Mapping the Chemical Evolution of Disk Galaxies with MaNGA

星系的化学成分--每个星系所含的氢、氦、氧、氮、铁等的相对含量--为这些星系的演化提供了重要的线索。 然而，星系演化的已知驱动因素-获取可以形成恒星的气体，形成恒星的类型以及它们在星系中形成的位置，以及动力学过程，例如通过超新星爆炸在星系内外的气体重新分配等-在星系样本很小时很难分离，并且样本中的所有星系都非常相似。 该计划计划开发的计算机代码需要看一个样本的几千个星系有非常不同的属性，以便提供洞察它们的化学成分是如何与星系演化的驱动程序。解释天文学家如何能够收集和使用有关恒星和气体的信息，通过观察不同波长的光（它们的电磁光谱）是具有挑战性的。 然而，这些光谱是我们对恒星、行星、星云、星系和宇宙中大尺度结构的质量、运动、温度和成分进行测量的基础。 许多困难的概念，如月相，可以有效地教与示范的帮助。 PI将与一名本科生合作，设计和制造一台便携式光谱仪--天文学家用来研究不同波长光的便携式仪器--用于教室和公共宣传。该提案将开发和发布一个复杂的代码，用于测量MaNGA中的星云丰度梯度。 这将使研究星云丰度梯度的盘星系，这提供了一个独特的强大的探测过程，驱动星系的演化：气体吸积，星星的形成，和气体流出。 即使在我们自己的银河系中，这些过程的复杂相互作用也很难解开。然而，对这些过程的深入了解可以通过检查处于各种演化状态的星系来获得。 该代码的开发是能够分析来自MaNGA数据集的信息的关键一步。

The chemical composition of galaxies - the relative amounts each galaxy has of hydrogen, helium, oxgen, nitrogen, iron, etc. - provides important clues to how those galaxies have evolved. However, the known drivers of galaxy evolution - acquiring gas that can form stars, the types of stars that form and where they form in the galaxy, and dynamical processes, such as the reistribution of gas within and outside galaxies through supernova explosions, etc. - are difficult to separate when the sample of galaxies is small, and all the galaxies in the sample are very similar. This proposal plans to develop the computer codes needed look at a sample of several thousand galaxies with very different properties in in order to provide insight into how their chemical compositions are related to the drivers of galaxy evolution.Explaining how astronomers are able to gather and use information about stars and gas by looking at the different wavelengths of light (their electromagnetic spectrum) is challenging. Yet these spectra lie at the root of most of our measurements of the masses, motions, temperatures, and compositions of stars, planets, nebulae, galaxies, and large scale structure in the Universe. Many difficult concepts, such as the phases of the moon, can be effectively taught with the aid of demonstrations. The PI will work with an undergraduate student to design and build a portable spectrograph - a portable version of an instrument that astronomers use to study the different wavelengths of light - to be used in classrooms and for public outreach.This proposal will develop and publish a sophisticated code to measure nebular abundance gradients in MaNGA. This will enable the study of nebular abundance gradients in disk galaxies, which offer a uniquely powerful probe of the processes that drive galaxy evolution: gas accretion, star formation, and gas outflows. The complex interplay of these processes is challenging to disentangle even in our own Milky Way. However, insights into these processes can be gained by examining galaxies in a wide variety of evolutionary states. The development of this code is a key step in being able to analyze the information from the MaNGA dataset.