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HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE - Continuing to Collect World Class Science

DAILY REPORT #5197

PERIOD COVERED: 8:00pm October 5 - 7:59pm October 6, 2010 (DOY 279/00:00z-279/23:59z)

FLIGHT OPERATIONS SUMMARY:

Significant Spacecraft Anomalies: (The following are preliminary reports

of potential non-nominal performance that will be investigated.)

HSTARS:

12457 - GSAcq(2,3,3) at 279/15:10:26z resulted in fine lock back-up on FGS2.

           Observations possibly affected WFC3 39-40, Proposal ID#11905

COMPLETED OPS REQUEST: (None)

COMPLETED OPS NOTES: (None)

                       Scheduled   Successful

FGS GSAcq               7              7

FGS REAcq               8              8

OBAD with Maneuver 4              4

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS: (None)

OBSERVATIONS SCHEDULED:

ACS/WFC 11996

CCD Daily Monitor (Part 3)

This program comprises basic tests for measuring the read noise and dark

current of the ACS WFC and for tracking the growth of hot pixels. The

recorded frames are used to create bias and dark reference images for

science data reduction and calibration. This program will be executed

four days per week (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) for the duration of Cycle 17. To

facilitate scheduling, this program is split into three proposals. This

proposal covers 308 orbits (19.25 weeks) from 21 June 2010 to 1 November

2010.

ACS/WFC3 11734

The Hosts of High Redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts

Gamma-ray bursts are the most luminous explosive events known, acting as

beacons to the high redshift universe. Long duration GRBs have their

origin in the collapse of massive stars and thus select star forming

galaxies across a wide range of redshift. Due to their bright afterglows

we can study the details of GRB host galaxies via absorption

spectroscopy, providing redshifts, column densities and metallicities

for galaxies far too faint to be accessible directly with current

technology. We have already obtained deep ground based observations for

many hosts and here propose ACS/WFC3 and WFC3 observations of the fields

of bursts at z>3 which are undetected in deep ground based images. These

observations will study the hosts in emission, providing luminosities

and morphologies and will enable the construction of a sample of high-z

galaxies with more detailed physical properties than has ever been

possible before.

COS/NUV/FUV 12178

Spanning the Reionization History of IGM Helium: a Highly Efficient

Spectral Survey of the Far-UV-Brightest Quasars

The reionization of IGM helium likely occurred at redshifts of z=3 to 4.

Detailed studies of HeII Ly-alpha absorption toward a handful of quasars

at 2.7<z<3.3 confirm the potential of such IGM probes, but the small

sample and redshift range limited confidence in cosmological inferences.

The requisite unobscured sightlines to high redshift are extremely rare;

but we've cross-correlated 10, 000 z>2.8 SDSS DR7 (and other) quasars

with GALEX GR4/5, to identify 630 candidates potentially useful for HST

HeII studies. Our cycle 15-16 HST trials confirm our approach, verifying

twenty new HeII quasars at unprecedented 40% efficiency. We propose to

complete the first efficient (80% with refinements) survey for HeII

quasars, via reconnaissance (~1 orbit) COS spectra of a highly select

subset of 17 SDSS/GALEX quasars at 2.7<z<3.8. Along with past work, this

program will yield 3-4 of the brightest far-UV HeII sightlines within

each of 10-12 redshift bins spanning 2.7<z<3.8, enabling a community

sample suitable for detailed spectral follow-up with HST. Herein, we

will also directly obtain quality UV spectral stacks within each

redshift bin to trace the reionization history of IGM helium; such

spectral stacks average over cosmic variance and individual object

pathology. Our high-yield HeII sightline sample and spectral stacks will

enable confident conclusions about the IGM baryon density, the spectrum

and evolution of the ionizing background, the evolution of HeII opacity,

and the epoch of helium reionization.

COS/NUV/FUV/WFC3/UV 12248

How Dwarf Galaxies Got That Way: Mapping Multiphase Gaseous Halos and

Galactic Winds Below L*

One of the most vexing problems in galaxy formation concerns how gas

accretion and feedback influence the evolution of galaxies. In high mass

galaxies, numerical simulations predict the initial fuel is accreted

through 'cold' streams, after which AGN suppress star formation to leave

galaxies red and gas-poor. In the shallow potential wells that host

dwarf galaxies, gas accretion can be very efficient, and "superwinds"

driven either by hot gas expelled by SNe or momentum imparted by SNe and

hot-star radiation are regarded as the likely source(s) of feedback.

