The NEWFIRM Medium-Band Survey: Accurate Redshifts for 80,000 K-Selected Galaxies

NEWFIRM 中波段巡天：80,000 个 K 选定星系的准确红移

• 批准号: 0807974
• 负责人: Pieter van Dokkum
• 金额: $ 72.44万
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-07-01 至 2012-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0807974&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NEWFIRM; Medium; Band; Survey; Accurate

Dr. van Dokkum and his team will conduct a survey using the NEWFIRM infrared imager at NOAO's Kitt Peak 4-meter telescope to measure photometric redshifts of galaxies out to z=3.5. The innovative aspect is a set of medium-band filters that splits the J atmospheric window near 1.2 microns into three bands, and the H window near 1.6 microns into two bands. Simulations show that these finer bands should yield estimates of the redshift that are roughly four times more precise than those from broadband surveys, and with a tenfold smaller rate of 'catastrophic' failure where the predicted redshift is grossly discrepant. Telescope time has already been allocated for a survey of four fields each thirty arc minutes on a side, which should include 18,000 galaxies at redshifts above 1.5 that are bright enough to obtain reliable photometric redshifts. This study will obtain luminosity and mass functions of the red sequence galaxies at high redshift, and study their stellar populations, environment and clustering.Two graduate students and a postdoc will participate in the research. The spectral energy distributions and redshifts for the survey galaxies will be released to the astronomical community, and the medium-band filters bought under this grant will be available for general use once the project is concluded. The team will produce a 3-D movie for a projector system at the new Yale Planetarium, to be built with private donations on the outskirts of the New Haven campus.

Van Dokkum博士和他的团队将使用NOAO的Kitt Peak 4米望远镜上的NEWFIRM红外成像器进行一项调查，以测量z=3.5的星系的光度红移。创新的方面是一套中波段滤光片，它将1.2微米附近的J大气窗口分成三个波段，而将1.6微米附近的H窗口分成两个波段。模拟表明，这些更精细的波段对红移的估计应该比宽带调查的估计精度高出大约四倍，而在预测的红移存在巨大差异的情况下，灾难性的失败率要低十倍。望远镜的时间已经分配给了对每边30角分的四个场的调查，其中应该包括1.8万个红移超过1.5的星系，这些星系足够亮，可以获得可靠的光度学红移。这项研究将获得高红移的红色序列星系的光度和质量函数，并研究它们的恒星群、环境和星团。两名研究生和一名博士后将参与研究。调查星系的光谱能量分布和红移将向天文学团体公布，根据这笔赠款购买的中波段滤光片将在项目结束后可供一般使用。该团队将为新的耶鲁天文馆的投影仪系统制作一部3D电影，该电影将由私人捐赠建造在纽黑文校园的郊区。