Kristen Shapiro
University of California at Berkeley
Abstract:
I will present recent results from the SINS study of spatially resolved galaxy kinematics at z~2. This observing program is made possible by the new class of integral-field spectrographs that operate in the infrared with high spatial and spectral resolution. I will discuss how these instruments, coupled with recently-available adaptive optics systems on 10-m class telescopes, enable us to probe in detail galaxy formation in the early Universe. Such studies reveal a surprising Universe, in which massive disks are already in place, after an apparent very rapid assembly. I will focus primarily on our observations of BzK-15504, which represent the highest spatial resolution study of a z~2 galaxy to date and which give us insight into mass assembly, star formation trigger mechanisms, and bulge formation in the early Universe.