Cataclysmic Galaxy Evolution in Clusters

AST-0407445 Gregg该项目将在星系团的星系际区域寻找潮汐破坏星系的残余物，试图确定目前在灾难性相互作用中释放的物质的最终命运，并了解星系团中星系的相互作用和演化如何相互影响。 一项国际合作正在对选定的星系团进行深入的宽视场红移调查，这已经导致了一类新的超紧凑矮（UCD）星系。 最好的解释是它们是普通矮椭圆星系或小螺旋星系的潮汐剥离核。 宽视场成像和有针对性的红移研究将在典型的富星系团Coma中寻找UCD，测试UCD是潮汐残留物的预测，并使用它们来探测星系团的演化状态。开发用于分析数据的软件工具将提供给社区，并将从这项研究中获得的新见解传播到面向公众的流行杂志。

AST-0407445GreggThis project will search for the remnants of tidally destroyed galaxies in the intergalactic regions of clusters, in an attempt to determine the eventual fate of the material presently being liberated in cataclysmic interactions, and to understand how the interactions and evolution of galaxies in the cluster influence each other. An international collaboration is carrying out deep, wide-field redshift surveys of selected galaxy clusters, which has already led to a new class of ultra-compact dwarf (UCD) galaxy. The favored interpretation is that they are the tidally stripped nuclei of common dwarf ellipticals or small spirals. Wide field imaging and targeted redshift studies will search for UCDs in Coma, the quintessential rich cluster, testing the prediction that UCDs are tidal remnants, and using them to probe the evolutionary state of the cluster.Software tools developed to analyze the data will be made available to the community, and the new insights expected from this research will be disseminated to popular magazines for the general public.