Previous abstract Next abstract

Session 29 - Invited Talks.
Invited session, Monday, June 10
Union Theater,

[29.02] Cosmology with the Keck Telescope

L. Cowie (U. Hawaii)

With the advent of the 10-meter telescopes, absorption lines of carbon, silicon and nitrogen are now detected from low column density systems in the Lyman alpha forest out to redshifts near 4. These lines allow us to study the onset of structure in the intergalactic gas and to determine the evolution of the physical properties of the gas. Abundances in the forest clouds are very similar to those of stars in our galactic halo, and we speculate on how and when this enrichment took place. Observations from the 10 meter telescopes, in combination with color and morphology information from HST, have also allowed us to probe the early stages of galaxy formation and to begin to map the history of the formation process. We describe this --- concentrating on the deep redshift surveys (including the Hubble deep field) --- and attempt to tie the galaxy formation history into the quasar absorption line results.

Program listing for Monday