Chuck Steidel
Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astronomy
Caltech 249-17
Pasadena, CA 91125

252 Cahill
phone: 626-395-4168
e-mail: ccs"at"astro.caltech.edu

Teaching, 2015-16

• Ay 122a- Astronomical Measurements and Instrumentation (Fall 2015/16)
• Ay 124 - Structure and Dynamics of Galaxies (Winter 2015/16)

Current Research

• Our group's primary interest is the connection between galaxy formation and the intergalactic medium in the context of the development of structure in the universe. We use the W.M. Keck Observatory (2 10m optical/IR telescopes) and the Palomar Observatory (200-inch telescope) as primary tools for most of our work, supplemented using data from Hubble, Spitzer, and Chandra space telescopes, among others.
• MOSFIRE : Multi-object Spectrometer for Infrared Exploration, is a near-IR imaging multiobject spectrograph and imager built for the Keck 1 telescope by Caltech and UCLA. MOSFIRE was commissioned in the summer of 2012, and since that time has been the most-requested instrument at WMKO. I was co-PI and Project Scientist (2004-2012). A large fraction of the current science in my group involves data obtained with MOSFIRE. A paper describing MOSFIRE as presented at the 2012 SPIE meeting can be found here .
• A large fraction of our research involves spectroscopic surveys of star-forming galaxies and intergalactic and circum-galactic gas within carefully-controlled volumes at high redshift. Many of our current projects involve data obtained as part of The Keck Baryonic Structure Survey (KBSS) .
• Reconciling the stellar and nebular spectra of high redshift galaxies (KBSS-LM)

Some recent papers from our "group"...

• The Spectroscopic Properties of Lyman-alpha Emitters at z~2.7: Escaping Gas and Photons from Faint Galaxies
• Detection of hot, metal-enriched outflowing gas around z~2.3 star-forming galaxies in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey
• Metal-line absorption around z~2.4 star-forming galaxies in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey
• Strong Nebular Line Ratios in the Spectra of z~2-3 Star-forming Galaxies: First Results from KBSS-MOSFIRE
• Constraints on Hyperluminous QSO Lifetimes via Fluorescent Ly-alpha Emitters at Z ~= 2.7
• The Characteristic Star Formation Histories of Galaxies at Redshifts z~2-7
• The halo masses and galaxy environments of hyperluminous QSOs at z~2.7 in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey
• The Gaseous Environment of High-z Galaxies: Precision Measurements of Neutral Hydrogen in the Circumgalactic Medium of z ~ 2-3 Galaxies in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey
• Diffuse Lyman Alpha Emitting Halos: A Generic Property of High Redshift Star Forming Galaxies
• Narrowband imaging of Escaping Lyman-Continuum Emission in the SSA22 Field
• Calibrating Galaxy Redshifts Using Absorption by the Surrounding Intergalactic Medium
• The Structure and Kinematics of the Circum-Galactic Medium from Far-UV Spectra of z~2-3 Galaxies
• The Kiloparsec-Scale Kinematics of High-Redshift Star-Forming Galaxies

Curriculum Vitae (PDF format)

Publication List (refereed only) (ADS)