Abstract

A major goal of extragalactic astrophysics is connecting the Big Bang to the present by under- standing the evolution of star formation (SF) across cosmic time. The correlation between SF and the stellar mass buildup in galaxies, or the star forming main sequence relation (SFMS), highlights the various mechanisms that drive galaxy evolution. Deviations like quiescent galaxies, which have ceased forming stars, and starburst galaxies, which undergo an exceptionally high rate of SF compared to their normal star formation histories (SFH), offer key clues to the catalysts of galaxy evolution (e.g., mergers, gas accretion, supernovae feedback). Our understanding of early universe SF has been limited due to the sensitivity of previous instruments. However, since the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), we have been able to make a number of discoveries that challenge our current understanding of galaxies in the early universe (e.g., the number of bright galaxies found in the Epoch of Reionization and the large fraction of AGN detected in galaxies). POPPIES (PIs: J. Kartaltepe & M. Rafelski), is a large JWST NIRCam Wide Field Slitless Spec- troscopic survey that is characterizing high-redshift galaxies and statistically constraining the onset and evolution of SF since Cosmic Dawn with minimal impact from cosmic variance. POPPIES uti- lizes pure-parallel mode, meaning that the observations are obtained when other proposed surveys are not using the NIRCam instrument. The survey contains over 150 different fields of observation, each with 3-8 direct imaging filters. This thesis presents the image data reduction, photometric catalog construction, and SED fitting methods for two parallel fields that overlap with CEERS (Cosmic Evolution Early Release Survey), POPPIES139 and POPPIES140. We choose these fields because of their rich ancillary data, allowing for comparison to validate both our reduction and cataloging techniques. Additionally, this thesis shows the preliminary results of the SFMS using both emission line and SED derived SFRs from the constructed catalogs.

Publication Date

8-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Astrophysical Sciences and Technology (MS)

Department, Program, or Center

Physics and Astronomy, School of

College

College of Science

Advisor

Jeyhan Kartaltepe

Advisor/Committee Member

Andrew Robinson

Advisor/Committee Member

Joel Kastner

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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