The main sequence of active galaxies: a star formation history
IAP weekly specialised seminars / 2 February 2024
Laure Ciesla (Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, France)
The discovery of a close relationship between the star formation activity of active galaxies and their stellar mass has opened a new window in our understanding of galaxy evolution. A major consequence of this relationship is that galaxies form the majority of their stars in a steady state rather than during violent episodes of star formation activity. This relationship between star formation rate and stellar mass, "galaxy main sequence", is now well observed up to z=6, when the Universe was 1 billion years old. Yet the paths that galaxies follow in the star formation rate - stellar mass plane during their evolution is still debated: I will show a more complex view of the main sequence, add a dynamical picture to the paradigm, and show results for the very early galaxies based on JWST observations.