However, major doubts persist about the physics of gas accretion, and

particularly about SN-driven feedback, including their scalings with

halo mass and their influence on the evolution of the galaxies. While

"superwinds" are visible in X-rays near the point of their departure,

they generally drop below detectable surface-brightness limits at ~ 10

kpc. Cold clumps in winds can be detected as blue-shifted absorption

against the galaxy's own starlight, but the radial extent of these winds

are difficult to constrain, leaving their energy, momentum, and ultimate

fate uncertain. Wind prescriptions in hydrodynamical simulations are

uncertain and at present are constrained only by indirect observations,

e.g. by their influence on the stellar masses of galaxies and IGM

metallicity. All these doubts lead to one conclusion: we do not

understand gas accretion and feedback because we generally do not

observe the infall and winds directly, in the extended gaseous halos of

galaxies, when it is happening. To do this effectively, we must harness

the power of absorption-line spectroscopy to measure the density,

temperature, metallicity, and kinematics of small quantities of diffuse

gas in galaxy halos. The most important physical diagnostics lie in the

FUV, so this is uniquely a problem for HST and COS. We propose new COS

G130M and G160M observations of 41 QSOs that probe the gaseous halos of

44 SDSS dwarf galaxies well inside their virial radii. Using sensitive

absorption-line measurements of the multiphase gas diagnostics Lya,

CII/IV, Si II/III/IV, and other species, supplemented by optical data

from SDSS and Keck, we will map the halos of galaxies with L = 0.02 -

0.3 L*, stellar masses M* = 10^(8-10) Msun, over impact parameter from

15 - 150 kpc. These observations will directly constrain the content and

kinematics of accreting and outflowing material, provide a concrete

target for simulations to hit, and statistically test proposed galactic

superwind models. These observations will also inform the study of

galaxies at high z, where the shallow halo potentials that host dwarf

galaxies today were the norm. These observations are low-risk and

routine for COS, easily schedulable, and promise a major advance in our

understanding of how dwarf galaxies came to be.

FGS 11298

Calibrating Cosmological Chronometers: White Dwarf Masses

We propose to use HST/FGS1R to determine White Dwarf {WD} masses. The

unmatched resolving power of HST/FGS1R will be utilized to follow up

four selected WD binary pairs. This high precision obtained with

HST/FGS1R simply cannot be equaled by any ground based technique. This

proposed effort complements that done by CoI Nelan in which a sample of

WDs is being observed with HST/FGS1R. This proposal will dramatically

increase the number of WDs for which dynamical mass measurements are

possible, enabling a better calibration of the WD mass-radius relation,

cooling curves, initial to final mass relations, and ultimately giving

important clues to the star formation history of our Galaxy and the age

of its disk as well as in other galaxies. {This project is part of

Subasavage's PhD thesis work at Georgia State University.}

STIS/CCD 11845

CCD Dark Monitor Part 2

Monitor the darks for the STIS CCD.

STIS/CCD 11847

CCD Bias Monitor-Part 2

Monitor the bias in the 1x1, 1x2, 2x1, and 2x2 bin settings at gain=1,

and 1x1 at gain = 4, to build up high-S/N superbiases and track the

evolution of hot columns.

WFC3/IR 12184

A SNAP Survey for Gravitational Lenses Among z~6 Quasars

We propose a SNAP imaging survey of a complete sample of 54 quasars at

5.7 < z < 6.4 using HST/WFC3-IR to quantify the prevalence of strongly

lensed quasars at z~6. Gravitational lensing magnification bias, boosted

by the observed steep luminosity function of high-redshift quasars,

strongly suggest that lenses should be common amongst the

highest-redshift quasars known. However, the highest redshift strongly

lensed quasar known is only at z=4.8; but among the 59 quasars known at

z>5.9, only five have been imaged with HST. Our HST images will be

sensitive to the multiple images of lensed quasar, even at small

separations and large flux ratios. Based on the current best estimate of

the quasar luminosity function, we expect to discover 2-9 strongly

lensed quasars in our entire sample, or 1-4 for the nominal SNAP

completion rate of 40%. This program will likely discover the first

quasar lenses at z~6, enabling detailed follow-up observations to

constrain lensing models, to study quasar host galaxy properties and to

probe the small-scale structure of the IGM. The measurement of or upper

limit on the lensing fraction will strongly constrain the bright end of

the quasar luminosity function, leading to important constraints on

models of quasar evolution and allowing us to better quantify the quasar

contribution to the reionization photon budget.

