Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Jul 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002hst..prop.9401c&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #9401
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Hst Proposal Id #9401
Scientific paper
We propose the most comprehensive imaging survey to date of low-redshift, early-type galaxies. Our goal is to exploit the exceptional imaging capabilities of the ACS by acquiring deep images -- in the SDSS g^ and z^ bandpasses -- for 163 E, S0, dE, dE, N and dS0 galaxies in Virgo, the nearest rich cluster. This extraordinary dataset would likely constitute one of the principal legacies of HST, and would have widespread applications for many diverse areas of astrophysics. Our immediate scientific objectives are threefold: {1} measure metallicities, ages and radii for the many thousands of globular clusters {GCs} in these galaxies, and use this information to derive the protogalactic mass spectrum of each galaxy; {2} measure the central luminosity and color profile of each galaxy, and use this information to carry out a completely independent test of the merging hierarchy inferred from the GCs, with the aid of N-body codes that simulate the merger of galaxies containing massive black holes; and {3} calibrate the z^ -band SBF method, measure Virgo's 3-D structure, and carry out the definitive study of the GC luminosity function's precision as a standard candle. Our proposed Virgo Cluster Survey will yield a database of unprecedented depth, precision and uniformity, and will enable us to study the record of galaxy and cluster formation in a level of detail which will never be possible with more distant systems.
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