The timing and duration of the reionization epoch is crucial to the emergence and evolution of structure in the universe. The relative roles that star-forming galaxies, active galactic nuclei and quasars play in contributing to the metagalactic ionizing background across cosmic time remains uncertain. Deep quasar counts provide insights into their role, but the potentially crucial contribution from star-formation is highly uncertain due to our poor understanding of the processes that allow ionizing radiation to escape into the intergalactic medium (IGM). The fraction of ionizing photons that escape from star-forming galaxies is a fundamental free parameter used in models to "fine-tune" the timing and duration of the reionization epoch that occurred somewhere between 13.4 and 12.7 Gyrs ago (redshifts between 12 > z > 6). However, direct observation of Lyman continuum (LyC) photons emitted below the rest frame \ion{H}{1} ionization edge at 912 \AA\ is increasingly improbable at redshifts z > 3, due to the steady increase of intervening Lyman limit systems towards high z. Thus UV and U-band optical bandpasses provide the only hope for direct, up close and in depth, observations of the types of environment that favor LyC escape. By quantifying the evolution over the past 11 billion years (z < 3) of the relationships between LyC escape and local and global parameters ..., we can provide definitive information on the LyC escape fraction that is so crucial to answering the question of, how did the universe come to be ionized? Here we provide estimates of the ionizing continuum flux emitted by "characteristic" (L_{uv}^*) star-forming galaxies as a function of look back time and escape fraction, finding that at z = 1 (7.6 Gyrs ago) L_{uv}^* galaxies with an escape fraction of 1% have a flux of 10^{-19} ergs cm^{-2} s^{-1} \AA^{-1}.

We use GALEX ultraviolet (UV) and optical integrated photometry of the hosts of seventeen luminous supernovae (LSNe, having peak M_V < -21) and compare them to a sample of 26,000 galaxies from a cross-match between the SDSS DR4 spectral catalog and GALEX interim release 1.1. We place the LSNe hosts on the galaxy NUV-r versus M_r color magnitude diagram (CMD) with the larger sample to illustrate how extreme they are. The LSN hosts appear to favor low-density regions of the galaxy CMD falling on the blue edge of the blue cloud toward the low luminosity end. From the UV-optical photometry, we estimate the star formation history of the LSN hosts. The hosts have moderately low star formation rates (SFRs) and low stellar masses (M_*) resulting in high specific star formation rates (sSFR). Compared with the larger sample, the LSN hosts occupy low-density regions of a diagram plotting sSFR versus M_* in the area having higher sSFR and lower M_*. This preference for low M_*, high sSFR hosts implies the LSNe are produced by an effect having to do with their local environment. The correlation of mass with metallicity suggests that perhaps wind-driven mass loss is the factor that prevents LSNe from arising in higher-mass, higher-metallicity hosts. The massive progenitors of the LSNe (>100 M_sun), by appearing in low-SFR hosts, are potential tests for theories of the initial mass function that limit the maximum mass of a star based on the SFR.

We characterize the star formation in the low-metallicity galaxy NGC 6822 over the past few hundred million years, using GALEX far-UV (FUV, 1344-1786 A) and near-UV (NUV, 1771-2831 A) imaging, and ground-based Ha imaging. From GALEX FUV image, we define 77 star-forming (SF) regions with area >860 pc^2, and surface brightness <=26.8 mag(AB)arcsec^-2, within 0.2deg (1.7kpc) of the center of the galaxy. We estimate the extinction by interstellar dust in each SF region from resolved photometry of the hot stars it contains: E(B-V) ranges from the minimum foreground value of 0.22mag up to 0.66+-0.21mag. The integrated FUV and NUV photometry, compared with stellar population models, yields ages of the SF complexes up to a few hundred Myr, and masses from 2x10^2 Msun to 1.5x10^6 Msun. The derived ages and masses strongly depend on the assumed type of interstellar selective extinction, which we find to vary across the galaxy. The total mass of the FUV-defined SF regions translates into an average star formation rate (SFR) of 1.4x10^-2 Msun/yr over the past 100 Myr, and SFR=1.0x10^-2 Msun/yr in the most recent 10 Myr. The latter is in agreement with the value that we derive from the Ha luminosity, SFR=0.008 Msun/yr. The SFR in the most recent epoch becomes higher if we add the SFR=0.02 Msun/yr inferred from far-IR measurements, which trace star formation still embedded in dust (age <= a few Myr).

