KMOS^3D, VIRIAL and KMOS-Clusters - Kinematic mapping of ionized gas and stars at the epoch of galaxy formation
by
Dave Wilman(MPE)
→
Europe/Stockholm
FB54
FB54
Description
Abstract: KMOS - the K-band Multi-Object-Spectrograph second generation
instrument on the 8m Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, commissioned
in 2013 - opens a new chapter in studies of the high redshift galaxy
population. With 24 deployable arms each hosting a mini integral field
unit operating at near infrared wavelengths, it provides spatially
resolved spectroscopy at rest-frame optical wavelengths for an
unprecidented number of high redshift (z>1) galaxies. I will
introduce our guaranteed programs with KMOS: KMOS^3D, VIRIAL and
KMOS-Clusters, totalling over 100 nights of 8m telescope time over 5
years. The 75 night KMOS^3D program is amassing deep resolved maps of
the Halpha+[NII] emission line complex tracing gas ionized by star
formation, active galactic nucleii and shocks, for ~600 galaxies at
0.7<z<2.7 selected by their stellar mass. Our existing data already
dominates the statistics of galaxies observed in this detail at these
redshifts, cementing our picture of how massive galaxies form and
evolve during the peak in Universal star formation and moving into the
epoch during which most massive galaxies are quenched. VIRIAL and
KMOS-Clusters meanwhile provide our first glimpse of the stellar
populations and kinematics for large samples of galaxies which have
already been quenched, and are passively evolving at z>1.
