The Role of Dwarf-Dwarf Galaxy Interactions Over Cosmic Time

根据目前的理解，像我们银河系这样的大型星系是通过较小的矮星系合并在一起而形成的，但对这些重要合并事件的研究仍然是未知的领域。随着即将到来的大型调查计划和下一代30米级望远镜的出现，附近宇宙中已知的矮星数量即将飙升，但我们甚至缺乏关于它们进化的基本问题的答案。这个项目研究了一组独特的矮星在合并过程中的物理过程。由于洛杉矶是该项目的中心，其交通比其晴朗的天空更出名，研究人员将开发一个旅行天文馆项目。这个项目将由本科生负责，它将把科学带给那些通常无法获得这样一个推广项目的人。观众将包括低收入，主要是少数群体，同时鼓励参与的学生成为他们的学术和当地社区的领导者。该项目利用相互作用的矮星系，TiNy Titans的第一个系统研究，通过一组多波长观测来研究矮-矮相互作用对星系演化的影响。具体而言，该项目将产生第一个全面的数据集，包括深窄带Halpha和宽带光学成像、无线电线和连续谱图，这些数据集是系统选择的相互作用矮星系的大型样本，它将为宇宙学预测提供直接测试。该项目的主要科学目标是量化发生在矮-矮相互作用中的物理过程，包括矮星系中星星的形成和气体加工的行为，这些矮星系金属丰度低，受相互作用的影响很大，可能反映早期宇宙的状况。该项目建立在西方学院广泛努力的基础上，通过为这些学生提供前往望远镜的实践经验，进行自己的数据简化，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

According to current understanding, large galaxies like our Milky Way are built through the merging together of smaller, dwarf galaxies, and yet research into these important merging events is still mostly uncharted territory. The numbers of known dwarfs in the nearby universe is about to sky-rocket with upcoming planned large surveys and the next generation thirty-meter class telescopes, but we lack answers to even basic questions surrounding their evolution. This project investigates the physical processes at work in a unique set of dwarfs caught in the act of merging. Since Los Angeles, the hub for this program, is known more for its traffic than for its clear skies, the investigators will develop a traveling planetarium program. This program will be run by undergraduates and it will bring science to those who normally would not have access to such an outreach program. Audiences will include low income, predominantly minority groups, while encouraging the students involved to become leaders in their academic and local communities.This project leverages the first systematic study of interacting dwarf galaxies, TiNy Titans, to investigate the impact of dwarf-dwarf interactions on galaxy evolution at all mass scales through a set of multiwavelength observations. Specifically, the project will produce the first comprehensive data sets of deep narrowband Halpha and broadband optical imaging, radio line and continuum maps of a large, systematically-selected sample of interacting dwarf galaxies and it will provide direct test of cosmological predictions. The main scientific goals of this project are aimed at quantifying the physical processes taking place in dwarf-dwarf interactions, including how star formation and gas processing behave in dwarf galaxies which are low metallicity, highly impacted by interactions, and may mirror conditions in the early universe. This project builds upon the extensive efforts by Occidental College to recruit underrepresented minority and first generation college-bound undergraduate students into science by providing these students with hands-on experience traveling to telescopes, conducting their own data reduction, and presenting their own results at national conferences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.