IPAC Special Seminar - David Wake - Galaxy clustering as a tool for studying cosmology and galaxy formation

I will present two aspects of my research that employ measurements of galaxy clustering to inform different areas of astrophysics. First, I will present an overview of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), initial measurements of the baryon acoustic oscillation peak position at z=0.57, and its resulting cosmological implications. Second, I will present recent measurements of galaxy clustering in the NEWFIRM Medium Band Survey and use them to link galaxies and dark matter halos at 1 < z < 2. I will demonstrate how these measurements allow us to relate star formation efficiency to dark matter halo mass at the peak epoch of star formation and show how, when combined with complementary measurements in the local Universe, they can be used to more accurately measure the evolution of galaxy properties.