RUI: Probing the Extremes of Surface Brightness at the Faint End of the Galaxy Luminosity Function

Marzke博士将研究11个星系团和星系团中的矮小椭圆星系和超致密矮星系。他、他的学生和他的合作者将在光学和近红外中拍摄这些星团和星团的图像，以找到这些昏暗的星系。然后，他们将用6.5米的望远镜获取候选矮小星系的光谱，以检查它们是否确实是该星系群或星系团的成员，在某些情况下，还将探测它们的恒星形成历史。Marzke博士和他的团队将研究星系环境的影响：矮小星系的数量是否取决于星系聚集在一起的密度？这项研究应该能解释超致密矮小星系的起源。它们是大得多的星系的残骸吗？它们的外层被剥离了？或者它们只是很小，因为它们生长时本应坠落的部分物质却被较大物体的潮汐力量拖走了？Marzke博士将与巴西国家天文台的一个团队合作，对大质量椭圆星系进行调查，在这些大星系周围寻找候选的超致密矮星。旧金山州立大学的本科生和硕士研究生将通过参与这项研究来接受培训。这些学生将在基特峰使用0.9米高的望远镜进行观测，该望远镜由包括旧金山州立大学在内的一个财团运营。

Dr Marzke will study dwarf elliptical galaxies and ultracompact dwarf galaxies in 11 galaxy groups and clusters. He, his students and his collaborators will take images of the groups and clusters in the optical and near-infrared to find these faint galaxies. They will then obtain spectra of their candidate dwarf galaxies with a 6.5-meter telescope, to check that they are indeed members of the group or cluster, and in some cases to probe their star-forming histories. Dr Marzke and his team will investigate the effect of galaxy environment: does the number of dwarf galaxies depend on how densely the galaxies are packed together? The study should illuminate the origin of the ultracompact dwarf galaxies. Are they the remains of much larger galaxies from which the outer parts were stripped away? Or are they only small because part of the material that should have fallen in as they grew was instead dragged away by the tidal forces of larger objects? Dr Marzke will collaborate with a group at the Brazilian national observatory on a survey of massive elliptical galaxies, searching for candidate ultracompact dwarfs around these large systems.Undergraduate and master's level students at San Francisco State University will be trained through participating in this research. These students will make observations with a 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak that is operated by a consortium that includes San Francisco State University.