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The First Stars and Galaxies: Challenges for the Next Decade Participants
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Poster
Title: Observing the First Stars in Luminous Red Galaxies Author(s): Sara Heap Abstract: Modern cosmological simulations predict that the first stars are to be found today in luminous, red galaxies (aka giant ellipticals). Although observing such stars individually against a background sea of slightly younger, metal-rich stars is impossible, the first stars should make their presence known by their strong, line-free ultraviolet flux. We have found evidence for a UV-bright stellar population in Sloan spectra of LRG's at z=0.4-0.5. I will show the observational evidence, describe three possible interpretations of the UV-bright stellar population (young stars, blue straggler stars in the dominant, metal-rich stellar population, and very-low-metallicity stars), and present arguments for interpreting the UV-bright stellar population as the first or near-to-first stars.
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