Star formation and structure formation at redshifts 1 < z < 4

Citation

Adelberger, Kurt L. (2001) Star formation and structure formation at redshifts 1 < z < 4. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-09252008-090426

Abstract

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The universe of galaxies beyond redshift one has finally become relatively easy to observe. While only a handful of galaxies with redshifts z > 1 were known 10 years ago, more than 2000 have spectroscopic redshifts today. These surveys are beginning to provide us with a detailed view of the first half of cosmic history. Their creation and interpretation is the subject of this thesis. Chapter 1 describes efficient techniques that can be used to locate galaxies at 1 [...] z [...] 5 among the numerous foreground and background objects in deep optical images. Chapter 2 characterizes the effects of dust obscuration on the resulting large high-redshift samples. The remainder of the thesis attemtps to place star-forming high-redshift galaxies into a larger cosmological context. Chapter 3 investigates the spatial clustering of galaxies at z ~ 3, finds it to be strong, and shows that this suggests a close link between rapidly star-forming galaxies and massive virialized objects in the underlying distribution of dark matter. Chapter 4 analyses the curious spatial association of high-redshift galaxies with inter-galactic hydrogen and metals, and finds some evidence that the numerous supernova explosions in young galaxies may profoundly affect the evolution of the universe's baryons.

Thesis Files