We have discovered recent star formation in the outermost portion (1-4x R_25) of the nearby lenticular (S0) galaxy NGC 404 using GALEX UV imaging. FUV-bright sources are strongly concentrated within the galaxy's HI ring (formed by a merger event according to del Rio et al.), even though the average gas density is dynamically subcritical. Archival HST imaging reveals resolved upper main sequence stars and conclusively demonstrates that the UV light originates from recent star formation activity. We present FUV, NUV radial surface brightness profiles and integrated magnitudes for NGC 404. Within the ring, the average star formation rate surface density (Sigma_{SFR}) is 2.2x10^-5 Msun/yr/kpc^2. Of the total FUV flux, 70% comes from the HI ring which is forming stars at a rate of 2.5x10^-3 Msun/yr. The gas consumption timescale, assuming a constant SFR and no gas recycling, is several times the age of the Universe. In the context of the UV-optical galaxy CMD, the presence of the SF HI ring places NGC 404 in the green valley separating the red and blue sequences. The rejuvenated lenticular galaxy has experienced a merger-induced, disk-building excursion away from the red sequence toward bluer colors, where it may evolve quiescently or (if appropriately triggered) experience a burst capable of placing it on the blue/star-forming sequence for up to ~1 Gyr. The green valley galaxy population is heterogeneous, with most systems transitioning from blue to red but others evolving in the opposite sense due to acquisition of fresh gas through various channels.

We measure the UV-optical colour dependence of galaxy clustering in the local Universe. Using the clean separation of the red and blue sequences made possible by the NUV - r colour-magnitude diagram, we segregate the galaxies into red, blue and intermediate 'green' classes. We explore the clustering as a function of this segregation by removing the dependence on luminosity and by excluding edge-on galaxies as a means of a non-model dependent veto of highly extincted galaxies. We find that xi(r(p), pi) for both red and green galaxies shows strong redshift-space distortion on small scales - the 'finger-of-God' effect, with green galaxies having a lower amplitude than is seen for the red sequence, and the blue sequence showing almost no distortion. On large scales, xi(r(p), pi) for all three samples show the effect of large-scale streaming from coherent infall. On scales of 1 h-1 Mpc < r(p) < 10 h-1 Mpc, the projected auto-correlation function w(p)(r(p)) for red and green galaxies fits a power law with slope gamma similar to 1.93 and amplitude r(0) similar to 7.5 and 5.3, compared with gamma similar to 1.75 and r(0) similar to 3.9 h-1 Mpc for blue sequence galaxies. Compared to the clustering of a fiducial L* galaxy, the red, green and blue have a relative bias of 1.5, 1.1 and 0.9, respectively. The w(p)(r(p)) for blue galaxies display an increase in convexity at similar to 1 h-1 Mpc, with an excess of large-scale clustering. Our results suggest that the majority of blue galaxies are likely central galaxies in less massive haloes, while red and green galaxies have larger satellite fractions, and preferentially reside in virialized structures. If blue sequence galaxies migrate to the red sequence via processes like mergers or quenching that take them through the green valley, such a transformation may be accompanied by a change in environment in addition to any change in luminosity and colour.

