Searching for Star Formation Beyond Reionization

寻找再电离之外的恒星形成

• 批准号: 0909221
• 负责人: Aaron Barth
• 金额: $ 22.86万
• 依托单位: University of California-Irvine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2012-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0909221&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Searching; Star; Formation; Beyond; Reionization

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Dr Barton will undertake a ground-based search for Lyman-alpha emission from young galaxies seen less than a billion years after the Big Bang, that cosmic expansion has shifted into the near-infrared at 1.2 microns. The search will use filters with a sufficiently narrow bandpass to fit into the dark region between the strong night-sky lines. Dr Barton and her collaborators will survey 30 nearby galaxy clusters using a tunable filter being designed for the near-infrared imaging spectrograph on the Gemini South telescope. The advantage of using clusters is that the gravitational bending of light magnifies and brightens the images of galaxies behind the cluster. For each cluster, this effect should be strong enough in a zone of about 6 square arcseconds to magnify distant galaxies at least 20 times. The PI will also lead two surveys with a new infrared imaging spectrograph at the Keck Observatory, using a narrow-band filter to select Lyman-alpha emission from young galaxies. She will make a deep survey of a single field 6 arcmin across; a shallower survey of 68 fields will cover 2400 square arcminutes. Dr Barton and her team will use models of galaxy formation and evolution to interpret what the results tell us about these young galaxies, and about the ionizing radiation field and the intergalactic gas around them.A graduate student will be trained by participating in the research. The new narrow-band data will be released to the astronomical community. Dr Barton will continue to teach in a summer astronomy program for high school students at UC Irvine. She will also take an active role in the development of the next generation of instrumentation, and in design studies for the planned Thirty Meter Telescope.

该奖项根据 2009 年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法 111-5）提供资金。巴顿博士将在大爆炸后不到 10 亿年的年轻星系中进行莱曼阿尔法发射的地面搜索，即宇宙膨胀已转移到 1.2 微米的近红外区域。 搜索将使用带通足够窄的滤波器来适应强夜空线之间的黑暗区域。 巴顿博士和她的合作者将使用为南双子座望远镜上的近红外成像光谱仪设计的可调谐滤光片来调查 30 个附近的星系团。 使用星团的优点是光的引力弯曲会放大并照亮星团后面的星系图像。 对于每个星团，这种效应在大约 6 平方弧秒的区域内应该足够强，足以将遥远的星系放大至少 20 倍。 PI 还将在凯克天文台使用新型红外成像光谱仪领导两项调查，使用窄带滤光片来选择来自年轻星系的莱曼-α 发射。 她将对 6 角分宽的单一场地进行深入调查；对 68 个区域进行较浅的勘测将覆盖 2400 平方弧分。 巴顿博士和她的团队将使用星系形成和演化的模型来解释这些结果告诉我们关于这些年轻星系、电离辐射场和它们周围的星系间气体的信息。一名研究生将通过参与这项研究来接受培训。新的窄带数据将发布给天文学界。巴顿博士将继续在加州大学欧文分校为高中生教授夏季天文学课程。 她还将在下一代仪器的开发以及计划中的三十米望远镜的设计研究中发挥积极作用。