BlueMUSE: Project Overview and Science Cases
Abstract
We present the concept of BlueMUSE, a blue-optimised, medium spectral resolution, panoramic integral field spectrograph based on the MUSE concept and proposed for the Very Large Telescope. With an optimised transmission down to 350 nm, a larger FoV (1.4 x 1.4 arcmin) and a higher spectral resolution compared to MUSE, BlueMUSE will open up a new range of galactic and extragalactic science cases allowed by its specific capabilities, beyond those possible with MUSE. For example a survey of massive stars in our galaxy and the Local Group will increase the known population of massive stars by a factor 100, to answer key questions about their evolution. Deep field observations with BlueMUSE will also significantly increase samples of Lyman-alpha emitters, spanning the era of Cosmic Noon. This will revolutionise the study of the distant Universe: allowing the intergalactic medium to be detected unambiguously in emission, enabling the study of the exchange of baryons between galaxies and their surroundings. By 2030, at a time when the focus of most of the new large facilities (ELT, JWST) will be on the infra-red, BlueMUSE will be a unique facility, outperforming any ELT instrument in the Blue/UV. It will have a strong synergy with ELT, JWST as well as ALMA, SKA, Euclid and Athena.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1906.01657,
title = {BlueMUSE: Project Overview and Science Cases},
author = {Johan Richard and Roland Bacon and Jérémy Blaizot and Samuel Boissier and Alessandro Boselli and NicolasBouché and Jarle Brinchmann and Norberto Castro and Laure Ciesla and Paul Crowther and Emanuele Daddi and Stefan Dreizler and Pierre-Alain Duc and David Elbaz and Benoit Epinat and Chris Evans and Matteo Fossati and Michele Fumagalli and Miriam Garcia and Thibault Garel and Matthew Hayes and Angela Adamo and Artemio Herrero and Emmanuel Hugot and Andrew Humphrey and Pascale Jablonka and Sebastian Kamann and Lex Kaper and Andreas Kelz and Jean-Paul Kneib and Alex de Koter and Davor Krajnović and Rolf-Peter Kudritzki and Norbert Langer and Carmela Lardo and Floriane Leclercq and Danny Lennon and Guillaume Mahler and Fabrice Martins and Richard Massey and Peter Mitchell and Ana Monreal-Ibero and Paco Najarro and Cyrielle Opitom and Polychronis Papaderos and Céline Péroux and Yves Revaz and Martin M. Roth and Philippe Rousselot and Andreas Sander and Charlotte Simmonds Wagemann and Ian Smail and Anthony Mark Swinbank and Frank Tramper and Tanya Urrutia and Anne Verhamme and Jorick Vink and Jeremy Walsh and Peter Weilbacher and Martin Wendt and Lutz Wisotzki and Bin Yang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1906.01657},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
60 pages, 22 figures, minor updates