WFC3/IR 12217

Spectroscopy of Faint T Dwarf Calibrators: Understanding the Substellar

Mass Function and the Coolest Brown Dwarfs

More than 100 methane brown dwarfs, or T dwarfs, have now been

discovered in the local field with 2MASS, SLOAN and UKIDSS, opening up a

new area of physics describing objects at 450-1400 K. However, very few

calibrator objects exist with well established ages and metallicities. A

very surprising result from the UKIDSS sample (supported by 2MASS and

SLOAN) is that the substellar mass function in the local field appears

to decline to lower masses, in marked contrast to the rising initial

mass function (IMF) observed in young clusters. Given that such a

difference between the present day IMF and the Galactic time-averaged

IMF is unlikely, it is very possible that the apparently falling IMF is

an artifact of serious errors in either T model atmospheres or the

evolutionary isochrones. We propose WFC3 spectroscopy of 4 faint T dwarf

calibrators with well established ages and metallicities in the Pleiades

and Sigma Ori clusters, and 2 faint field T dwarfs from UKIDSS for

comparison. These spectra will constitute vital calibration data for T

dwarf atmospheres with a wide range of surface gravities, which will be

used to test and improve the model atmospheres. They will also aid

preparation for future spectroscopy of the much larger numbers of field

T dwarfs to soon be found by VISTA and WISE. These new surveys will

permit a more precise measurement of the mass function and detection of

even cooler objects.

WFC3/IR 12283

WFC3 Infrared Spectroscopic Parallel Survey (WISP): A Survey of Star

Formation Across Cosmic Time

We will use the unique power of WFC3 slitless spectroscopy to measure

cosmic star formation across its peak epoch. The broad, continuous,

spectral coverage of the G102 and G141 grisms provides the best

currently feasible measurement of the star formation rate continously

from 0.5<z<2.5, over which ground-based searches are severely limited.

Our Cycle 17 pure-parallel grism program has proven efficient for

identifying line emission from galaxies across this large fraction of

cosmic time. With less than two months of WFC3 observing completed, our

new measurments have more than doubled the sample of emission-line

galaxies that we found over the entire NICMOS Parallel Grism program. We

propose to extend this cost-effective WFC3 Survey by using 280 orbits of

pure parallel grism spectroscopy in 50 deep (4-5 orbit) fields with both

G102 and G141, and 40 shallow (2-3 orbit) fields with G141 alone. This

will complete a sample of 2000-3000 emission line galaxies in the

"redshift desert" and search for serendipitous Lya emitters at z>5.5.

Our primary science goals are: (1) Measure ratios of bright emission

lines ([OII], [OIII], Ha, and Hb) in a substantial fraction of these

galaxies, thereby estimating dust and metallicity evolution in a sample

of galaxies that is not biased by photometric selection. (2) Derive an

extinction-corrected Ha luminosity function, with a 20 times larger

sample than our previous NICMOS results. (3) Measure the

mass-metallicity relation at crucial intermediate redshifts, with the

support of our ongoing ground-based, follow-up, observing program (4)

Determine the spectroscopic close pair fraction in this sample, in order

to constrain hierarchal merging models (5) Uncover a new sample of

obscured AGN at these redshifts and, (6) Use the Balmer break diagnostic

to constrain the ages of continuum detected sources down to H = 25.

As a bonus, these observations will be sensitive to Lya emission at

z>5.5, taking advantage of continuous spectral coverage to observe large

volumes for luminous galaxies at the highest redshifts. Over Cycles 17

and 18, we expect to detect 5-20 LAEs over redshifts spanning 5.5 < z <

7.5. These observations will likely place the most stringent constraint

on the numbers of z>6.5 Lya emitters until JWST. We are waiving all

proprietary rights to our data and will make high-level data products

available through the ST/ECF.

