Objective The observed properties of galaxies have long been known to depend on the environment in which they are located. The physical origin of the observed environmental trends is, however, still a subject of debate. Much of the argument centres on whether these trends are the end products of physical processes acting over the entire lifetime of a galaxy (the nurture hypothesis), or whether they are established at formation (the nature hypothesis). One element is often overlooked in this debate: according to the current paradigm for structure formation, dark matter collapses into haloes in a bottom-up fashion. Small objects form first and subsequently merge into progressively larger systems. As structure grows, galaxies join more and more massive systems, and so experience a variety of environments over their lifetimes. Thus both initial conditions and subsequent physical processes must play a role in shaping the observed properties of galaxies, and their variation with environment. Here I propose a detailed investigation of the relative roles of various physical processes, and of conditions at formation in determining the observed environmental trends. The work will exploit synergies between different theoretical methods, and will involve detailed comparisons with observational data from spectroscopic and photometric surveys at both low and high redshift. The results should provide the first quantitative estimate of the relative importance of nature and nurture in determining the observed environmental trends within the current standard picture of structure formation. In addition, results from this study will be of important guidance for interpreting data from ongoing and planned surveys, and will provide precious and timely tools for the preparation of key programs and surveys for planned or proposed space missions and large telescope instruments (e.g. ELT, JWST, Herschel, etc.). Fields of science natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyastrophysicsdark matter Keywords N-body and hydrodynamic simulations environmental effects primordial conditions semi-analytic models Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-SG-PE7 - ERC Starting Grant - Systems and communication engineering Call for proposal ERC-2007-StG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant Host institution ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI ASTROFISICA EU contribution € 701 700,00 Address VIALE DEL PARCO MELLINI 84 00136 Roma Italy See on map Region Centro (IT) Lazio Roma Activity type Research Organisations Principal investigator Gabriella De Lucia (Dr.) Administrative Contact Stefano Borgani (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Beneficiaries (2) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all ISTITUTO NAZIONALE DI ASTROFISICA Italy EU contribution € 701 700,00 Address VIALE DEL PARCO MELLINI 84 00136 Roma See on map Region Centro (IT) Lazio Roma Activity type Research Organisations Principal investigator Gabriella De Lucia (Dr.) Administrative Contact Stefano Borgani (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TRIESTE Italy EU contribution € 48 300,00 Address PIAZZALE EUROPA 1 34127 Trieste See on map Region Nord-Est Friuli-Venezia Giulia Trieste Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Bernardino Cresseri (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data
