Searching for Star Formation Beyond Reionization

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。巴顿博士将进行一项基于地面的研究，寻找大爆炸后不到10亿年的年轻星系的莱曼α辐射，宇宙膨胀已经转移到1.2微米的近红外线。 搜索将使用带通足够窄的滤波器，以适应强夜空线之间的黑暗区域。 巴顿博士和她的合作者将使用一种可调滤光器来观测30个附近的星系团，这种滤光器是为双子座南望远镜的近红外成像光谱仪设计的。 利用星系团的好处是，光的引力弯曲可以放大和照亮星系团后面的星系图像。 对于每个星系团来说，这种效应在大约6平方角秒的区域内应该足够强大，可以将遥远的星系放大至少20倍。 PI还将在凯克天文台使用一台新的红外成像光谱仪进行两次调查，使用窄带滤波器选择年轻星系的莱曼α发射。 她将对一个6弧分宽的单一区域进行深度测量;对68个区域进行较浅的测量将覆盖2400平方弧分。 巴顿博士和她的团队将利用星系形成和演化的模型来解释这些结果告诉我们的关于这些年轻星系的信息，以及关于电离辐射场和它们周围的星系际气体的信息。新的窄带数据将向天文学界公布。巴顿博士将继续在加州大学欧文分校为高中生开设的夏季天文学课程中任教。 她还将积极参与下一代仪器的开发，以及计划中的30米望远镜的设计研究。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Dr Barton will undertake a ground-based search for Lyman-alpha emission from young galaxies seen less than a billion years after the Big Bang, that cosmic expansion has shifted into the near-infrared at 1.2 microns. The search will use filters with a sufficiently narrow bandpass to fit into the dark region between the strong night-sky lines. Dr Barton and her collaborators will survey 30 nearby galaxy clusters using a tunable filter being designed for the near-infrared imaging spectrograph on the Gemini South telescope. The advantage of using clusters is that the gravitational bending of light magnifies and brightens the images of galaxies behind the cluster. For each cluster, this effect should be strong enough in a zone of about 6 square arcseconds to magnify distant galaxies at least 20 times. The PI will also lead two surveys with a new infrared imaging spectrograph at the Keck Observatory, using a narrow-band filter to select Lyman-alpha emission from young galaxies. She will make a deep survey of a single field 6 arcmin across; a shallower survey of 68 fields will cover 2400 square arcminutes. Dr Barton and her team will use models of galaxy formation and evolution to interpret what the results tell us about these young galaxies, and about the ionizing radiation field and the intergalactic gas around them.A graduate student will be trained by participating in the research. The new narrow-band data will be released to the astronomical community. Dr Barton will continue to teach in a summer astronomy program for high school students at UC Irvine. She will also take an active role in the development of the next generation of instrumentation, and in design studies for the planned Thirty Meter Telescope.