Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Optical Variability Of Green Pea Galaxies, Julissa Marie Sarmiento

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I am investigating the optical variability of Green Pea galaxies (GPs). GPs are good analogs to high-redshift galaxies, enabling us to learn more about the first galaxies in the universe. One of their key properties is their strong emission lines, some of which indicate the presence of an active galactic nucleus (AGN). An effective way to identify AGN is to look for stochastic variability in the optical light from the galaxy. Finding AGN in these galaxies would help us learn more about the formation and evolution of the supermassive black holes that power AGN. In this thesis, …