Projektbeschreibung
Beobachtung von Gasströmen in Galaxien und ihres Einflusses auf die Entwicklung von Galaxien
Galaxien sind Systeme aus Milliarden von Sternen, Gas und Staub, die durch die Schwerkraft zusammengehalten werden. Durch das gegenseitige Wechselspiel zwischen diesen Komponenten verändert sich die innere Struktur einer Galaxie mit der Zeit. Ein entscheidender Faktor bei diesen Veränderungen ist das zirkumgalaktische Medium (Circumgalactic Medium, CGM), ein riesiges dynamisches Gasreservoir. Einerseits fließt Materie aus dem CGM in die Galaxie, um neue Sterne zu bilden, andererseits wird durch Explosionen innerhalb der Galaxie aber auch Materie herausgeschleudert. Mithilfe von zwei höchstempfindlichen Instrumenten an weltweit führenden Observatorien und neuen Erkennungsmethoden wird das EU-finanzierte Projekt SPECMAP-CGM hunderte Galaxien gleichzeitig spektroskopisch kartieren, schwache Emissionen aus dem CGM erkennen und die komplexen Prozesse beschreiben, die sich auf die Entwicklung von Galaxien auswirken.
Ziel
This project aims at developing a radically new view on the structure and dynamics of gas flows in the surroundings of galaxies, a domain known as the circumgalactic medium (CGM). In the last years it became clear that the CGM is crucial for our understanding of galaxy evolution, which are largely shaped in the CGM by the interplay of inflows from the intergalactic medium and outflows driven by supergalactic winds. I plan to investigate the CGM of normal galaxies by means of integral field spectroscopy, or spectro-mapping, in various emission lines. I bring privileged access to two new major astronomical facilities, MUSE on the ESO Very Large Telescope in Chile, and HETDEX on the 10m Hobby-Eberly Telescope in Texas. These instruments are both unique in their capability of performing integral field spectroscopy over unprecedented fields of view, delivering high-quality spectro-mapping information for hundreds of galaxies and their circumgalactic environments simultaneously. I have a leading role in both, and I am the only astronomer in the world with direct access to MUSE Guaranteed Time Observations and to the entire HETDEX survey. The major challenge for this experiment is the extreme faintness of the CGM emission, which so far made spectro-mapping unfeasible except for a few extreme objects. My recent breakthrough discoveries with MUSE of ubiquitous Lyman-alpha haloes around high-redshift galaxies demonstrate that finally we have achieved the sensitivity required to detect the CGM directly in emission through imaging spectroscopy. I now want to go a big step beyond and apply this approach to large representative samples of typical galaxies at all redshifts. My goal is not only to detect and establish line emission from the CGM as a universal phenomenon, but to disantangle its complex substructures and, through comparisons with physical models and the latest numerical galaxy formation simulations, build a comprehensive picture of these processes.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
Programm/Programme
Thema/Themen
Finanzierungsplan
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantGastgebende Einrichtung
14482 Potsdam
Deutschland