their trips for more extended scientific exchanges with the collaborators abroad.
