[{"id":7206,"link":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/c2-vz%e2%88%92gal-probing-cold-molecular-gas-in-dusty-star-forming-galaxies-at-z-1-%e2%88%92-6-prachi-prajapati-dominik-riechers-axel-weiss-beth-jones\/","name":"c2-vz%e2%88%92gal-probing-cold-molecular-gas-in-dusty-star-forming-galaxies-at-z-1-%e2%88%92-6-prachi-prajapati-dominik-riechers-axel-weiss-beth-jones","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Science-Highlight-Figure-Prachi.png","alt":"Vz\u2212GAL: Probing Cold Molecular Gas in Dusty Star-forming Galaxies at z = 1 \u2212 6 (SFB 1601 members: Prachi Prajapati, Dominik Riechers, Axel Weiss, AS? and Beth Jones)"},"title":"C2: Vz\u2212GAL: Probing Cold Molecular Gas in Dusty Star-forming Galaxies at\u00a0z\u00a0= 1\u00a0\u2212\u00a06 (Prachi Prajapati, Dominik Riechers, Axel Weiss, Beth Jones)","author":{"name":"admin","link":"#"},"date":"Nov 1, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-11-01 06:08:00","modifiedDate":"2025-10-30 13:23:22","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-10-30 12:23:22","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"open","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/science\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Science<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/science-highlight\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Science Highlight<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/science\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Science<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/science-highlight\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Science Highlight<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":1,"sec":55},"status":"publish","content":"Infrared- or submillimeter-bright dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) are key contributors to the cosmic star formation rate density in the early universe, preserving the imprint of its star formation history [1-2]."},{"id":7192,"link":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/join-us-for-astronomy-on-tap-bonns-halloween-edition-on-october-28\/","name":"join-us-for-astronomy-on-tap-bonns-halloween-edition-on-october-28","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025_10_Bonn-scaled.png","alt":"2025_10_Bonn Poster"},"title":"Join us for Astronomy on Tap Bonn's Halloween edition on October 28","author":{"name":"admin","link":"#"},"date":"Oct 23, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-10-23 15:08:04","modifiedDate":"2025-10-23 17:08:06","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-10-23 15:08:06","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/events\/\" rel=\"category tag\">events<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/public-outreach\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Public Outreach<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/events\/\" rel=\"category tag\">events<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/public-outreach\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Public Outreach<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":0,"sec":22},"status":"publish","content":"Join us for Astronomy on Tap Bonn's Halloween edition!You can attend exciting astronomy talks in English and German at Fiddlers Pub (Frongasse 9, Endenich) on Tuesday 28 at 19:00. -"},{"id":7180,"link":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/join-us-for-the-halloween-special-of-astronomy-on-tap-koln-on-october-30\/","name":"join-us-for-the-halloween-special-of-astronomy-on-tap-koln-on-october-30","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025_10_Astronomy-on-Tap-Koln.png","alt":"2025_10_Astronomy on Tap K\u00f6ln"},"title":"Join us for the Halloween special of Astronomy on Tap K\u00f6ln on October 30","author":{"name":"admin","link":"#"},"date":"Oct 22, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-10-22 11:18:05","modifiedDate":"2025-10-23 17:05:23","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-10-23 15:05:23","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/events\/\" rel=\"category tag\">events<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/public-outreach\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Public Outreach<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/events\/\" rel=\"category tag\">events<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/public-outreach\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Public Outreach<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":1,"sec":25},"status":"publish","content":"Join us next week at our new Astronomy on Tap K\u00f6ln season of WiSe 2025-2026! Registrations: https:\/\/t.rausgegangen.de\/tickets\/astronomy-on-tap-koln-2 Every month, Astronomy on Tap K\u00f6ln brings you fun and enlightening talks in