This Week

Date: WED, August 25th, 2010
Time: 14:00
Place: Dark Cosmology Centre - DARK Lounge

Presentation by: Céline Péroux


Title: A SINFONI Integral Field Spectroscopy Survey for Damped Lyman-alpha Systems

Abstract: Details of processes through which galaxies convert their gas into stars need to be studied in order to obtain a complete picture of galaxy formation. One way to tackle these phenomena is to relate the HI gas and the stars in galaxies. Integral field spectroscopy provides an efficient way of detecting faint galaxies near bright quasars, further providing immediate redshift confirmation. We report the detection of H-alpha emission from a Damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) and a sub-DLA galaxy. We use the NII/H-alpha ratio to derive the HII emission metallicities and compare them with the neutral gas HI absorption metallicities derived from high-resolution spectra. We also study the dynamical properties of these objects. While the DLA is found to be dispersion-dominated, the sub-DLA shows clear signatures of rotation. Our work illustrates that detailed studies of quasar absorbers can offer entirely new insights into our knowledge of the interaction between stars and the interstellar gas in galaxies.

Cake by: Darach

REMEMBER ->
If the assigned task conflicts with your schedule, it is your responsibility to swap it with someone else and get back to us, once the swap has been agreed upon, so we can keep the scheduling current.

Cheers,
The DCM committee
(Stefan and Johan)

DCM  schedule - 2010