10675(  1) - 04/05/05 12:31  - [  1]

    PROPOSAL FOR HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS   ST ScI Use Only
                                                       ID:      10675
                                                       Version: 1
                                                       Check-in Date: 05-Apr-2005
                                                                      16:31:31

1.Proposal Title:
A Multi-Wavelength Study of Galaxy Mergers out to z ~2
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2. Proposal For  3. Cycle  4. Parallel Pointing Tolerance
AR               14        <none>
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5. Investigators
                                                                                     Contact?
    PI: Dr. Jennifer Lotz                 University of California - Santa Cruz
   CoI: Dr. Sandra M. Faber               University of California - Santa Cruz         N
   CoI: Dr. David C. Koo                  University of California - Santa Cruz         N
   CoI: Dr. Joel R. Primack               University of California - Santa Cruz         N
   CoI: Dr. Casey Papovich                University of Arizona                         N
   CoI: Dr. Scott C. Chapman              California Institute of Technology            N
   CoI: Dr. Kirpal Nandra                 Imperial College of Science                   N

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6. Abstract

Galaxy mergers are expected to play a critical role in the formation of massive red
spheroids, feeding active galactic nuclei, and triggering dust-enshrouded
starbursts. Current cosmologically-motivated models of galaxy evolution fail to
produce enough red bulge-dominated galaxies at early and late times as well as the
dust-enshrouded populations of luminous infrared galaxies at z ~ 2. It is likely
that these failures are due to our poor understanding of the physics associated with
mergers. We propose a multi-wavelength archival study to identify mergers, classify
merger type and stage, and determine their AGN and starburst activity out to z ~ 2
in the Extended Groth Strip, GOODS, and UDF. Morphology is the most accessible
signature of a galaxy merger, but the classification of z > 1 galaxy morphologies
from optical ACS data is challenging because of the increasingly irregular
appearance of normal galaxies at rest-frame ultraviolet wavelengths. The core of our
program is the analysis and comparison of NIC2/3 derived morphologies and merger-
fractions for > 200 merger candidates to those derived with ACS in order to
constrain the effect of wavelength on morphologically-derived merger rates and to
calibrate the large ACS Legacy data-sets for which high-resolution NIR data is not
available. With the rich multi-wavelength data in our selected fields (Spitzer,
Chandra, VLA), we will also be able classify our merger candidates as major or
minor, gas-rich or gas-poor, and early or late-stage using the HST quantitative
morphologies, IR luminosities and other star-formation indicators. Finally, we will
correlate our merger candidates with the presence of X-ray selected AGN to better
understand the role of mergers in feeding AGN and the bulge-massive black hole
correlation.
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                                                10675(  1) - 04/05/05 12:31  - [  2]

            Summary Form for Proposal  10675

  Item                         Used in this proposal
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  Proposal Category            AR
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