Speaker
Description
The structural properties of atomic gas (HI) disks are a fundamental probe of cosmological galaxy formation and evolution that have driven decades of discovery, controversy, and innovation on both theoretical and observational fronts. This talk will highlight milestones for the study of HI disks their connection to cosmological galaxy evolution in the past, present and future. We first review historical milestones ranging from the first measurements of galaxy rotation curves, to the "cusp-core problem" of the early 2000's, to the rotation curve "diversity problem" being tackled today. We will then present an overview of the current landscape for measuring the structural properties of HI disks, with a focus on connecting to theory. We then turn to the bright future of this field, emphasizing the prospects constraining the physical processes that drive galaxy evolution through statistical samples of observed and simulated HI disks, both in the local universe and across cosmic time.
