YCAA Seminar - Naveen Reddy

Event time: 
Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - 2:30pm
Speaker: 
Naveen Reddy
Speaker Institution: 
University of California, Riverside
Talk Title: 
“Measurements of the Dust Attenuation Curve at Redshifts z~1.4-2.6 from the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field (MOSDEF) Survey”
Event description: 

I will present results on the dust attenuation curve of redshift z~2 galaxies using early results from the MOSFIRE Deep Evolution Field (MOSDEF) survey.  Our sample consists of 112 star-forming galaxies with nebular spectroscopic redshifts in the range z = 1.36 − 2.59 and high S/N measurements of the Hα and Hβ emission lines obtained with the MOSFIRE spectrograph on the Keck I telescope. Coupled with deep multi-wavelength photometry, we investigate the impact of dust attenuation on the stellar continuum and, by constructing composite spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies in bins of specific star-formation rate (SFR/M∗) and Balmer optical depth, we provide the first direct constraints on the shape of the dust attenuation curve over the full wavelength range from the UV through near-IR at high redshift. Our results imply an attenuation curve that is similar in shape to the SMC extinction curve at wavelengths λ > 2500 Angstroms, and exhibits a rise in the UV that is steeper than that of the starburst attenuation curve of Calzetti et al. (2000) and shallower than that of the SMC extinction curve. I will discuss the implications for these differences in the attenuation curve for the stellar populations and star-formation rates of high-redshift galaxies.

Location: 
305 BASS See map
266 Whitney Avenue
New Haven, CT 06511
Admission: 
Free