NSF Award
2406780
A major goal of astronomers is to understand how galaxies grow and change throughout the history of the Universe. To help achieve this goal, the investigator and a graduate student will use a powerful new instrument on the Subaru Telescope to study galaxies during "Cosmic Afternoon." Cosmic Afternoon is a relatively recent period in the history of the Universe when galaxies stopped growing quickly and began to mature into the objects we see around us today. The team will measure a variety of galaxy properties and explore how these properties influence galaxy growth rates. They will also collaborate with data visualization experts to create a web-based tool for members of the public to explore the new observations and learn how astronomers use spectroscopy (the amount of light emitted at different colors) to learn about galaxies. Chicago-area high school educators will be invited to collaborate on developing research-based lesson plans as part of an ongoing Research Experiences for Teachers program at Northwestern University. The lead investigator will mentor the graduate student, and together they will mentor undergraduate research interns recruited to participate in various aspects of the project.<br/> <br/>The research program will leverage optical and near-infrared spectroscopic observations from an upcoming 130-night galaxy survey that will be conducted using the Subaru Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS). Survey operations are scheduled to begin in early 2025 and will ultimately deliver rest-optical spectra of 240,000+ galaxies at z~0.5-1.5 (corresponding to lookback times of ~5-9 billion years). The investigator and her team will first use archival data to develop new photoionization model-based tools for measuring the physical conditions in the interstellar medium of emission-line galaxies from PFS and other intermediate-redshift surveys. These tools will then be used to analyze the first year of PFS data and investigate the chemical enrichment and abundance patterns in a representative sample of galaxies from this key period for the first time. The new model-based parameter estimation tool will be publicly distributed, and the abundance measurements will be included in value-added catalogs as part of the first PFS data release in 2027.<br/><br/>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.
