2011 January 24:     Euclid dark energy photo-z paper submitted

Bobby’s paper on photometric redshifts for weak lensing dark energy studies with the Euclid spacecraft is submitted and available from arXiv by clicking here. The bottom line is that while Euclid’s current plan is to rely on future ground-based observatories, with the addition of an ob-board U+G channel Euclid could do just as well on its own, while avoiding potential complications that could arise from having to rely on planned ground-based data. This work was carried out recently as part of a CSA-sponsored study on possible Canadian contributions to a dark energy mission.

2011 February 9:     Ouaga conference paper sent off

I sent off the conference proceedings paper for the Ouagadougou conference.  The paper summarizes my work on spectral energy distribution fitting of sub-L* z~2 galaxies. You can get the paper from arXiv (click here), but the bottom line is that they are (1) very numerous, (2) not very dusty, (3) contribute more than we thought to the stellar mass density of the Universe.

2011 January 19:     Paper on galaxy formation timescales accepted by MNRAS

A paper, led by David Gilbank, on spectroscopic measurements of galaxy formation timescales has been accepted for publication by the MNRAS. I was a minor contributor to this work in that I provided comparison measurements for z~2 galaxies. The paper will appear in MNRAS soon; in the meantime you can see it on arXiv by clicking here.

2011 June 4:     Back from the CASCA 2011 conference in London, Ontario

Just back from CASCA2011, where Bobby Sorba presented our Euclid simulations results and I gave an invited talk about sub-L* galaxies at high redshift.  Other Saint Mary’s attendees were Mike Casey and Rob Thacker (see photo). While in London, I  also attended the meetings of the CASCA Board of Directors, the ACURA Board of Management, and the ACURA Institutional Council.  A busy week.

2011 June 10:     The fourth Keck Deep Fields paper accepted for publication

The fourth Keck Deep Fields paper, led by Jon Savoy, has been accepted for publication in ApJ.  This one is on the clustering of very faint UV-selected galaxies at z~2, 3, and 4.  The clustering can be used to infer the masses of the dark matter halos that host these galaxies and we use it to identify a population of massive halos that have recently turned off their star formation.  The paper will be coming out in ApJ in July, but in the meantime you can check it out on the arXiv preprint server here.

2011 July 25:     Back from Durham

Just back from Durham, UK, where both Liz and I were attending the superb conference on “Physics of Galaxy Formation.” 

2011 September 7:     Bobby’s back! 

Former MSc student and erstwhile research assistant Bobby Sorba is back in Halifax to start his PhD.  While he will be busy taking courses this semester, we will be also zeroing in on the exact topic of for his thesis.  Welcome back, Bobby! 

2011 October 1:     Liz defends thesis

Liz Arcila Osejo successfully defends her MSc thesis entitled “Star-Forming and Passive Galaxies at z~2 in the CFHT Legacy Survey”.  Now she starts her PhD studies. Congratulations Liz!

2011 October 8:     A late-summer group hike 

We took advantage of the beautiful Indian Summer weather and did a group hike out to Cape Split on the Bay of Fundy.  It was very windy but warm, and the view from the cliffs of Cape Split was amazing (see photo). That’s Taro, Bobby, Liz, Marcin, and Anneya in the inset (click on photo to enlarge).

2011 December 27:     Redshift z~2 SED paper accepted

Paper on the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of z~2 sub-L*  galaxies accepted for publication in the MNRAS.  Until it comes out in the journal, you can view it by clicking here.