WFC3/IR 12286

Hubble Infrared Pure Parallel Imaging Extragalactic Survey (HIPPIES)

WFC3 has demonstrated its unprecedented power in probing the early

universe. Here we propose to continue our pure parallel program with

this instrument to search for LBGs at z~6--8. Our program, dubbed as the

Hubble Infrared Pure Parallel Imaging Extragalactic Survey ("HIPPIES"),

will carry on the HST pure parallel legacy in the new decade. We request

205 orbits in Cycle-18, which will spread over ~ 50 high Galactic

latitude visits (|b|>20deg) that last for 3 orbits and longer, resulting

a total survey area of ~230 square arcmin. Combining the WFC3 pure

parallel observations in Cycle-17, HIPPIES will complement other

existing and forthcoming WFC3 surveys, and will make unique

contributions to the study in the new redshift frontier because of the

randomness of the survey fields. To make full use of the parallel

opportunities, HIPPIES will also take ACS parallels to study LBGs at

z~5--6. Being a pure parallel program, HIPPIES will only make very

limited demand on the scarce HST resources, but will have potentially

large scientific returns. As in previous cycle, we waive all proprietary

data rights, and will make the enhanced data products public in a timely

manner.

(1) The WFC3 part of HIPPIES aims at the most luminous LBG population at

z~8 and z~7. As its survey fields are random and completely

uncorrelated, the number counts of the bright LBGs from HIPPIES will be

least affected by the "cosmic variance", and hence we will be able to

obtain the best constraint on the bright-end of the LBG luminosity

function at z~8 and 7. Comparing the result from HIPPIES to the

hydrodynamic simulations will test the input physics and provide insight

into the nature of the early galaxies. (2) The z~7--8 candidates from

HIPPIES, most of which will be the brightest ones that any surveys would

be able to find, will have the best chance to be spectroscopically

confirmed at the current 8--10m telescopes. (3) The ACS part of HIPPIES

will produce a significant number of candidate LBGs at z~5 and z~6 per

ACS field. Combining with the existing, suitable ACS fields in the HST

archive, we will be able to utilize the random nature of the survey to

quantify

the cosmic variance and to measure the galaxy bias at z~5--6, and

therefore the galaxy halo masses at these redshifts. (4) We will also

find a large number of extremely red, old galaxies at intermediate

redshifts, and the fine spatial resolution offered by the WFC3 will

enable us constrain their formation history based on the study of their

morphology, and hence shed light on their connection to the very early

galaxies in the universe.

WFC3/UV 12019

After the Fall: Fading AGN in Post-starburst Galaxies

We propose joint Chandra and HST observations of an extraordinary sample

of 12 massive post-starburst galaxies at z=0.4-0.8 that are in the

short-lived evolution phase a few 100 Myr after the peak of

merger-driven star formation and AGN activity. We will use the data to

measure X-ray luminosities, black hole masses, and accretion rates; and

with the accurate "clocks" provided by post-starburst stellar

populations, we will directly test theoretical models that predict a

power-law decay in the AGN light curve. We will also test whether star

formation and black hole accretion shut down in lock-step, quantify

whether the black holes transition to radiatively inefficient accretion

states, and constrain the observational signatures of black hole

mergers.

WFC3/UV 12345

UVIS Long Darks Test

Darks during SMOV showed a systematically lower global dark rate as well

as lower scatter when compared to the Cycle 17 darks. Those two sets of

exposures differ in exposure time - 1800 sec during SMOV and 900 sec

during Cycle 17. Hypothetically, the effect could be caused by

short-duration stray light, say ~500-sec in duration. During the latter

part of Cycle 17, operation of WFC3 was changed to additionally block

the light path to the detector with the CSM. This program acquires a

small number of darks at the longer SMOV exposure times (1800 sec) in

order to check whether the effect repeats in the new operating mode.

WFC3/UVIS 11905

WFC3 UVIS CCD Daily Monitor

The behavior of the WFC3 UVIS CCD will be monitored daily with a set of

full-frame, four-amp bias and dark frames. A smaller set of 2Kx4K

subarray biases are acquired at less frequent intervals throughout the

cycle to support subarray science observations. The internals from this

proposal, along with those from the anneal procedure (Proposal 11909),

will be used to generate the necessary superbias and superdark reference

files for the calibration pipeline (CDBS).