President & Trustees of Williams College
Who it subcontracts to
No subawards reported under its lunar awards.
Who it works for
BUDGET NARRATIVE ONE OF THE TWO MAIN SCIENCE GOALS OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT IS TO MEASURE THE LYMAN CONTINUUM (LYC) RADIATION ESCAPING FROM GALAXIES AND ITS CORRELATION WITH GALAXY PROPERTIES. ESTABLISHING THE LINK BETWEEN GALAXY PROPERTIES AND LYC ESCAPE IS CRITICAL TO IDENTIFY THE SOURCES THAT REIONIZED THE UNIVERSE AT Z>6, WHERE LYC IS UNDETECTABLE. AS AN EXPERT ON HIGHLY STAR-FORMING AND LYC-LEAKING GALAXIES, ANNE JASKOT WILL HELP THE TEAM CRAFT THE LYC-RELATED SCIENCE GOALS AND SAMPLE. SHE WILL TRAVEL TO ONE TEAM MEETING IN BOULDER, CO IN YEAR 2 FOR DISCUSSIONS OF THE SCOPE OF THE PROJECT. WE REQUEST FUNDING FOR ONE 3-DAY TRIP TO BOULDER. ONCE THE PROJECT GOALS HAVE BEEN DEFINED, JASKOT WILL SUPERVISE AN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT IN SELECTING THE EMISSION-LINE GALAXY SAMPLE. THE STUDENT WILL USE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE DATA FROM SDSS AND GALEX TO SELECT TARGETS PREDICTED TO HAVE LYC ESCAPE BY VARIOUS EMISSION LINE DIAGNOSTICS. GALAXIES WITH PROPERTIES THAT ARE ABLE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN DIFFERENT DIAGNOSTICS WILL BE OF PARTICULAR INTEREST. THIS SAMPLE SELECTION WILL ALSO ENTAIL A SYSTEMATIC COMPARISON WITH PARAMETERS AND LYC SAMPLES EXAMINED IN THE LITERATURE TO AVOID DUPLICATION. IN ADDITION, JASKOT WILL CALCULATE PARAMETERS FOR THE SELECTED SAMPLE, SUCH AS STAR FORMATION RATES, METALLICITIES, AND DUST EXTINCTION. WE REQUEST ONE 9-WEEK SUMMER STIPEND FOR AN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT IN YEAR 3. WE ALSO REQUEST FUNDING FOR A 3-DAY TRIP TO BOULDER, CO FOR A TEAM MEETING TO DISCUSS THE PROPOSED SAMPLE AND TO PLAN FOR THE ANALYSIS OF THE COMPLETED OBSERVATIONS. AFTER OBSERVATIONS HAVE BEEN COMPLETED, JASKOT WILL HELP DERIVE LYC ESCAPE FRACTIONS BY COMPARING THE MEASURED LYC FLUXES WITH THE ESTIMATED INTRINSIC LYC EMISSION PREDICTED BY STELLAR POPULATION MODEL FITS TO THE GALAXIES" SPECTRA. SHE WILL ALSO ESTIMATE THE INTRINSIC LYC PRODUCTION RATE FROM THE OBSERVED ESCAPE FRACTIONS AND BALMER LINE LUMINOSITIES. WE ESTIMATE 3 WEEKS OF FTE FOR THIS WORK. NEXT, SHE WILL COMPARE THE MEASURED ESCAPE FRACTIONS WITH PROPOSED DIAGNOSTICS AND GALAXY PROPERTIES TO DETERMINE HOW TO BEST SELECT LYC-LEAKING CANDIDATES. WE ESTIMATE 2 WEEKS FTE FOR THIS ANALYSIS. FINALLY, SHE WILL COMPARE THE BEST LYC DIAGNOSTICS WITH THE PROPERTIES OF HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES IN THE LITERATURE TO ASSESS THE LIKELY LYC ESCAPE FRACTIONS OF GALAXIES AT REIONIZATION. WE ESTIMATE AN ADDITIONAL 0.86 WEEKS FTE FOR THIS WORK, PLUS 2 WEEKS FTE TO CONTRIBUTE TO A PUBLISHED PAPER ON THE RESULTS. THE TOTAL REQUEST FOR YEAR 4 IS THEREFORE 7.86 WEEKS (1.965 MONTHS) FTE. IN ADDITION, JASKOT WILL TRAVEL TO ONE US CONFERENCE TO PRESENT THESE RESULTS, AND WE REQUEST FUNDING FOR THIS TRAVEL. IN SUMMARY, WE REQUEST 9 WEEKS SALARY FOR AN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT IN YEAR 3, 1.965 MONTHS SALARY FOR JASKOT IN YEAR 4, TRAVEL TO TWO TEAM MEETINGS IN BOULDER, AND TRAVEL TO ONE US CONFERENCE.