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Daily Report # 4338



 
 
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Old April 11th 07, 04:13 PM posted to sci.astro.hubble
Cooper, Joe
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Default Daily Report # 4338

Notice: For the foreseeable future, the daily reports may contain apparent
discrepancies between some proposal descriptions and the listed instrument
usage. This is due to the conversion of previously approved ACS WFC or HRC
observations into WFPC2, or NICMOS observations subsequent to the loss of
ACS CCD science capability in late January.


HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT # 4338

PERIOD COVERED: UT April 10, 2007 (DOY 100)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED

WFPC2 10880

The host galaxies of QSO2s: AGN feeding and evolution at high luminosities

Now that the presence of supermassive black holes in the nuclei of galaxies
is a well established fact, other questions related to the AGN phenomena
still have to be answered. Problems of particular interest are how the AGN
gets fed, how the black hole evolves and how the evolution of the black hole
is related to the evolution of the galaxy bulge. Here we propose to address
some of these issues using ACS/WFC + F775W snapshot images of 73 QSO2s with
redshifts in the range 0.3z0.4. These observations will be combined with
similar archival data of QSO1s and ground based data of Seyfert and normal
galaxies. First, we will intestigate whether interactions are the most
important feeding mechanism in high luminosity AGNs. This will be done in a
quantitative way, comparing the asymmetry indices of QSO2 hosts with those
of lower luminosity AGNs and normal galaxies. Second, we will do a detailed
study of the morphology of the host galaxies of both QSO types, to determine
if they are similar, or if there is an evolutionary trend from QSO2s to
QSO1s. The results from this project will represent an important step in the
understanding of AGN evolution, and may also introduce a substantial
modification to the Unified Model.

NIC1/NIC2/NIC3 8795

NICMOS Post-SAA calibration - CR Persistence Part 6

A new proceedure proposed to alleviate the CR-persistence problem of NICMOS.
Dark frames will be obtained immediately upon exiting the SAA contour 23,
and everytime a NICMOS exposure is scheduled within 50 minutes of coming out
of the SAA. The darks will be obtained in parallel in all three NICMOS
Cameras. The POST-SAA darks will be non- standard reference files available
to users with a USEAFTER date/time mark. The keyword 'USEAFTER=date/time'
will also be added to the header of each POST-SAA DARK frame. The keyword
must be populated with the time, in addition to the date, because HST
crosses the SAA ~8 times per day so each POST-SAA DARK will need to have the
appropriate time specified, for users to identify the ones they need. Both
the raw and processed images will be archived as POST-SAA DARKSs. Generally
we expect that all NICMOS science/calibration observations started within 50
minutes of leaving an SAA will need such maps to remove the CR persistence
from the science images. Each observation will need its own CRMAP, as
different SAA passages leave different imprints on the NICMOS detectors.

NIC2 11016

NICMOS Flats: narrow and broad filters for NIC1 {+ NIC2, NIC3 in parallel}

This proposal obtains sequences of NICMOS narrow band filter flat fields for
camera 1. In cameras 2 and 3, parallel observations will allow us to obtain
high S/N flats for all spectral elements.

NIC3 10792

Quasars at Redshift z=6 and Early Star Formation History

We propose to observe four high-redshift quasars {z=6} in the NIR in order
to estimate relative Fe/Mg abundances and the central black hole mass. The
results of this study will critically constrain models of joint quasar and
galaxy formation, early star formation, and the growth of supermassive black
holes. Different time scales and yields for alpha-elements {like O or Mg}
and for iron result into an iron enrichment delay of ~0.3 to 0.6 Gyr. Hence,
despite the well-known complexity of the FeII emission line spectrum, the
ratio iron/alpha - element is a potentially useful cosmological clock. The
central black hole mass will be estimated based on a recently revised back
hole mass - luminosity relationship. The time delay of the iron enrichment
and the time required to form a supermassive black hole {logM8 Msol, tau
~0.5Gyr} as evidenced by quasar activity will be used to date the beginning
of the first intense star formation, marking the formation of the first
massive galaxies that host luminous quasars, and to constrain the epoch when
supermassive black holes start to grow by accretion.

NIC3 11082

NICMOS Imaging of GOODS: Probing the Evolution of the Earliest Massive
Galaxies, Galaxies Beyond

Deep near-infrared imaging provides the only avenue towards understanding a
host of astrophysical problems, including: finding galaxies and AGN at z
7, the evolution of the most massive galaxies, the triggering of star
formation in dusty galaxies, and revealing properties of obscured AGN. As
such, we propose to observe 60 selected areas of the GOODS North and South
fields with NICMOS Camera 3 in the F160W band pointed at known massive M
10^11 M_0 galaxies at z 2 discovered through deep Spitzer imaging. The
depth we will reach {26.5 AB at 5 sigma} in H_160 allows us to study the
internal properties of these galaxies, including their sizes and
morphologies, and to understand how scaling relations such as the Kormendy
relationship evolved. Although NIC3 is out of focus and undersampled, it is
currently our best opportunity to study these galaxies, while also sampling
enough area to perform a general NIR survey 1/3 the size of an ACS GOODS
field. These data will be a significant resource, invaluable for many other
science goals, including discovering high redshift galaxies at z 7, the
evolution of galaxies onto the Hubble sequence, as well as examining
obscured AGN and dusty star formation at z 1.5. The GOODS fields are the
natural location for HST to perform a deep NICMOS imaging program, as
extensive data from space and ground based observatories such as Chandra,
GALEX, Spitzer, NOAO, Keck, Subaru, VLT, JCMT, and the VLA are currently
available for these regions. Deep high-resolution near-infrared observations
are the one missing ingredient to this survey, filling in an important gap
to create the deepest, largest, and most uniform data set for studying the
faint and distant universe. The importance of these images will increase
with time as new facilities come on line, most notably WFC3 and ALMA, and
for the planning of future JWST observations.

WFPC2 10890

Morphologies of the Most Extreme High-Redshift Mid-IR-Luminous Galaxies

The formative phase of the most massive galaxies may be extremely luminous,
characterized by intense star- and AGN-formation. Till now, few such
galaxies have been unambiguously identified at high redshift, restricting us
to the study of low-redshift ultraluminous infrared galaxies as possible
analogs. We have recently discovered a sample of objects which may indeed
represent this early phase in galaxy formation, and are undertaking an
extensive multiwavelength study of this population. These objects are bright
at mid-IR wavelengths {F[24um]0.8mJy}, but deep ground based imaging
suggests extremely faint {and in some cases extended} optical counterparts
{R~24-27}. Deep K-band images show barely resolved galaxies. Mid-infrared
spectroscopy with Spitzer/IRS reveals that they have redshifts z ~ 2-2.5,
suggesting bolometric luminosities ~10^{13-14}Lsun! We propose to obtain
deep ACS F814W and NIC2 F160W images of these sources and their environs in
order to determine kpc-scale morphologies and surface photometry for these
galaxies. The proposed observations will help us determine whether these
extreme objects are merging systems, massive obscured starbursts {with
obscuration on kpc scales!} or very reddened {locally obscured} AGN hosted
by intrinsically low-luminosity galaxies.

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary reports of
potential non-nominal performance that will be investigated.)

HSTARS: (None)

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

SCHEDULED SUCCESSFUL

FGS GSacq 04 04
FGS REacq 05 05
OBAD with Maneuver 20 20

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)
 




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