Peer reviewed: NoNRC publication: Ye

We have observed nine QSOs with redshifts of 0.85 to 4.16 at near-infrared wavelengths with PUEO, the Adaptive Optics (AO) Bonnette of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Exposure times ranged from 1500 to 24,000 s (mostly near 7000 s) in the J, H, and/or K bands with pixels 0035 on the sky. The FWHMs of the co-added images at the location of the quasars are typically 016. Including another QSO published previously, we find associated QSO structure in at least eight of 10 objects, including the QSO at z = 4.16. The structures seen in all cases include long, faint features that appear to be tidal tails. In four cases we have also resolved the QSO host galaxies, but we find them to be smooth and symmetric. Future point-spread function removal may expand this result. Of the nine objects (including one object previously reported) with more extended structure, five are radio-loud, and all but one of these appear to be in a dense, small group of compact galaxy companions. The radio-quiet objects do not occupy the same dense environments as seen in the near-infrared. In this small sample we do not find any apparent trends of these properties with redshift over the range 0.8 < z < 2.4. The colors of the host galaxies and companions are consistent with young stellar populations at the QSO redshift. Our observations suggest that AO observations in the visible region will exhibit luminous signatures of the substantial star formation activity that must be occurring.

As part of the Center for Adaptive Optics (AO) Treasury Survey (CATS) we imaged a set of 15 intermediate redshift (z ~ 0.8) luminous infrared (IR) galaxies (LIRGs) with the Keck Laser Guide Star (LGS) AO facility. These galaxies were selected from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) southern field, allowing us to combine the high spatial resolution Hubble Space Telescope optical (B, V, i, and z-bands) images with our near-infrared (K'-band) images to study the LIRG morphologies and spatially resolved spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Two thirds of the LIRGs are disk galaxies, with only one third showing some evidence for interactions, minor, or major mergers. In contrast with local LIRG disks (which are primarily barred systems), only 10% of the LIRG disks in our sample contain a prominent bar. While the optical bands tend to show a significant point-like substructure, indicating distributed star formation, the AO K-band images tend to be smooth. They lack point-like structures to a K ~ 23.5 limit. This places an upper bound on the number of red super giants per blue knot at less than 4000. The SEDs of the LIRGs are consistent with distributed dusty star formation, as exhibited by optical to IR colors redder than allowed by old stellar populations alone. This effect is most pronounced in the galaxy cores, possibly indicating central star formation. We also observed a set of 11 intermediate redshift comparison galaxies, selected to be non-ellipticals with apparent K-band magnitudes comparable to the LIRGs. The "normal" (non-LIRG) systems tended to have lower optical luminosity, lower stellar mass, and more irregular morphology than the LIRGs. Half of the "normal" galaxies have SEDs consistent with intermediate aged stellar populations and minimal dust. The other half show evidence for some dusty star formation, usually concentrated in their cores. Our work suggests that the LIRG disk galaxies are similar to large disk systems today, undergoing self-regulated star formation, only at 10-20 times higher rates.

Peer reviewed: NoNRC publication: Ye

While optical and radio transient surveys have enjoyed a renaissance over the past decade, the dynamic infrared sky remains virtually unexplored. The infrared is a powerful tool for probing transient events in dusty regions that have high optical extinction, and for detecting the coolest of stars that are bright only at these wavelengths. The fundamental roadblocks in studying the infrared time-domain have been the overwhelmingly bright sky background (250 times brighter than optical) and the narrow field-of-view of infrared cameras (largest is 0.6 sq deg). To begin to address these challenges and open a new observational window in the infrared, we present Palomar Gattini-IR: a 25 sq degree, 300mm aperture, infrared telescope at Palomar Observatory that surveys the entire accessible sky (20,000 sq deg) to a depth of 16.4 AB mag (J band, 1.25um) every night. Palomar Gattini-IR is wider in area than every existing infrared camera by more than a factor of 40 and is able to survey large areas of sky multiple times. We anticipate the potential for otherwise infeasible discoveries, including, for example, the elusive electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave detections. With dedicated hardware in hand, and a F/1.44 telescope available commercially and cost-effectively, Palomar Gattini-IR will be on-sky in early 2017 and will survey the entire accessible sky every night for two years. Palomar Gattini-IR will pave the way for a dual hemisphere, infrared-optimized, ultra-wide field high cadence machine called Turbo Gattini-IR. To take advantage of the low sky background at 2.5 um, two identical systems will be located at the polar sites of the South Pole, Antarctica and near Eureka on Ellesmere Island, Canada. Turbo Gattini-IR will survey 15,000 sq. degrees to a depth of 20AB, the same depth of the VISTA VHS survey, every 2 hours with a survey efficiency of 97%.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, published in SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016, from Proc. SPIE 9908, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI, 990842 (August 9, 2016