(Credit: https://webb.nasa.gov)
With the successful launch of JWST, the "Galaxy Slice and Dice" research group is looking for graduate students to work on galaxy and cosmology-related projects. We are looking for up to 2 students to work primarily with Susan Kassin, an AURA Associate Astronomer with tenure at Space Telescope, and 1 student to work primarily with Camilla Pacifici, a CSA Astronomer at Space Telescope. Susan and Camilla have been close collaborators for nearly a decade, working on JWST preparatory science. Science talks by Susan and Cami can be found here and here. Our group is composed primarily of observers, but includes theorists such as JHU postdoc Charlotte Welker.
We have a successful JWST Cycle 1 program that will obtain the deepest spectra of high redshift galaxies with this $10 billion telescope. We believe these data will lead to ground-breaking results on how galaxies evolve over cosmic time, and in particular about the complex and violent physical processes during the era of "first galaxies." As the first of its kind, we hope these data bring interesting surprises that will challenge our understanding of the nascent Universe. Here are some good introductory videos on JWSTand galaxy formation/cosmology. JHU grad student Alexander de la Vega recently gave a talk summarizing galaxy science in our program.
There are myriad possible science projects, and all will be the first of their kind since we've never had data like these before! To ensure a good project match, students will be briefly introduced to each topic before they decide on a given project. Here are a few possible projects; there are many more.
(1) From theory, we expect that galaxies have chaotic and complex dynamics early-on. It is unclear whether these early systems are even virialized, or perhaps can even be called galaxies. Our data will allow us to measure for the first time how the dynamics of galaxies evolve from the early Universe to today.
(2) Powerful and ubiquitous outflows in galaxies are needed to reionize the Universe according to our current theoretical understanding. Our extremely deep spectra will measure these outflows, and their strength and frequency. This is crucial for determining how the Universe was reionized, not to mention how galaxies formed.
(3) For the first time, we will accurately measure the rates at which galaxies form stars over a significant range in cosmic history. We will do this with key emission lines that only JWST can observe.
Finally, it's worth mentioning that a particular strength of our research group is that we all study the same galaxies from a different perspective, and then combine these perspectives to form a more complete picture. The core team on our JWST program is partially based at the University of Arizona, and we will have meetings there at least once a year. We also work closely with the JWST technical teams at Space Telescope (ST), astronomers at ST, and have close collaborators at UC Santa Cruz and the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris that we visit often during non-pandemic times.
Aside from our Cycle 1 program, Kassin is also working on a proposal to find the first stars to form in the Universe with JWST. The idea is to catch them when they explode as "pair instability supernovae." In collaboration with theorists, Kassin is calculating what is necessary for such a survey.
Finally, those of us in the "Galaxy Slice and Dice" research are passionate about diversity efforts, and hope that our group is a welcoming and safe space for new ideas and scientific and technical development. We also have opportunities for outreach and undergraduate and high school student mentoring.
We are currently in the process of updating our website, but a of some of our members can be found here.
If you are interested, please drop Susan and Cami a line and we can talk (kassin@stsci.edu, cpacifici@stsci.edu). Also please feel free to reach out to any of the group members current and former.
Thanks for your interest!
Above: A photo of some of us in June 2021.
Above: A more formal photo from a few years ago.
