Lyman Alpha Emitting Galaxies at High Redshift: Direct Detection of Young Galaxies in a Young Universe [Paperback]

Steven Arthur Dawson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 21, 2005

As late as 1995, the anticipated widespread population of primeval galaxies remained at large, lurking undetected at unknown redshifts, with undiscovered properties. We present results from our efforts to detect and characterize primeval galaxies by their signature high-redshift Lyman-alpha emission lines utilizing two observational techniques: serendipitous slit spectroscopy and narrowband imaging. By pushing these techniques to their utmost limits, we probe the Lyman-alpha-emitting galaxy population out to redshifts as high as z = 6.5. Galaxies at this epoch reside in a universe which is just 800 million years old, a mere 6% of its current age. As such, this work provides one account of the manner by which observational cosmology has recently shifted from merely marveling at the incredible lookback times implied by the first few high-redshift detections, to the routine assembly of high-redshift datasets designed to address specific astrophysical issues.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steve Dawson received his B.S. in physics and his B.A. in philosophy from the University of California, Irvine, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of California, Berkeley. He currently resides in Oakland, California, where he enjoys scuba diving, rock and roll, and the pursuit of various adventures.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Dissertation.Com. (November 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581122942
• ISBN-13: 978-1581122947
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,118,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read Ph.D. thesis for the ages, December 8, 2005

By 

John A. Johnson "BOOKer T. Washington" (Albany, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lyman Alpha Emitting Galaxies at High Redshift: Direct Detection of Young Galaxies in a Young Universe (Paperback)

Breathtaking in its scope, dazzling in its depth, Lyman Alpha Emitting Galaxies at High Redshift is a nonfiction thriller that takes you on an emotional rollercoaster ride, leaving you gasping for air and begging for more. Whether you are a veteran spectroscopist or a newcomer to the field, Mr. Dawson's enthusiasm for the subject matter and charming writing style will pull you in and emerse you into a world rich in red-shifted photons and legible plot axes. Buy a copy of Lyman Alpha Emitting Galaxies at High Redshift, strap yourself in and enjoy the ride of a lifetime!

5.0 out of 5 stars First Latin, now this., January 25, 2008

By 

Timothy Robishaw (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lyman Alpha Emitting Galaxies at High Redshift: Direct Detection of Young Galaxies in a Young Universe (Paperback)

The field of Lyman-alpha emitting galaxies at high redshift is dying. Buy this book and give it to your children. Ask the author to come back from moneyworld and revive his old field. Do you see anyone stepping up to fill his shoes? Not likely.

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Doctor' Steven Arthur Dawson Comes Out In Style!, December 27, 2005

By 

R. A. Cox "Schlieren" (True Love Waits, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lyman Alpha Emitting Galaxies at High Redshift: Direct Detection of Young Galaxies in a Young Universe (Paperback)

Steven Arthur Dawson would like you to know something, but he's just a LITTLE bit shy about it. (tee hee!) His proclivities in private life are really none of our business, nor do we want them to be, and yet, like Yukio Mishima's "Confessions of a Mask", he just can't but HELP to make it so.

These two statements, on their bald, pink, and--dare I say it--quivering faces, would seem to be in direct contradiction. But really now, let's be honest: how many times can the words 'turgid', 'dark energy' and 'buttocks' appear in the same work of nonfiction? About 'cosmology', nonetheless?! (Don't know what sort of book lernin' yew gawt out there in California, yew fr'dum-hatin' San Diefranciscanitionites!)

At first, the bullhorn of luridity rang falsely in my ear, even played, as it were, six (perhaps eight) inches from it at THAT. Eventually, however, as the primordial 'Big' bang subsided, and the afterglow of Creation took hold, the elegant choice of metaphor--Multiverse-As-Onanism--reminded me of yet another work of curiously Japanese fiction, namely Junichiro Tanizaki's "The Makioka Sisters". In that work of fiction, the author managed to control his utter disgust for the depiction he chose to represent up until the ultimate sentence of the work, and there remarkably subtly at that: the bride-to-be's diarrhea.

In this piece, however, disgust is not the motivation. Instead, it is the joy and existential ecstasy of a gay man at peace with the multiverse, and his place within it.