The Ecology of Galaxy Formation Within the ``Cosmic Web''

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The Keck Baryonic Structure Survey (KBSS) is a unique study of the distant universe with intensive focus on the peak era of galaxy growth that occurred 10-12 billion years ago, over the cosmological redshift range from 2 to 3. KBSS measures the masess, star formation rates, stellar populations, chemistry, and gas flows in forming galaxies and the intergalactic gas surrounding them. The interface between the two, the circumgalactic medium (CGM), is the region where feedback processes will produce measureable response due to injected energy, momentum, gas, and metals. The Principal Investigator and collaborators have previously obtained extensive optical spectroscopic data on approximately 2300 galaxies in the survey fields, each of which is centered on a hyperluminous quasar. They now propose to observe these same fields with the new, NSF-funded, Multi-Object Spectrometer for Infra-Red Exploration (MOSFIRE), which their team designed and built for the Keck I telescope. With the new data, the team plans to obtain vastly improved measurements of redshift and gas kinematics for a wider range of galaxy types than previously probed, measurements of star formation rates and dust attenuation (extinction), and elemental abundances and physical conditions in the interstellar and circumgalactic media. The PI, as Project Scientist for MOSFIRE, and graduate students supported by this project will work to assist the broader astronomical community in using the instrument. The graduate students will also lead an astronomy outreach program, working with the Pasadena Unified School District to bring their enthusiasm and knowledge into 5th-8th grade classrooms.