Catherine T. Marx

Bio: Catherine T. Marx is an academic researcher from Goddard Space Flight Center. The author has contributed to research in topics: Telescope & Grism. The author has an hindex of 9, co-authored 34 publications receiving 3691 citations.

The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) for the Spitzer Space Telescope

Abstract: The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) is one of three focal plane instruments on the Spitzer Space Telescope. IRAC is a four-channel camera that obtains simultaneous broadband images at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 � m. Two nearly adjacent 5A2 ; 5A2 fields of view in the focal plane are viewed by the four channels in pairs (3.6 and 5.8 � m; 4.5 and 8 � m). All four detector arrays in the camera are 256 ; 256 pixels in size, with the two shorter wavelength channels using InSb and the two longer wavelength channels using Si:As IBC detectors. IRAC is a powerful survey instrument because of its high sensitivity, large field of view, and four-color imaging. This paper summarizes the in-flight scientific, technical, and operational performance of IRAC.

In-flight performance and calibration of the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) for the Spitzer Space Telescope

Abstract: The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) is one of three focal plane instruments on board the Spitzer Space Telescope. IRAC is a four-channel camera that obtains simultaneous broad-band images at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 μm in two nearly adjacent fields of view. We summarize here the in-flight scientific, technical, and operational performance of IRAC.

GISMO: a 2-millimeter bolometer camera for the IRAM 30 m telescope

Abstract: We are building a bolometer camera (the Goddard-Iram Superconducting 2-Millimeter Observer, GISMO) for operation in the 2 mm atmospheric window to be used at the IRAM 30 m telescope. The instrument uses a 8x16 planar array of multiplexed TES bolometers which incorporates our newly designed Backshort Under Grid (BUG) architecture. Due to the size and sensitivity of the detector array (the NEP of the detectors is 4×10-17 W/√Hz), this instrument will be unique in that it will be capable of providing significantly greater imaging sensitivity and mapping speed at this wavelength than has previously been possible. The major scientific driver for this instrument is to provide the IRAM 30 m telescope with the capability to rapidly observe galactic and extragalactic dust emission, in particular from high-z ULIRGs and quasars, even in the summer season. The 2 mm spectral range provides a unique window to observe the earliest active dusty galaxies in the universe and is well suited to better confine the star formation rate in these objects. The instrument will fill in the SEDs of high redshift galaxies at the Rayleigh-Jeans part of the dust emission spectrum, even at the highest redshifts. The observational efficiency of a 2 mm camera with respect to bolometer cameras operating at shorter wavelengths increases for objects at redshifts beyond z ~ 1 and is most efficient at the highest redshifts, at the time when the first stars were re-ionizing the universe. Our models predict that at this wavelength one out of four serendipitously detected galaxies will be at a redshift of z > 6.5.

GISMO, a 2 mm Bolometer Camera Optimized for the Study of High Redshift Galaxies

Abstract: The 2 mm spectral range provides a unique terrestrial window enabling ground based observations of the earliest active dusty galaxies in the universe and thereby allowing a better constraint on the star formation rate in these objects. We have built GISMO (the Goddard-IRAM Superconducting 2-Millimeter Observer), a 2 mm, 128 element superconducting Transition Edge Sensor (TES) based bolometer camera for the IRAM 30 m telescope in Spain. The camera uses an 8×16 planar array of multiplexed TES bolometers, which incorporates our recently designed Backshort Under Grid (BUG) architecture, described elsewhere. The optical design incorporates a 100 mm (4 inches) diameter silicon lens cooled to 4 K, which provides the required fast beam of 0.9 λ/D. With this spatial sampling, GISMO will be very efficient at detecting sources serendipitously in large sky surveys, while the capability for diffraction-limited observations is preserved. With the background limited performance of the detectors, the camera provides significantly greater imaging sensitivity and mapping speed at this wavelength than has previously been possible. The major scientific driver for the instrument is to provide the IRAM 30 m telescope with the capability to rapidly observe galactic and extragalactic dust emission, in particular from high-z Ultra Luminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs) and quasars, even in the summer season. The instrument will fill in the SEDs of high redshift galaxies at the Rayleigh-Jeans part of the dust emission spectrum, even at the highest redshifts. Our source count models predict that GISMO will serendipitously detect one galaxy every four hours on the blank sky, and that one quarter of these galaxies will be at a redshift of z 6.5. We expect to install GISMO at the 30 m telescope in the second half of 2007.

