Unique Astrophysics in the Lyman Ultraviolet
Abstract
There is unique and groundbreaking science to be done with a new generation of UV spectrographs that cover wavelengths in the "Lyman Ultraviolet" (LUV; 912 - 1216 Ang). There is no astrophysical basis for truncating spectroscopic wavelength coverage anywhere between the atmospheric cutoff (3100 Ang) and the Lyman limit (912 Ang); the usual reasons this happens are all technical. The unique science available in the LUV includes critical problems in astrophysics ranging from the habitability of exoplanets to the reionization of the IGM. Crucially, the local Universe (z <= 0.1) is entirely closed to many key physical diagnostics without access to the LUV. These compelling scientific problems require overcoming these technical barriers so that future UV spectrographs can extend coverage to the Lyman limit at 912 Ang.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1209.3272,
title = {Unique Astrophysics in the Lyman Ultraviolet},
author = {Jason Tumlinson and Alessandra Aloisi and Gerard Kriss and Kevin France and Stephan McCandliss and Ken Sembach and Andrew Fox and Todd Tripp and Edward Jenkins and Matthew Beasley and Charles Danforth and Michael Shull and John Stocke and Nicolas Lehner and Christopher Howk and Cynthia Froning and James Green and Cristina Oliveira and Alex Fullerton and Bill Blair and Jeff Kruk and George Sonneborn and Steven Penton and Bart Wakker and Xavier Prochaska and John Vallerga and Paul Scowen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1209.3272},
year = {2012}
}
Comments
Science white paper submitted to NASA Solicitation NNH12ZDA008L: Science Objectives and Requirements for the Next NASA UV/Visible Astrophysics Mission Concepts. 6 pages PDF