We investigate the nature of the star formation law at low gas surface densities using a sample of 19 low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies with existing H i maps in the literature, UV imaging from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer satellite, and optical images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. All of the LSB galaxies have (NUV − r) colors similar to those for higher surface brightness star-forming galaxies of similar luminosity indicating that their average star formation histories are not very different. Based upon four LSB galaxies with both UV and far-infrared (FIR) data, we find FIR/UV ratios significantly less than 1, implying low amounts of internal UV extinction in LSB galaxies. We use the UV images and H i maps to measure the star formation rate (SFR) and hydrogen gas surface density within the same region for all the galaxies. The LSB galaxy star formation rate surface densities lie below the extrapolation of the power law fit to the SFR surface density as a function of the total gas density for higher surface brightness galaxies. Although there is more scatter, the LSB galaxies also lie below a second version of the star formation law in which the SFR surface density is correlated with the gas density divided by the orbital time in the disk. The downturn seen in both star formation laws is consistent with theoretical models that predict lower star formation efficiencies in LSB galaxies due to the declining molecular fraction with decreasing density.

Stephan R. McCandliss (jhu.edu), B-G Andersson (usra.edu), Nils Bergvall (uu.se), Luciana Bianchi (jhu.edu), Carrie Bridge (caltech.edu), Milan Bogosavljevic (caltech.edu), Seth H. Cohen (asu.edu), Jean-Michel Deharveng (oamp.fr), W. Van Dyke Dixon (jhu.edu), Harry Ferguson (stsci.edu), Peter Friedman (caltech.edu), Matthew Hayes (unige.ch), Akio Inoue (osaka-sandai.ac.jp), Ikuru Iwata (nao.ac.jp), Mary Elizabeth Kaiser (jhu.edu), Jeffrey Kruk (jhu.edu), Alexander S. Kutyrev (gsfc.nasa.gov), Claus Leitherer (stsci.edu), Gerhardt R. Meurer (jhu.edu), Jason X. Prochaska (ucolick.edu), George Sonneborn (gsfc.nasa.gov), Massimo Stiavelli (stsci.edu), Harry I. Teplitz (caltech.edu), Rogier A Windhorst (asu.edu)

Studying the environments of 0.4 < z < 1.2 ultraviolet (UV)-selected galaxies, as examples of extreme star-forming galaxies (with star formation rates (SFRs) in the range of 3-30 M-circle dot yr(-1)), we explore the relationship between high rates of star formation, host halo mass, and pair fractions. We study the large-and small-scale environments of local ultraviolet luminous galaxies (UVLGs) by measuring angular correlation functions. We cross-correlate these systems with other galaxy samples: a volume-limited sample (ALL), a blue luminous galaxy sample, and a luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample. We determine the UVLG comoving correlation length to be r(0) = 4.8(-2.4)(+11.6) h(-1) Mpc at < z > = 1.0, which is unable to constrain the halo mass for this sample. However, we find that UVLGs form close (separation < 30 kpc) pairs with the ALL sample, but do not frequently form pairs with LRGs. A rare subset of UVLGs, those with the highest FUV surface brightnesses, are believed to be local analogs of high-redshift Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) and are called Lyman break analogs (LBAs). LBGs and LBAs share similar characteristics (i.e., color, size, surface brightness, specific SFRs, metallicities, and dust content). Recent Hubble Space Telescope images of z similar to 0.2 LBAs show disturbed morphologies, signs of mergers and interactions. UVLGs may be influenced by interactions with other galaxies and we discuss this result in terms of other high star-forming, merging systems.

We present a detailed study of the Galaxy Evolution Explorer's (GALEX) photometric catalogs with special focus on the statistical properties of the All-sky and Medium Imaging Surveys. We introduce the concept of primaries to resolve the issue of multiple detections and follow a geometric approach to define clean catalogs with well understood selection functions. We cross-identify the GALEX sources (GR2+3) with Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS; DR6) observations, which indirectly provides an invaluable insight into the astrometric model of the UV sources and allows us to revise the band merging strategy. We derive the formal description of the GALEX footprints as well as their intersections with the SDSS coverage along with analytic calculations of their areal coverage. The crossmatch catalogs are made available for the public. We conclude by illustrating the implementation of typical selection criteria in SQL for catalog subsets geared toward statistical analyses, e.g., correlation and luminosity function studies.