Quantifying the Late Galactic Formation Period

With the advent of the thirty meter diameter telescopes (TMT), ground based astronomy is presented with the possibility of high resolution imagery and spectral analysis for very distant and faint objects. Such detailed data were only available previously for much closer and brighter astronomical objects. Using these new facilities, astronomers will be able to surpass the quality of space telescopes with the convenience and maintainability of ground based observatories. By analyzing galaxies at a variety distances, a timeline of galactic mergers can be obtained. For the purpose of this research data fitting software was developed as well as simulations for creating "galaxies" of known kinematic structure. These simulations make use of velocity dispersion and redshift to generate images that bear the signatures of galaxies possessing multiple supermassive black holes of varying sizes. The research suggests that with the resolution power of TMTs, the merger history of galaxies can be studied at higher redshifts.