Collaborative Research: The Heavy Metal Survey: Stellar Metallicities and Chemical Abundance Patterns of Massive Galaxies out to z~2.3

Harvard University, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

As galaxies grow and age, their chemical composition changes as a result of their own star formation as well as the history of any mergers that they may have had with other galaxies. At large distances, previous studies only measured the chemical composition of galaxies that were actively forming stars. This project will take advantage of new instruments available on the Keck telescope to measure the chemical composition of quiescent galaxies, which are more common than star-forming galaxies out to the distances accessible by these instruments. This data will then be used to provide information about the histories of distant quiescent galaxies. The project will use the MOSFIRE and LRIS spectrographs on Keck to obtain a survey of the metallicities of 20 quiescent galaxies in a redshift range of 1.3-2.3. They have 16.5 nights scheduled on Keck for this survey. Upon completion of the analysis of the spectra, the team will use the chemical abundance patterns, structural parameters, and stellar abundance patterns from the survey data to constrain assembly histories and star formation histories of quiescent galaxies over cosmological timescales. 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.