Astr 736: Formation of Massive Galaxies (1 credit Reading Seminar)

This seminar will focus primarily on the formation and evolution of 
galaxies at the top end of the mass (and luminosity) function, and 
cover recent observational and theoretical developments in the field.

Specific topics may include the following:
	* constraints on galaxy formation from the Milky Way and Local Group
	* galaxy luminosity and mass functions and their evolution
	* the role of feedback and its effects on galaxy evolution
	* constraints on galaxy evolution from high redshift galaxy 
populations (e.g., old galaxies, Lyman break galaxies, Lyman-alpha 
blobs, dusty galaxies)
	* constraints on galaxy evolution from clustering

This is a large list of topics, and each could well be the subject of a 
detailed seminar. Given the rapid changes occurring in this field and 
the recent glut of large galaxy surveys, we will first undertake a 
broad overview of the topics (in order to give students a flavor of the 
field),  and then focus on one or two topics for more in-depth study. 
The exact topics to focus on could be decided based on the prevailing 
interest of the seminar participants. The seminar will meet once each 
week ~8-10 times during the semester. For each week, there would be a 
reading list of 2-3 papers, which would be presented by a student and 
discussed during each weekly session. This field is changing rapidly, 
and the reading material will be largely drawn from recent papers and 
conference proceedings on the subjects of interest.