Collaborative Research: Star Formation, Feedback, and the ISM: Time-Resolved Constraints from a Large VLA Survey of Nearby Galaxies

斯基尔曼博士和达尔坎顿博士将通过一个已经在进行中的大型VLA调查，以高分辨率在天空和速度上绘制出各种附近星系中的中性氢气。这些星系是从Dalcanton用哈勃太空望远镜观测到的一组星系中挑选出来的，作为财政部（大型）提案的一部分。哈勃望远镜的图像可以分辨出这些星系中单个的蓝色恒星，在过去的十亿年里追踪整个星系表面的恒星形成历史。中性氢的分布图和气体运动图将与恒星形成历史、斯皮策太空望远镜的红外图像和GALEX的紫外线图像结合起来。研究人员将追踪恒星形成的历史如何与气体的局部特性相关，以及恒星诞生如何影响气体。为了检验恒星形成和气体流动之间的预期关系，该小组将“观察”华盛顿大学的合作者进行的流体动力学模拟。该小组将为中性氢气制作校准的数据立方体和矩图（显示气体表面密度、速度场和速度弥散）。这些将于2011年发布给社区，届时从事该项目的研究生将完成他们的论文工作。这两位pi都有作为本科生研究导师的良好记录，并将让本科生参与这项研究。该项目将为至少两名研究生提供博士论文材料，一名在华盛顿，一名在明尼苏达州。这笔拨款将用于支持斯基尔曼博士的“公园里的宇宙”项目，在这个项目中，学生们在夏季的几个月里带着望远镜到州立公园供公众观赏，并就天文学的各个方面发表演讲。

Drs Skillman and Dalcanton will map the neutral hydrogen gas in a variety of nearby galaxies with high resolution on the sky and in velocity, through a Large VLA Survey that is already under way. These galaxies were chosen from a set that Dalcanton has observed with the Hubble Space Telescope as part of a Treasury (large) proposal. The Hubble images can resolve individual blue stars in these galaxies, tracing the history of star formation through the past gigayear across the face of the galaxy. Maps of the distribution of neutral hydrogen and of the gas motions will be combined with that star formation history, and with infrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope and ultraviolet images from GALEX. The investigators will trace how the star-forming history is related to local properties of the gas, and how starbirth has influenced the gas. To examine the expected relation between star formation and gas flow, the group will 'observe' hydrodynamic simulations carried out by collaborators at the University of Washington.The group will produce calibrated data cubes and moment maps (showing the gas surface density, its velocity field and the velocity dispersion) for the neutral hydrogen gas. These will be released to the community in 2011, after graduate students working on the project have finished their thesis work. Both of the PIs have strong records as undergraduate research mentors, and will involve undergraduate students in this research. The project will provide PhD dissertation material for at least two graduate students, one in Washington and one in Minnesota. The grant will support Dr. Skillman's Universe in the Park program, in which students take telescopes to State Parks during the summer months for public viewing, and make presentations on various aspects of astronomy.