Collaborative Research: RUI: Tracing Galaxy Quenching in the Cosmic Web With Spatially-Resolved Star-Formation Maps

密集星系团中的星系与这些区域外（即“场”）的星系明显不同，这一点甚至在星系的真实性质被认识之前就被认识到了。这一观察的基础是一个事实，即星系的气体供应和恒星形成活动也显示出对环境的明显依赖。这个项目的目的是更好地理解当一个星系通过宇宙网移动到星团中心时，两者是如何改变的。该团队将通过测量14000个附近星系的恒星形成和恒星盘的相对程度（比以前的研究增加了20倍）来量化恒星形成的环境“淬火”，以解开环境、星系质量和形态的相关影响。该奖项还将涉及两所大学的本科生进行研究，并支持对地区K-12学生的推广工作以及夏季教师培训计划。这项工作将(1)限制已知发生气体剥离的最密集环境的淬火时间尺度，(2)确定星团周围的宇宙细丝网络如何改变星系内恒星形成的空间分布，(3)阐明这些过程如何在不同环境中起作用以产生观察到的变化，以及(4)产生具有持久遗产价值的数据集，用于研究附近宇宙中的星系演化。该团队将把Sersic模型与样本星系相匹配，并确定恒星的有效半径（来自DESI遗产调查的光学grz和来自WISE的红外3.4um）和恒星形成（WISE 12um）。这些星系的非参数轮廓和总通量也将通过椭圆孔径光度法使用紫外（GALEX）、光学grz和红外（WISE）图像得到。这些互补的技术将为我们的星系样本提供可靠的结构参数。该团队将使用定制软件来克服与测量大型星系光度相关的挑战，并通过分析它们的紫外和红外光谱能量分布来估计整个样本的自一致恒星质量和恒星形成率（SFR）。该团队将采用更复杂的星系环境特征，通过考虑细丝以及星团和区域成员。这是一个重要的补充，因为最近的流体动力学模拟表明，细丝可能是星系转变的重要场所。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。

That galaxies in dense clusters appear markedly different from galaxies outside these regions (i.e., in the "field") was recognized even before the true nature of galaxies was recognized. Underlying this observation is the fact that a galaxy’s gas supply and star formation activity also show a marked dependence on environment. The objective of this project is to better understand how both are altered as a galaxy moves through the cosmic web to the cluster centers. The team will quantify environmental "quenching" of star formation by measuring the relative extent of the star-forming and stellar disks for 14,000 nearby galaxies - a factor of 20 increase over previous studies - to disentangle the correlated effects of environment, galaxy mass, and morphology. This award will also involve undergraduate students at both institutions in research, and support outreach efforts to area K-12 students as well as a summer teacher training program. This work will (1) constrain the quenching timescale for the densest environments where gas stripping is known to occur, (2) determine how the network of cosmic filaments around clusters alters the spatial distribution of star formation within galaxies, (3) shed light on how these processes act in different environments to produce the observed changes, and (4) produce a data set with lasting legacy value for studies of galaxy evolution in the nearby universe. The team will fit Sersic models to the sample galaxies and determine the effective radii of the stars (optical grz from the DESI Legacy Surveys and infrared 3.4um from WISE) and star formation (WISE 12um). Non-parametric profiles and total fluxes will also be derived for these galaxies through elliptical aperture photometry using ultraviolet (GALEX), optical grz, and infrared (WISE) images. These complementary techniques will yield robust structural parameters for to galaxy sample. Custom software designed by the team to overcome the challenges associated with measuring photometry of large galaxies will be used, and self-consistent stellar mass and star-formation rates (SFR) will be estimated for the entire sample through the analysis of their ultraviolet through infrared spectral energy distributions. The team will adopt a more sophisticated characterization of galaxy environment by considering filaments as well as cluster and field membership. This is an important addition as recent hydrodynamic simulations suggest that filaments may be important sites of galaxy transformation.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.