Collaborative Research: Tracing Galaxy Quenching in the Cosmic Web With Spatially-Resolved Star-Formation Maps

合作研究：利用空间分辨的恒星形成图追踪宇宙网中的星系淬灭

• 批准号: 2308126
• 负责人: Gregory Rudnick
• 金额: $ 37.52万
• 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: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-15 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2308126&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Tracing; Galaxy; Quenching

That galaxies in dense clusters appear markedly different from galaxies outside these regions (i.e., in the "field") was recognized even before the true nature of galaxies was recognized. Underlying this observation is the fact that a galaxy’s gas supply and star formation activity also show a marked dependence on environment. The objective of this project is to better understand how both are altered as a galaxy moves through the cosmic web to the cluster centers. The team will quantify environmental "quenching" of star formation by measuring the relative extent of the star-forming and stellar disks for 14,000 nearby galaxies - a factor of 20 increase over previous studies - to disentangle the correlated effects of environment, galaxy mass, and morphology. This award will also involve undergraduate students at both institutions in research, and support outreach efforts to area K-12 students as well as a summer teacher training program. This work will (1) constrain the quenching timescale for the densest environments where gas stripping is known to occur, (2) determine how the network of cosmic filaments around clusters alters the spatial distribution of star formation within galaxies, (3) shed light on how these processes act in different environments to produce the observed changes, and (4) produce a data set with lasting legacy value for studies of galaxy evolution in the nearby universe. The team will fit Sersic models to the sample galaxies and determine the effective radii of the stars (optical grz from the DESI Legacy Surveys and infrared 3.4um from WISE) and star formation (WISE 12um). Non-parametric profiles and total fluxes will also be derived for these galaxies through elliptical aperture photometry using ultraviolet (GALEX), optical grz, and infrared (WISE) images. These complementary techniques will yield robust structural parameters for to galaxy sample. Custom software designed by the team to overcome the challenges associated with measuring photometry of large galaxies will be used, and self-consistent stellar mass and star-formation rates (SFR) will be estimated for the entire sample through the analysis of their ultraviolet through infrared spectral energy distributions. The team will adopt a more sophisticated characterization of galaxy environment by considering filaments as well as cluster and field membership. This is an important addition as recent hydrodynamic simulations suggest that filaments may be important sites of galaxy transformation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

甚至在认识到星系的真实性质之前，就已经认识到密集星团中的星系与这些区域之外（即“场”中）的星系明显不同，这一观察的基础是星系的气体供应和恒星形成活动也存在这一事实。该项目的目的是更好地了解当星系穿过宇宙网到达星团中心时，两者是如何改变的。该团队将通过测量恒星形成的环境“淬火”来量化。 14,000 个附近星系的恒星形成和恒星盘的相对范围（比之前的研究增加了 20 倍），以理清环境、星系质量和形态的相关影响。该奖项还将让两个机构的本科生参与研究。 ，并支持针对 K-12 地区学生的外展工作以及暑期教师培训计划。这项工作将 (1) 限制已知发生气体剥离的最密集环境的淬火时间范围，(2) 确定如何进行。星团周围的宇宙细丝网络改变了星系内恒星形成的空间分布，（3）揭示了这些过程如何在不同的环境中作用以产生观察到的变化，以及（4）产生具有持久研究价值的数据集该团队将把 Sersic 模型拟合到样本星系中，并确定恒星的有效半径（来自 DESI Legacy Surveys 的光学 grz 和来自 WISE 的红外 3.4um）和恒星形成。 (WISE 12um) 还将通过使用紫外 (GALEX)、光学 grz 和红外 (WISE) 图像的椭圆孔径光度测量得出这些星系的非参数剖面和总通量，这些互补技术将为星系提供可靠的结构参数。将使用该团队设计的定制软件来克服与测量大型星系光度测量相关的挑战，并且将使用自洽的恒星质量和恒星形成率（SFR）。通过分析整个样本的紫外到红外光谱能量分布，该团队将通过考虑细丝以及星团和场成员来采用更复杂的星系环境特征，这是一个重要的补充，因为最近的流体动力学模拟表明。细丝可能是星系转变的重要场所。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并且通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。