Susannah Alaghband-Zadeh
Cosmic Collisions in the
Distant Universe
The Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrometer (NIFS) on Gemini North is a
powerful instrument for exploring the gas morphology and dynamics of
galaxies in the far-distant universe. Recent observations of submillimeter
galaxies with NIFS by the author have led to a better understanding of the
origin of intense star formation occurring within these galaxies. The kinematic
properties recorded by NIFS suggest that these systems are actually made up of
galaxy mergers and that these interactions potentially provide the trigger for
rapid star formation.
Some of the most extreme star formation in the universe occurred three billion years after the
Big Bang, in a population of galaxies enshrouded in dust. The high energy (short wavelength)
radiation emitted from the young massive stars in these systems was reprocessed by the