CAREER: Gas Stripping in Low-Redshift Groups & Clusters

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。罗斯·芬恩博士(锡耶纳学院)将通过研究10个低红移星系群和星系团中星系的气体和恒星属性，量化导致星系从活跃恒星形成的蓝色星系演化为红色被动星系的物理机制的相对重要性。所有10个星团和星系团都已经或将拥有来自斯隆数字巡天的光学光度和光谱、来自斯皮策太空望远镜上的斯皮策相机的多波段成像光度计的红外数据，以及来自阿雷西博遗产快速阿雷西博L波段馈源阵列调查的无线电数据。这些数据的结合提供了一个强大的探测磁盘气体及其耗竭的方法。这一结果将加深我们对环境如何影响星系冷盘气体供应的理解，这是星系演化中的一个核心问题。作为该项目的一部分，芬恩博士还将致力于增加锡耶纳学院毕业生在物理、天文学和相关领域的职业生涯，方法是促进高中和本科物理课程的课程改革，让本科生在4年中的3年里从事研究，并在锡耶纳现有的物理专业中引入天文学专业。此外，芬恩博士还将开发一种新的评估工具，衡量学生独立思考和解决现实问题的能力。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Dr. Rose Finn (Siena College) will quantify the relative importance of the physical mechanisms that cause galaxies to evolve from blue, actively star-forming galaxies to red, passive galaxies by studying the gas and stellar properties of galaxies in 10 low-redshift groups and clusters. All 10 groups and clusters have or will have optical photometry and spectroscopy from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, infrared data from the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer camera on board the Spitzer Space Telescope, and radio data from the Arecibo Legacy Fast Arecibo L-band Feed Array Survey. This combination of data provides a powerful probe of the disk gas and its depletion. The results will enhance our understanding of how the environment affects a galaxy's supply of cold disk gas, a central question in galaxy evolution.As a part of this project, Dr. Finn will also work to increase the number of Siena College graduates who pursue careers in physics, astronomy, and related fields by facilitating curricular changes in high school and undergraduate physics courses, by involving undergraduates in research for 3 of their 4 years, and by introducing an astronomy concentration within Siena's existing physics major. In addition, Dr. Finn will develop a new assessment tool that measures a student's ability to think independently and solve real-world problems.