Surveying Galaxies in the High-Redshift Universe

最早的星系的物理性质、数量、分布和演化正在迅速地为我们所掌握。这个项目将探索非常早的、高红移(z=5-7)星系的形成和性质。夏威夷的凯克和斯巴鲁望远镜将被用于广泛的微弱的发射线星系调查，结合极深的多色成像来识别在氢Lyman-Alpha线上明亮的候选星系。光谱观测将确认最终的高z样品。这项技术已经成功地在z~5.7和z~6.5找到了源，这是一个具有特殊意义的范围，因为工作表明再电离时代发生在z~6或更早。该样本将提供对宇宙的全球恒星形成历史和发射线选择的星系的演化的洞察，并将有助于为搜索更高的红移做准备。这些星系的空间和红移分布、表面密度和通量将被用来研究早期大规模结构的形成。这个项目主要支持一名日本女研究生，这是首席研究人员鼓励女性从事科学工作的持续承诺的一部分，并支持与日本天文学团体的关系。

AST-0607850HuThe physical properties, numbers, distribution, and evolution of the earliest galaxies are rapidly coming within our grasp. This program will explore the formation and properties of very early, high redshift (z = 5-7) galaxies. The Keck and Subaru telescopes in Hawaii will be used for an extensive faint, emission-line, galaxy survey, combined with extremely deep multi-color imaging to identify candidate galaxies bright in the hydrogen Lyman-alpha line. Spectroscopic observations will confirm the final high-z sample. This technique has already successfully found sources at z ~ 5.7 and z ~ 6.5, a range of special significance because of work indicating that the epoch of reionization occurs at z ~ 6 or earlier. The sample will provide insight into the global star formation history of the Universe and the evolution of emission-line-selected galaxies, and will help to prepare for searches to even higher redshifts. The spatial and redshift distributions, surface density and fluxes of these galaxies will be used to examine early large-scale structure formation.This project mainly supports a Japanese female graduate student, part of the principal investigator's continued commitment to encouraging women in science, and to supporting relations with the Japanese astronomical community.