Deep Wide-Field Surveys of Emission-Line Galaxies

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AbstractAST 0606932 VeilleuxThe Principal Investigator and his team will carry out initial science verifications with two new instruments already funded by the National Science Foundation: The Maryland-Magellan Tunable Filter (MMTF, in the optical bands) on the Magellan 6.5m telescope and the NOAO (the National Optical Astronomy Observatory) Extremely Wide-Field Infrared Mosaic (NEWFIRM, in a near-infrared band) on the 4m telescope of NOAO. The project will also fund an upgrade in the form of implementing charge shuffling/frequency switching and provide stable user support for MMTF. After these instruments are commissioned the main science goal is to study distant line-emitting galaxies from redshift z~1-8, to measure the star-formation rate at these epochs. Both instruments enable narrow-band imaging in the optical and near-infrared bands, respectively, with a gain of nearly one order of magnitude in survey efficiency. The project will have a broad and long-term impact on the astronomical community. These unique instruments will benefit a significant part of the U.S. astronomical community including several PhD students. Potential discoveries of a star-forming population at redshift greater than 7 could have implications for the design of the next generation of ground- and space-based facilities. Undergraduate and graduate students at University of Maryland will benefit from this effort through direct involvement in all phases of this project.