Lim 9703818 This award supports a 24 month Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellowship for Dr. Mark Lim at the Institute for Space and Astronautical Study, Kanagawa, Japan. Dr. Lim will work with Dr. Toshio Matsumoto, Professor of Galactic Evolution, Division of Astrophysics, on a research project entitled, "A Search for the Cosmic Infrared Background with the Near Infrared Spectrometer." The Cosmic Infrared Background (CIB) is a diffuse space background composed of the light from unresolved primeval galaxies. Current theoretical work addressing the CIB describes a picture of starlight emitted from the first galaxies forming a near infrared (NIR) component brightest at a wavelength of a few microns. Some of this starlight may be absorbed and reemitted by dust and seen as a far infrared component. The proposed research consists of a complete analysis of NIR data using the Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS), which is mounted on the Infrared Telescope in Space (IRTS) satellite. NIRS is a grating spectrometer with wavelength coverage of 1.2 to 4.2 micron~with a resolution of 0.12 micron. The primary scientific goal of the research would be to detect or constrain the amplitude of the CIB using competing systems of analysis in an effort to obtain the most reliable data. Results of the research will assist in the characterization of the CIB and interstellar chemistry and will aid in the development of future U.S. and Japanese space missions. ***
