Bringing high spatial resolution to the Far-infrared -- A giant leap for astrophysics
Abstract
The far-infrared (FIR) regime is one of the few wavelength ranges where no astronomical data with sub-arcsecond spatial resolution exist. Neither of the medium-term satellite projects like SPICA, Millimetron nor O.S.T. will resolve this malady. For many research areas, however, information at high spatial and spectral resolution in the FIR, taken from atomic fine-structure lines, from highly excited carbon monoxide (CO), light hydrids, and especially from water lines would open the door for transformative science. A main theme will be to trace the role of water in proto-planetary disks, to observationally advance our understanding of the planet formation process and, intimately related to that, the pathways to habitable planets and the emergence of life. Furthermore, key observations will zoom into the physics and chemistry of the star-formation process in our own Galaxy, as well as in external galaxies. The FIR provides unique tools to investigate in particular the energetics of heating, cooling and shocks. The velocity-resolved data in these tracers will reveal the detailed dynamics engrained in these processes in a spatially resolved fashion, and will deliver the perfect synergy with ground-based molecular line data for the colder dense gas.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2002.06693,
title = {Bringing high spatial resolution to the Far-infrared -- A giant leap for astrophysics},
author = {Hendrik Linz and Henrik Beuther and Maryvonne Gerin and Javier R. Goicoechea and Frank Helmich and Oliver Krause and Yao Liu and Sergio Molinari and Volker Ossenkopf-Okada and Jorge Pineda and Marc Sauvage and Eva Schinnerer and Floris van der Tak and Martina Wiedner},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2002.06693},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
White Paper, submitted to ESA in August 2019 in response to the "Voyage 2050" process; 24 pages, 12 figures, 1 table; three references updated from preprint to journal status, one reference added in comparison to the version submitted to ESA