IRS Spectroscopy of a Typical Lyman Break Galaxy
Abstract
We request Director's discretionary time on the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) to determine the restframe mid-infrared spectral properties of a typical L* Lyman break galaxy (LBG) at z=3.07. Our proposed SST study of this galaxy requests a total of 11 hrs integration: 2 hrs with IRAC and MIPS at 24/70 microns to obtain photometry of the source at restframe wavelengths of 0.8-17 microns and 9 hrs exposure with IRS in LL1/SL1 to probe the 3-8 micron PAH and the shape of the continuum emission. This study is only feasible because of a 30x boost to the light-gathering power of Spitzer provided by a foreground gravitational lens - allowing us to use these observations to address questions which are drivers of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) science case: yielding insights into the star formation properties of a normal, young galaxy seen 12 Gyrs ago.
- Publication:
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Spitzer Proposal
- Pub Date:
- October 2006
- Bibcode:
- 2006sptz.prop..280E