German"},{"id":7035,"link":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/markus-rollig-hat-das-james-webb-teleskop-wirklich-aliens-entdeckt-31-10-2025\/","name":"markus-rollig-hat-das-james-webb-teleskop-wirklich-aliens-entdeckt-31-10-2025","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/csm_2025-10-31-01_4636b48fbe.jpg","alt":"KI generiert"},"title":"Markus R\u00f6llig: Hat das James-Webb-Teleskop wirklich Aliens entdeckt? (31.10.2025)","author":{"name":"admin","link":"#"},"date":"Oct 22, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-10-22 07:03:00","modifiedDate":"2025-09-22 09:09:44","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-09-22 07:09:44","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/public-outreach\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Public Outreach<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/public-outreach\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Public Outreach<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":0,"sec":25},"status":"publish","content":"Hat die NASA den ersten Hinweis auf au\u00dferirdisches Leben erschn\u00fcffelt?Das James-Webb-Weltraumteleskop (JWST) hat in der Atmosph\u00e4re des Exoplaneten K2-18\u202fb Methan und CO\u2082 nachgewiesen \u2013 und m\u00f6glicherweise auch Dimethylsulfid, ein Gas,"},{"id":3452,"link":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/next-sfb-1601-colloquium\/","name":"next-sfb-1601-colloquium","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/high_res_disks_mjmaureira.png","alt":"Thick, Massive and Hot: Protostellar Disks and the Onset of Planet Formation"},"title":"SFB 1601 colloquium: Maria Jose\u00a0Maureira \"Thick, Massive and Hot: Protostellar Disks and the Onset of Planet Formation\" (28.10.25)","author":{"name":"admin","link":"#"},"date":"Oct 21, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-10-21 10:33:44","modifiedDate":"2025-10-21 12:33:45","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-10-21 10:33:45","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/colloquium\/\" rel=\"category tag\">colloquium<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/colloquium\/\" rel=\"category tag\">colloquium<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":1,"sec":18},"status":"publish","content":"The next SFB-colloquium will be on October 28 at 2 pm in the Lecture Hall III of the Physics Institutes in Cologne.Maria Jose\u00a0Maureira from the Center for Astrochemical Studies, Max"},{"id":7093,"link":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/c3-tracing-star-formation-in-the-early-galaxies-with-fyst-ccat-foreground-masking-christos-karoumpis\/","name":"c3-tracing-star-formation-in-the-early-galaxies-with-fyst-ccat-foreground-masking-christos-karoumpis","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1A25FC-68DD3300-223-7493C700.png","alt":""},"title":"C3: Tracing star formation in the early galaxies with FYST\/CCAT: Foreground Masking (Christos Karoumpis)","author":{"name":"admin","link":"#"},"date":"Oct 1, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-10-01 13:34:34","modifiedDate":"2025-10-01 15:52:03","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-10-01 13:52:03","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"closed","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/science\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Science<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/science-highlight\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Science Highlight<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/science\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Science<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/science-highlight\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Science Highlight<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":1,"sec":18},"status":"publish","content":"In our recent Astronomy & Astrophysics paper, we explore the prospects of using [CII] line intensity mapping (LIM) observational technique with the upcoming FYST \/ Prime-Cam instrument to study galaxies"}]
Massive stars, due to their short lifetime and high energy output, drive the evolution of galaxies across cosmic time. Hence, they substantially contribute to shaping the present-day Universe. The Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) will unravel the “habitats of massive stars across cosmic time”. “Habitats” are the gaseous environments within which massive stars are born and which they interact with via their feedback. Over the anticipated 12-year lifetime of this new CRC initiative, we aim to connect the physical processes that govern the habitats of massive stars across the full range of environments hosting massive stars – from sub-parsec to mega-parsec scales and from the Milky Way to the high-redshift Universe, where massive stars leave their cosmological fingerprint by driving cosmic reionisation.
