Galaxies, AGN, and the IGM During the Peak Epoch of Galaxy Formation

这个项目包括几个相关的观测项目，以研究恒星形成星系、活动星系核和弥漫星系间介质中的气体之间的相互联系，在可能形成大质量星系及其中心黑洞的高峰时期，红移1.5到3.5（对应于从宇宙年龄的70-90%回顾时间）。特别关注的将是超大质量黑洞吸积的位置、寿命和占空比，以及星系和星系间介质的辐射和流体动力学反馈。我们的目标是了解反馈是如何在小尺度和大尺度上起作用的，并推断它是如何塑造后来的结构进化，从而形成我们今天看到的宇宙的。这项工作依赖于这些研究人员在以前nsf支持的研究中开发和测试的方法，重点是该团队可用的工具和资源在很大程度上是独一无二的项目。密集的光谱采样控制良好的调查体积将使高红移宇宙的首次层析观测成为可能。这些数据将提供重子及其物理状态的三维地图，分布在整个宇宙体积中，并允许从根本上对星系形成的物理学进行新的限制。这些结果将为银河系外天文学和宇宙学的许多子领域的研究人员提供有用的基本统计信息。这项工作的大部分构成了科学案例的早期测试，这些案例将推动下一代地面光学/红外望远镜的设计。结果和原始数据将尽快提供给天文学界。

AST-0606912SteidelThis project includes several related observational programs to study the inter-connection between star-forming galaxies, active galactic nuclei, and gas in the diffuse intergalactic medium, during perhaps the peak era for forming massive galaxies and their central black holes, redshifts 1.5 to 3.5 (corresponding to look-back times of from 70-90% of the age of the Universe). Particular attention will be paid to the locations, lifetimes, and duty-cycles of accreting super-massive black holes, and to radiative and hydrodynamical feedback into galaxies and the intergalactic medium. The goal is to understand how feedback works on both small and large scales, and to infer how it shaped the subsequent evolution of structure to make the Universe we see today. This work relies on methods developed and tested by these researchers during previous NSF-supported studies, and the focus is on projects for which the tools and resources available to this team are largely unique. Dense spectroscopic sampling of well-controlled survey volumes will enable the first-ever tomographic observations of the high redshift Universe. These data will provide a three dimensional map of the baryons and their physical state, distributed throughout cosmological volumes, and allow for fundamentally new constraints on the physics of galaxy formation.The results will provide fundamental statistical information useful to researchers in many sub-fields throughout extragalactic astronomy and cosmology. Much of this work constitutes early testing of science cases that drive the design of next-generation ground-based optical/infra-red telescopes. Results and primary data will be made available as soon as possible to the astronomical community.