Martin Rees develops theoretical accounts of cosmic structure. In a 1978 paper with Simon White, he separated the assembly of extended dark haloes from the dissipative concentration of luminous material within them.
Collisionless matter can build a large gravitationally bound halo, while gas can lose energy through radiative cooling and settle into a much denser luminous component. Their two-stage model connected the characteristic sizes and luminosities of galaxies to the cooling of gas inside a hierarchically assembled dark structure. It made the different physical behavior of the components central to the explanation.[ref]
Core condensation in heavy halos by Simon D. M. White and Martin J. Rees. Abstract and model formulation: hierarchical clustering, dissipative gas and concentrated luminous cores
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Portrait of Martin Rees
. IAU/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org). CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source. Articles by others on the same topic
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Martin Rees is a prominent British cosmologist and astrophysicist, known for his work in the fields of astronomy and theoretical physics. He was born on June 23, 1942, and has made significant contributions to our understanding of the universe, including topics such as black holes, galaxy formation, and the nature of cosmic structure. Rees has held various prestigious academic positions, including serving as the Astronomer Royal in the UK and as a professor at the University of Cambridge.