In this research review, I will summarize the main results of my work at KIAA over the past two years, which try to advance our understanding of three fundamental questions in galaxy and structure formation: How many haloes and galaxies are there? What haloes can form galaxies? What can galaxies tell us about the nature of dark matter?
The talk will focus on three projects that I led: 1) a halo mass function fit to cover all scales, all environments and all times; 2) the population and diversity of HI-rich “dark” galaxies in our (simulated) neighbourhood; and 3) the origin of ultra-diffuse galaxies in the EAGLE simulation. This talk will conclude with an overview of my ongoing and planned work. Together, these studies aim to build a more complete picture on the galaxy – halo connection across a wide range of masses and environments.
