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Astro Seminar: Prospecting in the Redshift Desert: Lyman Break Galaxies at z=2

Date:
-
Location:
CP179
Speaker(s) / Presenter(s):
Gerard Williger (University of Louisville)
Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) are often used as prototypes to construct
strongly star-forming galaxies, since the Lyman break signature is
straightforward to identify at z>3 from the ground. However, at z~2,
the Lyman break is located in the UV wavelength range and can only be
observed from space. Until the launch of GALEX, large (wide-field)
ground-based proxy selection methods for LBGs had to be used, which
produce measurable differences from true LBG samples. We will use deep
GALEX and ground based U-images to select a true Lyman break sample of
z~2 LBGs, and investigate the nature of galaxies which produce the IR
background.

The GALEUS (GALaxy Evolution UV Survey) will use public wide-deep data
to study the physical properties of UV-selected star-forming galaxies
at z~2. We propose to investigate the contribution of UV and IR
luminous galaxies to the population of LBGs, using UV to FIR data (0.16
to 500~microns) observed by GALEX, Spitzer, and Herschel, with
supporting optical/IR data from HST+ACS  and ground-based surveys.  I
will show preliminary results based on spectral energy distributions.
Event Series: