Program: GN-2010B-Q-61

Title:Star Formation in gravitationally lensed galaxies at z~1.5
PI:Rachael Livermore
Co-I(s): Mark Swinbank, Richard Bower, Johan Richard, Graham Smith, Ian Smail, Rob Crain

Abstract

We propose NIFS NGS+AO observations of two z~1.5 galaxies which have been magnified by factors 23x and 18x by massive foreground galaxy clusters. These observations will probe the dynamics and star-formation properties of these galaxies on 100-200pc scales, providing an order of magnitude improvement in spatial resolution over comparable observations at this redshift. Our previous work at z=2-5 has suggested an evolutionary trend in the size-luminosity relation of HII regions with redshift parallel to the evolution of volume-averaged star formation rate density (SFRD), but further observations are required in the crucial z=1-2 range in which the SFRD begins to turn over. The two proposed targets are the only known sources in this range which are suitable for observation with Gemini, due to their proximity to suitably bright stars for the use of AO. With these observations, we expect to obtain a sample of ~10 HII regions at z~1.5. This will enable us to place the first constraints on the maximum luminosities of HII regions at this redshift, as well as test the evolution scenario of star-forming regions at high redshift.

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