U.S.-Netherlands Cooperative Research: Metal Abundances in Extragalactic Tails and Bridges

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9908542SmithThis two-year award is for U.S.-Netherlands cooperative research between Beverly Smith of East Tennessee State University and James Higdon and Jan van der Hulst of Kapetyn Institute in Groningen, The Netherlands, for a comprehensive study of a sample of fifteen extragalactic tails and bridges to determine how metal abundances, star formation rates and efficiencies vary with gas surface density, interaction parameters and timescale, and the stellar and gaseous morphology of the structure. The proposed observations will be made with the William Hershel 4.5m telescope (operated by The Netherlands and the UK), and 0.9 telescope operated by the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA), and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory 12m millimeter telescope and Very Large Array. The observational study will be done in parallel with hydrodynamical modeling of the individual systems in the sample to better define the parameters of the interactions and help determine the conditions needed to trigger star formation in tails and bridges. The U.S. investigator brings to this collaboration access to the SARA 0.9 telescope, which will be used to obtain the required optical imaging data. This is complemented by Dutch and UK access to the 4.2m William Hershel Telescope to obtain the optical spectroscopy that provide estimates of the metal abundances. Higdon brings considerable experience in the analysis and interpretation of interacting galaxies. The project will advance understanding of the interstellar medium and star formation properties of extragalactic tails and bridges.