Characterizing the Molecular Gas Contents of High Redshift Galaxies

表征高红移星系的分子气体含量

• 批准号: 1211358
• 负责人: Gregory Rudnick
• 金额: $ 31.83万
• 依托单位: University of Kansas Center for Research Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-08-01 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1211358&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Characterizing; Molecular; Gas; Contents; Redshift

Astrophysicists are just beginning to unravel the details of the early Universe and the history of star formation. Because molecular gas is the fuel for star formation, it is crucial to understand its characteristics when most stars formed, a time when the Universe was about 15% of its current age. The aim of this project is to test the theoretical picture of galaxy formation that makes the robust prediction that very distant star forming galaxies have large gas reservoirs. The principal investigator (PI) will perform a thorough characterization of molecular gas in very distant (high redshift) galaxies. This project involves a multi-year observing program conducted at newly commissioned radio and millimeter interferometers.These observations will be used to measure the ground state emission from carbon monoxide (CO) in seven star forming galaxies in one of the most distant known galaxy clusters. With these data the PI will derive the gas mass, gas consumption timescales, star formation efficiencies, dynamical masses, and gas fractions, and will increase the total available sample with such robust measurements by a factor of three. The PI will perform a similar analysis of about 30 galaxies by targeting a set of newly discovered high redshift over-densities. This sample size will enable a unique study of the gas contents and the physical conditions of the gas as a function of redshift and stellar mass. This analysis will be the first examination of how the molecular gas contents of high redshift galaxies depend on their environment.Educationally, the PI will design and implement an outreach program at Lawrence High School. The goals of this program are to teach research techniques, the nature of science, and the electromagnetic spectrum. Students in this program will use data from the Spitzer Space Telescope to measure the star formation rates of cluster galaxies. The program will involve 20 students and span over two years. The best two students will present their findings at an American Astronomical Society meeting. The program will be jointly run by a physics teacher at the school, a graduate student, and the PI. By providing opportunities for continuing education to the high school teacher and by providing the teacher with research tools and data, this program will become self-sustaining. The effectiveness of the activities will be rigorously and quantitatively assessed. The PI will additionally perform research with undergraduates, who will present their findings at an American Astronomical Society meeting. The PI will also organize an annual meeting of extragalactic astronomers and their students at institutes close to the PI's institution in order to provide opportunities for the students to exchange ideas and present their research.

天体物理学家刚刚开始揭示早期宇宙的细节和恒星形成的历史。 由于分子气体是恒星形成的燃料，因此在大多数恒星形成时，要了解其特征至关重要，这是宇宙大约当前年龄的15％的时代。 该项目的目的是测试星系形成的理论图片，这使得非常遥远的星形星系具有较大的气体储层。 主要研究者（PI）将对非常遥远（高红移）星系中的分子气体进行彻底表征。 该项目涉及在新委托的无线电和毫米干涉仪上进行的多年观察计划。这些观察结果将用于测量一氧化碳（CO）的基态发射（CO），以七颗星形成星系中最遥远的已知星系群之一。 使用这些数据，PI将得出气体质量，气体消耗时间标准，星形形成效率，动力学质量和气体分数，并以这种可靠的测量值增加了三倍。 PI将通过靶向一组新发现的高红移过度密度来对大约30个星系进行类似的分析。 该样本量将使气体含量和气体的物理条件成为红移和恒星质量的函数。 该分析将是对高红移星系的分子气体含量如何依赖其环境的首次检查。教育学上，PI将在劳伦斯高中设计和实施外展计划。 该计划的目标是教授研究技术，科学的本质和电磁谱。 该计划中的学生将使用Spitzer空间望远镜的数据来测量星系星系的星形形成率。 该计划将涉及20名学生，并跨越两年。 最好的两个学生将在美国天文学会会议上提出他们的发现。 该计划将由学校的物理老师，研究生和PI共同运行。 通过为高中老师提供继续教育的机会，并通过向教师提供研究工具和数据，该计划将变得自我维持。 活动的有效性将经过严格和定量评估。 PI还将与本科生一起进行研究，他们将在美国天文学会会议上提出他们的发现。 PI还将组织一次靠近PI机构的研究所的外层次天文学家及其学生的年度会议，以便为学生提供交流思想和介绍他们的研究的机会。