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

首席研究员Rudnick和Wilson正在研究恒星形成是如何在遥远的大质量星团中被抑制（熄灭）的。该团队将应用新的分析技术来分析来自双子座早期丰富环境星系观测（GOGREEN）调查的图像。通过校正地球大气的模糊效应，新的图像将足够清晰，可以看到星系是由内向外熄灭，还是由外向内熄灭，或者同时在任何地方熄灭，以及这是如何取决于星系的位置（靠近星团中心还是在外围）。PI Wilson将在河滨市的加州聋人学校开发并举办天文学研讨会，强调听觉以外的感官，例如“嗅闻宇宙”和“触摸宇宙”。PI Rudnick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一次小型研讨会。该团队将使用有限分辨率反卷积（Firedec）代码，在不需要任何形态学先验的情况下，将亚弧秒地面图像的分辨率稳健地提高约2.5倍。他们将使用由此产生的高分辨率多色GOGREEN图像来识别每个星系中哪些区域的颜色与淬灭一致，从而确定模式（由内而外，由外而内，或同时在任何地方），以及这如何取决于进入星团后的环境和时间。该团队还将测量被确定为从恒星形成过渡到被动的星系的恒星质量剖面，以确定恒星质量在星系内的分布，以及它们的形态，如何随着恒星形成的熄灭而变化。所有数据产品都将公开提供。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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.