Netherlands Astronomy Conference 2026

To understand how galaxies form and evolve, we must first contend with dust. Though it makes up only a tiny fraction of a galaxy's mass, interstellar dust acts as a cosmic veil, absorbing starlight and re-emitting it at longer wavelengths. This process, known as attenuation, significantly alters the spectra we observe with instruments like JWST. Until now, large-volume cosmological simulations...

The sizes of galactic disks are known to depend on stellar mass and redshift, with galaxies of a given mass expected to be more compact at higher redshifts. However, observational studies have uncovered disk galaxies at z~3 that have sizes significantly larger than expected from the mass-size relation. Notably, these ‘giant disks’ are preferentially found in proto-clusters, suggesting that...

In order to understand star-forming processes in dusty star-forming galaxies, observations of dense gas tracers, such as HCN, HCO+ and HNC, are required to link existing studies of their molecular gas, typically traced via CO or [CII], and obscured star formation, traced via the dust continuum. Previous studies suggest that high-z DSFGs could be surprisingly lacking in dense gas for sources...

Galaxy mergers represent a critical and complex phase in galaxy evolution, often triggering nuclear activity and intense episodes of central star formation that can profoundly influence the subsequent evolution of the system. In this talk, I present new insights into the impact of active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback on the multi-phase interstellar medium (ISM) in the central region...

Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) influence their host galaxies through powerful winds that drive large-scale outflows, regulating star formation by heating, removing, or compressing the interstellar medium (ISM). Despite their importance for galaxy–supermassive black hole co-evolution, the impact of AGN-driven feedback on the surrounding molecular gas reservoir remains poorly understood. In this...

We present the discovery of an extraordinary overdensity around a source of the ALMA Large Program REBELS at z=7.35, among the most extreme proto-clusters known beyond z>7. Within just 21″×21″ (Δz<0.01), we identify 5 sources in [OIII]5007 with NIRCam/Grism observations, also showing in ALMA data as 4 of the brightest [CII] 158μm emission known at z>7. The properties of these galaxies show...