Wednesday, May 4, 2011, 11:00 am, Pratt Conference Room
High Redshift Intergalactic Metal Abundance Measurements with Magellan / FIRE
Dr. Rob Simcoe (MIT)
| The FIRE IR Spectrometer, commissioned in 2010 for Magellan, was designed for studying chemical abundances at the highest observable redshifts. I will present early results on high redshift science from the first year of FIRE observations, including an improved determination of the universal C IV abundance at z > 5 and the first large census for Mg II absorption at 2 < z < 6. These results will be discussed in the context of new measurements of the evolution in the ionization-corrected carbon abundance at z ~ 4, and possible changes in the ionization balance of carbon at z > 5. I will close with a status update on the FIRE instrument and tools to support its data products. |
