Unraveling Galaxy Evolution with Millions of DESI Spectra

In May 2021, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) collaboration began an ambitious 5-year spectroscopic survey to produce the most detailed three-dimensional map of the universe. DESI is a high-throughput, massively multiplexed instrument installed at the 4-meter Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National  Observatory which can obtain more than 50,000 optical (360-980 nm) spectra per night over an eight square degree field-of-view and deliver "redshifts by breakfast." To date, DESI has measured precise redshifts for more than 16 million galaxies and quasars out of an anticipated final sample of 40 million objects spanning eighty percent of cosmic time (z=0-4). Although DESI's core scientific mission is to measure precisely the dark energy equation of state, the sheer size, breadth, and quality of the DESI survey spectra will also yield transformative insights into the formation and evolution of galaxies and quasars.

In this talk, I will introduce the DESI instrument and survey, and discuss how DESI will help unravel some of the most pressing outstanding problems in galaxy evolution. I will highlight some of the exceptional work being carried out to elucidate the co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes, and the star formation quenching of massive galaxies. I will conclude by describing the timeline for the key papers as well as the upcoming public releases of the DESI data.

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