Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

5-2014

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M.S.

Department

Physics and Astronomy

Committee Chair

Haberzettl, Lutz Gunter

Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)

Lauroesch, James T.

Committee Member

Lauroesch, James T.

Committee Member

Williger, Gerard M.

Subject

Starbursts; Galaxies--Evolution

Abstract

Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) are well-known indicators of star formation. By analyzing the dust of moderate redshift (z ~ 2) LBGs, we can further investigate the properties of these strongly star forming galaxies at an epoch when global star formation is expected to peak. Using data observed by the Herschel satellite, we derive far-infrared fluxes for our color-selected sample of LBGs in the GOODS-S field, including a subsample of infrared-luminous LBGs (ILLBGs). This is one of the first samples of UV dropouts/partial dropouts, which are also infrared-luminous, to be studied for their far-IR properties. Fitting modified Planck curves and model spectral energy distributions (SEDs), we make estimations for dust temperatures and masses for our ILLBGs. We find dust temperatures ranging from ~ 19-70 K, with masses ~ 5:2x10^6 to 3:3x10^9 M, and star formation rates on the order of ~10 M yr^-1.

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