NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2005A-0487
|
NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2005A-0487 |
|
PI: Andrew W. Zirm, Universiteit Leiden, azirm@strw.leidenuniv.nl
Address: Astronomy Department, PO Box 9513, Leiden 2300 RA, The Netherlands
CoI: Kirsten Kraiberg Knudsen, Universiteit Leiden
CoI: Tracy Webb, Universiteit Leiden
CoI: Brad Holden, UCSC / Lick Observatory
CoI: Michiel Reuland, Universiteit Leiden
Title: Lyman-(alpha) Imaging of High-Redshift Submillimeter Galaxies
Abstract: Are submillimeter (SCUBA) galaxies the massive progenitors of present-day ellipticals? Direct mass measurements of SCUBA sources are limited by the intrinsic faintness and dust obscuration in the optical counterparts. However, two clues to the mass of these sources can be found by investigating their gaseous environments, in the form of emission-line halos, and their clustering, via nearby star-forming galaxies. We propose to obtain narrow or medium-band Lyman-(alpha) images of five bright submillimeter sources with known redshifts. Using these observations we will be able to detect large-scale (> 100 kpc) Ly(alpha) emission-line halos and Ly(alpha) emitting companion galaxies in the fields of the SCUBA sources. Up until now only three known Ly(alpha) halos have been found around sub-mm galaxies. No systematic study of the gaseous and possible protocluster environments of SCUBA sources has been done. Our proposed observations will therefore nearly \emphtriple the number of SCUBA sources observed in Ly(alpha) and provide an ideal companion set to the similar studies of high-redshift radio galaxies.
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726, Phone: (520) 318-8000, Fax: (520) 318-8360
|
NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2005A-0487 |
|