The decade of galaxy formation: pitfalls in the path ahead

TL;DR

This paper discusses the challenges in constructing a comprehensive empirical framework for galaxy formation, emphasizing issues like data accuracy, bias, and the disconnect with theoretical models, to advance the field beyond precision cosmology.

Contribution

It highlights key observational and methodological challenges in galaxy formation studies and introduces the GAMA survey as a means to address these issues with a detailed multi-wavelength galaxy database.

Findings

Identification of major challenges in galaxy data analysis

The GAMA survey aims to create a detailed multi-wavelength galaxy database

Addressing these challenges is crucial for advancing galaxy formation theories

Abstract

At the turn of the decade we arguably move from the era of precision cosmology to the era of galaxy formation. One approach to this problem will be via the construction of comprehensive galaxy samples. In this review I take the opportunity to highlight a number of challenges which must be overcome before we can use such data to construct a robust empirical blueprint of galaxy evolution. The issues briefly highlighted here are: the Hubble tuning fork versus galaxy components, the hierarchy of structure, the accuracy of structural decompositions, galaxy photometry, incompleteness, cosmic variance, photometric versus spectroscopic redshifts, wavelength bias, dust attenuation, and the disconnect with theory. These concerns essentially form one of the key motivations of the GAMA survey which, as one of its goals, will establish a complete comprehensive kpc-resolution 3D multi-wavelength (UV-Opt-IR-Radio) database of 250k galaxy systems to z <0.5.