Angle-of-incidence effects in the spectral performance of the infrared array camera of the Spitzer Space Telescope

Abstract: The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on board the Spitzer Space Telescope uses two dichroic beamsplitters, four interference filters, and four detector arrays to acquire images in four different channels with nominal wavelengths of 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8 μm for channels 1 through 4 respectively. A ray-tracing analysis of the IRAC optical system indicates a distribution of angles that is position-dependent at each optical element and the focal-plane arrays. For the band-pass filters in channels 1 and 2, the angle distribution relative to the filter surface normal is 0-28°, whereas for channels 3 and 4, the distribution is from 30° to 58°. Since these angle variations will cause changes in the center-band wavelengths for these interference filters that needed to be accounted for, we performed spectral performance measurements as a function of the angle of incidence on witness samples corresponding to each of the four filters and the two beamsplitters in the IRAC instrument. These measurements were done in the 2-10 μm wavelength range and at the temperature of 5 K, which is near the operating temperature of IRAC. Based on these filter measurements, we also performed an analysis of the pass-band wavelength distributions as a function of position on the instrument focal-plane array detectors. This information is necessary to attain the highest possible photometric accuracy when using IRAC for astronomical observations.

The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) for the Spitzer Space Telescope

Abstract: The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) is one of three focal plane instruments in the Spitzer Space Telescope. IRAC is a four-channel camera that obtains simultaneous broad-band images at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 microns. Two nearly adjacent 5.2x5.2 arcmin fields of view in the focal plane are viewed by the four channels in pairs (3.6 and 5.8 microns; 4.5 and 8 microns). All four detector arrays in the camera are 256x256 pixels in size, with the two shorter wavelength channels using InSb and the two longer wavelength channels using Si:As IBC detectors. IRAC is a powerful survey instrument because of its high sensitivity, large field of view, and four-color imaging. This paper summarizes the in-flight scientific, technical, and operational performance of IRAC.

The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) for the Spitzer Space Telescope

Abstract: The Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) is one of three focal plane instruments on the Spitzer Space Telescope. IRAC is a four-channel camera that obtains simultaneous broadband images at 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 � m. Two nearly adjacent 5A2 ; 5A2 fields of view in the focal plane are viewed by the four channels in pairs (3.6 and 5.8 � m; 4.5 and 8 � m). All four detector arrays in the camera are 256 ; 256 pixels in size, with the two shorter wavelength channels using InSb and the two longer wavelength channels using Si:As IBC detectors. IRAC is a powerful survey instrument because of its high sensitivity, large field of view, and four-color imaging. This paper summarizes the in-flight scientific, technical, and operational performance of IRAC.

The Spitzer Space Telescope mission

Abstract: The Spitzer Space Telescope, NASA's Great Observatory for infrared astronomy, was launched 2003 August 25 and is returning excellent scientific data from its Earth-trailing solar orbit. Spitzer combines the intrinsic sensitivity achievable with a cryogenic telescope in space with the great imaging and spectroscopic power of modern detector arrays to provide the user community with huge gains in capability for exploration of the cosmos in the infrared. The observatory systems are largely performing as expected, and the projected cryogenic lifetime is in excess of 5 years. This paper summarizes the on-orbit scientific, technical, and operational performance of Spitzer. Subsequent papers in this special issue describe the Spitzer instruments in detail and highlight many of the exciting scientific results obtained during the first 6 months of the Spitzer mission.

