Studies of the Cosmological Star and AGN Formation Histories

宇宙恒星和活动星系核形成历史的研究

• 批准号: 0407374
• 负责人: Lennox Cowie
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Hawaii
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-07-15 至 2009-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0407374&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Studies; Cosmological; Star; AGN; Formation

AST-0407374CowieSub-millimeter observations with the revolutionary SCUBA (Sub-millimeter Common-User Bolometer Array) camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope revealed the existence of a population of dust-obscured ultra-luminous galaxies at high redshifts that constitutes a substantial fraction of the cosmic far-infrared background. A full determination of many aspects of the history of the universe requires a comprehensive understanding of this dust-enshrouded galaxy population, and although enormous progress has been made, there are still many areas of uncertainty. One difficulty arises with galaxies with no known radio or X-ray counterpart, whose distance (redshift) cannot be measured because their location on the sky is only poorly known. The new Sub-millimeter Array telescope will be able to provide accurate positions and thus to fix this problem. In addition, the paucity of information about faint sources will be addressed with deep sub-millimeter observations in a region of the sky that has both current and planned data in various other wavelength regions. This research is fundamental to understanding the star formation and active galactic nucleus histories of the Universe, and will form the thesis of a graduate student, who will be well trained in this burgeoning field.

AST-0407374Cowie 使用詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦望远镜上革命性的 SCUBA（亚毫米通用测辐射热计阵列）相机进行的亚毫米观测揭示了存在着一群被尘埃遮蔽的高红移超发光星系，它们构成了宇宙远红外背景的很大一部分。 要全面确定宇宙历史的许多方面，需要全面了解这个被尘埃笼罩的星系群，尽管已经取得了巨大的进展，但仍然存在许多不确定的领域。 对于没有已知射电或 X 射线对应物的星系，会出现一个困难，这些星系的距离（红移）无法测量，因为它们在天空中的位置知之甚少。 新的亚毫米阵列望远镜将能够提供精确的位置，从而解决这个问题。 此外，有关微弱源的信息缺乏问题将通过在天空区域进行深亚毫米观测来解决，该区域在其他各个波长区域都有当前和计划的数据。 这项研究对于理解宇宙的恒星形成和活跃星系核历史至关重要，并将形成研究生的论文，他们将在这个新兴领域接受良好的培训。