Collaborative Research: GOing GREEN at High Resolution - Spatially Deconstructing Environmental Quenching over 9 Billion Years

首席研究员(PI)鲁德尼克和威尔逊正在研究位于遥远大质量星系团的星系中恒星形成是如何被抑制(熄灭)的。该团队将把新的分析技术应用于双子座观测丰富早期环境星系(GoGreen)调查的图像。通过对地球大气层的模糊效应进行校正，新的图像将足够清晰，可以看到星系是从内到外、从外到内还是同时从各处熄灭，以及这如何取决于星系的位置(靠近星系团中心或在外围)。皮威尔逊将在加州聋人学校河滨分校开发并主持天文学研讨会，强调听觉以外的感官，例如“闻到宇宙”和“触摸宇宙”。皮鲁德尼克将继续他为期一年的高中研究项目，其中包括在堪萨斯大学举行的Capstone小型研讨会。该团队将使用有限分辨率反卷积(Firedec)代码，在不需要任何形态先验的情况下，将他们的亚反正秒级地面图像的分辨率大幅提高约2.5倍。他们将使用生成的高分辨率多色GoGreen图像来识别每个星系的哪些区域具有与猝灭一致的颜色，从而确定模式(由内而外、由外而内或同时存在于各处)，以及这如何依赖于进入星系团以来的环境和时间。该团队还将测量被确认为从恒星形成向被动星系过渡的星系的恒星质量分布，以确定恒星质量在星系内的分布以及它们的形态随着恒星形成的熄灭而如何变化。所有数据产品都将公之于众。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Principal Investigators (PIs) Rudnick and Wilson are investigating how star formation is suppressed (quenched) in galaxies residing in distant massive clusters. The team will apply new analysis techniques to images from The Gemini Observations of Galaxies in Rich Early ENvironments (GOGREEN) Survey. By correcting for the blurring effect of the earth’s atmosphere the new images will be sharp enough to see if galaxies quench from the inside-out, outside-in, or everywhere simultaneously, and how this depends on the location of the galaxy (near a cluster center or in the outskirts). PI Wilson will develop and host astronomy workshops at the California School for the Deaf, Riverside, emphasizing senses other than hearing e.g., “Smelling the Universe” and “Touching the Universe.” PI Rudnick will continue his year-long high school research program that includes a capstone mini-symposium at the University of Kansas.The team will use the Finite-Resolution Deconvolution (Firedec) code to robustly increase the resolution of their sub-arcsecond ground-based images by a factor of approximately 2.5 without requiring any morphological priors. They will use the resulting high resolution multi-color GOGREEN images to identify which regions of each galaxy have colors consistent with quenching, thus determining the mode (inside-out, outside-in, or everywhere simultaneously), and how this depends on environment and time since entering a cluster. The team will also measure the stellar mass profiles of galaxies identified as transitioning from star forming to passive to determine how the distribution of stellar mass within galaxies, and hence their morphology, changes as star formation quenches. All data products will be made publicly available.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.