Drs Skillman and Dalcanton will map the neutral hydrogen gas in a variety of nearby galaxies with high resolution on the sky and in velocity, through a Large VLA Survey that is already under way. These galaxies were chosen from a set that Dalcanton has observed with the Hubble Space Telescope as part of a Treasury (large) proposal. The Hubble images can resolve individual blue stars in these galaxies, tracing the history of star formation through the past gigayear across the face of the galaxy. Maps of the distribution of neutral hydrogen and of the gas motions will be combined with that star formation history, and with infrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope and ultraviolet images from GALEX. The investigators will trace how the star-forming history is related to local properties of the gas, and how starbirth has influenced the gas. To examine the expected relation between star formation and gas flow, the group will 'observe' hydrodynamic simulations carried out by collaborators at the University of Washington.
The group will produce calibrated data cubes and moment maps (showing the gas surface density, its velocity field and the velocity dispersion) for the neutral hydrogen gas. These will be released to the community in 2011, after graduate students working on the project have finished their thesis work. Both of the PIs have strong records as undergraduate research mentors, and will involve undergraduate students in this research. The project will provide PhD dissertation material for at least two graduate students, one in Washington and one in Minnesota. The grant will support Dr. Skillman's Universe in the Park program, in which students take telescopes to State Parks during the summer months for public viewing, and make presentations on various aspects of astronomy.
