Searching for Star Formation Beyond Reionization

该奖项由2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助。巴顿博士将对大爆炸后不到10亿年的年轻星系进行地面搜索，寻找莱曼-阿尔法辐射，宇宙膨胀已转移到1.2微米的近红外线。搜索将使用具有足够窄的带通的滤光片，以适应强夜空线之间的黑暗区域。巴顿博士和她的合作者将使用为双子座南望远镜的近红外成像光谱仪设计的可调滤光器来调查附近的30个星系团。使用星系团的好处是，光的引力弯曲放大并使星系团后面的星系图像变亮。对于每个星系团，在一个大约6平方角秒的区域内，这种效应应该足够强，足以将遥远的星系放大至少20倍。PI还将在凯克天文台用一台新的红外成像光谱仪领导两次调查，使用窄带滤光器来选择年轻星系的莱曼-阿尔法辐射。她将对一块6角分宽的田地进行深度调查；对68块田地进行浅层调查，将覆盖2400平方角分。巴顿博士和她的团队将使用星系形成和演化的模型来解释结果告诉我们的关于这些年轻星系的信息，以及关于它们周围的电离辐射场和星际气体的信息。一名研究生将通过参与这项研究来接受培训。新的窄带数据将向天文学社区发布。巴顿博士将继续在加州大学欧文分校的高中生暑期天文学项目中任教。她还将在下一代仪器的开发和计划中的30米望远镜的设计研究中发挥积极作用。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Dr Barton will undertake a ground-based search for Lyman-alpha emission from young galaxies seen less than a billion years after the Big Bang, that cosmic expansion has shifted into the near-infrared at 1.2 microns. The search will use filters with a sufficiently narrow bandpass to fit into the dark region between the strong night-sky lines. Dr Barton and her collaborators will survey 30 nearby galaxy clusters using a tunable filter being designed for the near-infrared imaging spectrograph on the Gemini South telescope. The advantage of using clusters is that the gravitational bending of light magnifies and brightens the images of galaxies behind the cluster. For each cluster, this effect should be strong enough in a zone of about 6 square arcseconds to magnify distant galaxies at least 20 times. The PI will also lead two surveys with a new infrared imaging spectrograph at the Keck Observatory, using a narrow-band filter to select Lyman-alpha emission from young galaxies. She will make a deep survey of a single field 6 arcmin across; a shallower survey of 68 fields will cover 2400 square arcminutes. Dr Barton and her team will use models of galaxy formation and evolution to interpret what the results tell us about these young galaxies, and about the ionizing radiation field and the intergalactic gas around them.A graduate student will be trained by participating in the research. The new narrow-band data will be released to the astronomical community. Dr Barton will continue to teach in a summer astronomy program for high school students at UC Irvine. She will also take an active role in the development of the next generation of instrumentation, and in design studies for the planned Thirty Meter Telescope.