The Star Formation Efficiency in Nearby Galaxies: Measuring Where Gas Forms Stars Effectively

Abstract: We measure the star formation efficiency (SFE), the star formation rate (SFR) per unit of gas, in 23 nearby galaxies and compare it with expectations from proposed star formation laws and thresholds. We use H I maps from The H I Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS) and derive H2 maps of CO measured by HERA CO-Line Extragalactic Survey and Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Association Survey of Nearby Galaxies. We estimate the SFR by combining Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) far-ultraviolet maps and the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS) 24 ?m maps, infer stellar surface density profiles from SINGS 3.6 ?m data, and use kinematics from THINGS. We measure the SFE as a function of the free fall and orbital timescales, midplane gas pressure, stability of the gas disk to collapse (including the effects of stars), the ability of perturbations to grow despite shear, and the ability of a cold phase to form. In spirals, the SFE of H2 alone is nearly constant at (5.25 ? 2.5) ? 10?10 yr?1 (equivalent to an H2 depletion time of 1.9 ? 109 yr) as a function of all of these variables at our 800 pc resolution. Where the interstellar medium (ISM) is mostly H I, however, the SFE decreases with increasing radius in both spiral and dwarf galaxies, a decline reasonably described by an exponential with scale length 0.2r 25-0.25r 25. We interpret this decline as a strong dependence of giant molecular cloud (GMC) formation on environment. The ratio of molecular-to-atomic gas appears to be a smooth function of radius, stellar surface density, and pressure spanning from the H2-dominated to H I-dominated ISM. The radial decline in SFE is too steep to be reproduced only by increases in the free-fall time or orbital time. Thresholds for large-scale instability suggest that our disks are stable or marginally stable and do not show a clear link to the declining SFE. We suggest that ISM physics below the scales that we observe?phase balance in the H I, H2 formation and destruction, and stellar feedback?governs the formation of GMCs from H I.

The reversal of the star formation-density relation in the distant universe

Abstract: Aims We study the relationship between the local environment of galaxies and their star formation rate (SFR) in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey, GOODS, at z∼1 Methods We use ultradeep imaging at 24� m with the MIPS camera onboard Spitzer to determine the contribution of obscured light to the SFR of galaxies over the redshift range 08≤ z ≤12 Accurate galaxy densities are measured thanks to the large sample of ∼1200 spectroscopic redshifts with high (∼70 %) spectroscopic completeness Morphology and stellar masses are derived from deep HST-ACS imaging, supplemented by ground based imaging programs and photometry from the IRAC camera onboard Spitzer Results We show that the star formation‐density relation observed locally was reversed at z∼ 1: the average SFR of an individual galaxy increased with local galaxy density when the universe was less than half its present age Hierarchical galaxy for mation models (simulated lightcones from the Millennium model) predicted such a reversal to occur only at earlier epochs (z>2) and at a lower level We present a remarkable structure at z∼ 1016, containing X-ray traced galaxy concentrations, which will eventually merge into a Virgo-like cluster This structure illustrates how the ind ividual SFR of galaxies increases with density and shows that it is the∼1‐2 Mpc scale that affects most the star formation in galaxies at z∼ 1 The SFR of z∼ 1 galaxies is found to correlate with stellar mass suggesting that mass plays a role in the observed star formation‐density trend However the specific SFR ( =SFR/M⋆) decreases with stellar mass while it increases with galaxy density, which i mplies that the environment does directly affect the star formation activity of galaxies Major mergers do not appear to be the unique or even major cause for this effect since nearly half (46 %) of the luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) at z∼ 1 present the HST-ACS morphology of spirals, while only a third present a clear signature of major mergers The remaining galaxies are divided into compact (9 %) and irregular (14 %) galaxies Moreover, the specific SFR o f major mergers is only marginally stronger than that of spirals Conclusions These findings constrain the influence of the growth of large- scale structures on the star formation history of galaxies Reproducing the SFR‐density relation at z∼ 1 is a new challenge for models, requiring a correct balance between mass assembly through mergers and in-situ star formation at early epochs