PROFESSOR JAYARAM N. CHENGALUR

Angular momentum is a fundamental galaxy parameter that has not received as much attention in the past, partly because of the difficulty in measuring it accurately. Now however, with the increasing availability of high quality resolved kinematics of largish galaxy samples, this parameter is beginning to play an important role in constraining galaxy formation and evolution models. In this talk, I will specifically focus on studies of the specific angular momentum (i.e. angular momentum per unit mass) of dwarf irregular galaxies, and discuss what they tell us about the possibly different evolutionary origin of dwarf disks as compared to the disks of large spirals.