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R. Idzi (JHU), H. C. Ferguson, R. Somerville (STScI)
We investigate several fundamental properties of Lyman break galaxies at z ~ 3, 4, 5, and 6 (U, B435, V606, and i775 dropouts, respectively) in the observed Spitzer IRAC bands (~ 3.6 - 8 micron) using a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation. Taking advantage of the exquisite data sets afforded by the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS), we compare the color distributions (ACS - IRAC and IRAC-IRAC) for dropout samples using simulated and real data sets. We conduct our analysis via comparison of the appropriately transformed model data to the properly matched observational data. We present the results of our analysis, including an extensive discussion on the techniques used to transform our simulated data from the model to the observational plane. We also go over the observational data sets used in this project, which includes a discussion on the uncertainties and the methods used in the construction of the properly matched photometric catalogs. Consequently, we present the predicted distributions of the various physical parameters yielded by our models. We discuss the various implications of these results, focusing specifically on what these results tell us about our understanding of the process of star formation in the high redshift universe. Finally, we briefly discuss the future direction of this work.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.