Key Profile Area
“Dynamics of the Universe”
The Dynamics of the Universe is a Key Profile Area (KPA) of the University of Cologne since 2025. Please check back soon for more information and our new website
SFB 1601 News
Public Outreach
Symposium 2026
HRMS 2025
Colloquium
Child Care
Publications
Videos & Articles
SFB 1601 Projects
PhD Students
Family & Diversity
Sustainability
Science Highlight
[{"id":7206,"link":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/c2-vz%e2%88%92gal-probing-cold-molecular-gas-in-dusty-star-forming-galaxies-at-z-1-%e2%88%92-6-prachi-prajapati-dominik-riechers-axel-weiss-beth-jones\/","name":"c2-vz%e2%88%92gal-probing-cold-molecular-gas-in-dusty-star-forming-galaxies-at-z-1-%e2%88%92-6-prachi-prajapati-dominik-riechers-axel-weiss-beth-jones","thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Science-Highlight-Figure-Prachi.png","alt":"Vz\u2212GAL: Probing Cold Molecular Gas in Dusty Star-forming Galaxies at z = 1 \u2212 6 (SFB 1601 members: Prachi Prajapati, Dominik Riechers, Axel Weiss, AS? and Beth Jones)"},"title":"C2: Vz\u2212GAL: Probing Cold Molecular Gas in Dusty Star-forming Galaxies at\u00a0z\u00a0= 1\u00a0\u2212\u00a06 (Prachi Prajapati, Dominik Riechers, Axel Weiss, Beth Jones)","author":{"name":"admin","link":"#"},"date":"Nov 1, 2025","dateGMT":"2025-11-01 06:08:00","modifiedDate":"2025-10-30 13:23:22","modifiedDateGMT":"2025-10-30 12:23:22","commentCount":"0","commentStatus":"open","categories":{"coma":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/science\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Science<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/science-highlight\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Science Highlight<\/a>","space":"<a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/science\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Science<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/sfb1601.astro.uni-koeln.de\/category\/science-highlight\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Science Highlight<\/a>"},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":""},"readTime":{"min":1,"sec":55},"status":"publish","content":"Infrared- or submillimeter-bright dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) are key contributors to the cosmic star formation rate density in the early universe, preserving the imprint of its star formation history [1-2]. We are at the forefront of observations, having secured spectroscopic redshifts for about 400 DSFGs up to redshift z ~ 7. Among these, the NOEMA z-GAL is the largest sample of 135 meaningfully selected high-z DSFGs (S500\u00b5m > 80 mJy) from the Herschel fields, whose spectroscopic redshifts are robustly measured mainly using higher-J CO lines [3].\n\n\n\nIn our recent work focused on Vz-GAL, a large program using NSF\u2019s Very Large Array (VLA), we have focused on investigating galaxy evolution by characterizing the cold gas, fuel for star formation, in 106\/135 z-GAL galaxies spanning from the epoch of reionization (redshift z ~ 6, approximately 1 Gyr after the Big Bang) to the post-cosmic noon era (z ~ 1, roughly halfway through the universe\u2019s current age). Vz-GAL targets faint CO(1-0) transition in these high-z galaxies, which is essential for accurately probing cold molecular gas and constraining gas excitation conditions, despite the observational challenges involved. Using Vz-GAL, we double the currently available CO(1-0) measurements at high-zand robustly calibrate gas masses for this homogeneously selected, flux-limited, large statistical sample.\n\n\n\nOur analysis compares integrated CO(1-0) line luminosities (as a gas mass proxy) with total infrared luminosities (as an SFR proxy, [4-5]) to explore the Kennicutt-Schmidt correlation and redshift evolution of gas depletion timescales, revealing a galaxy\u2019s evolutionary state. Here we compare our high-z DSFGs to local galaxy populations to understand their physical environments. In addition, rigorously derived CO excitation line ratios yield new insights into the physical state of molecular gas in the early universe. Our preliminary findings regarding gas-to-dust mass ratios and [CI]\/CO luminosity ratios further emphasize the necessity for refined radiative transfer modeling fewer ad-hoc assumptions, which can characterize the star-forming interstellar medium via simultaneously fitting the spectral energy distribution of dust and CO line. We find consistent [CI](1-0)\/CO(1-0) ratios across redshifts, suggesting the use of [CI](1-0) as an alternative cold gas tracer at z > 1.\n\n\n\nWe have recently submitted the paper on the Vz-GAL catalog to ApJS. Please find it on the arXiv using https:\/\/ui.adsabs.harvard.edu\/abs\/2025arXiv250925167P\/abstract. For more details, please visit https:\/\/vzgal.uni-koeln.de.\n\n\n\n[1] Madau & Dickinson 2014, ARA&A, 52, 415 [2] Zavala et al. 2021, ApJ, 909, 16 5 [3] Cox et al. 2023, A&A, 678, A27 [4] Ismail et al. 2023, A&A, 678, A27 [5] Berta et al. 2023, A&A, 678, A28."}]
1st funding period: 10/2023 – 06/2027
We value our Planet:
