Related papers: Prospecting for Heavy Elements with Future Far-IR/…
Measurements of [Fe/H] and [$\alpha$/Fe] can probe the minor merging history of a galaxy, providing a direct way to test the hierarchical assembly paradigm. While measurements of [$\alpha$/Fe] have been made in the stellar halo of the Milky…
Cosmological measurements of the radiation density in the early universe can be used as a sensitive probe of physics beyond the standard model. Observations of primordial light element abundances have long been used to place non-trivial…
The analysis of the submm anisotropies that will be mapped by the forthcoming MAP and PLANCK satellites requires careful foreground subtraction before measuring CMB fluctuations. Among these, the foreground due to IR/submm thermal radiation…
Four decades ago, the firm detection of an Fe-K emission feature in the X-ray spectrum of the Perseus cluster revealed the presence of iron in its hot intracluster medium (ICM). With more advanced missions successfully launched over the…
The detection of powerful near-infrared emission in high redshift (z>5) quasars demonstrates that very hot dust is present close to the active nucleus also in the very early universe. A number of high-redshift objects even show significant…
The millimeter/sub-millimeter (mm/sub-mm) sky remains a rich but under-explored frontier for transient and variable phenomena. A wide-field, high-sensitivity instrument with a large aperture and degree-scale field of view would open this…
The abundances of gas and dust (solids and complex molecules) in the interstellar medium (ISM) as well as their composition and structures impact practically all of astrophysics. Fundamental processes from star formation to stellar winds to…
Dust plays an important role in shaping a galaxy's spectral energy distribution (SED). It absorbs ultraviolet (UV) to near-infrared (NIR) radiation and re-emits this energy in the far-infrared (FIR). The FIR is essential to understand dust…
We present an overview and first results of the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy Massive (SOMA) Star Formation Survey, which is using the FORCAST instrument to image massive protostars from $\sim10$--$40\:\rm{\mu}\rm{m}$.…
The radiative and mechanical interaction of stars with their environment drives the evolution of the ISM and of galaxies as a whole. The far-IR emission (lambda ~30 to 350 microns) from atoms and molecules dominates the cooling of the warm…
We explore how the star formation rate (SFR), stellar mass, and other properties of massive dusty galaxies at cosmic noon are impacted when far-infrared (FIR)/sub-millimeter data are added to datasets containing only ultraviolet (UV) to…
In typical astrophysical environments, the abundance of heavy elements ranges from 0.001 to 2 times the solar concentration. Lower abundances have been seen in select stars in the Milky Way's halo and in two quasar absorption systems at…
We present a detailed study of the cosmic star formation history over $90$ per cent of cosmic time ($0\lesssim z\lesssim4$), using deep, radio continuum observations that probe star formation activity independent of dust. The Low Frequency…
This chapter discusses the use and possibilities of optical and infrared interferometry to study star formation. The chapter starts with a brief overview of the star formation process and highlights the open questions from an observational…
In the early stages of planet formation, small dust grains grow to become mm sized particles in debris disks around stars. These disks can in principle be characterized by their emission at submillimeter and millimeter wavelengths.…
Gas cooling processes in the interstellar medium (ISM) are key to understanding how star-formation processes occur in galaxies. Far-infrared (FIR) fine-structure emission lines can be used as a tool to understand the gas conditions and…
The recently discovered fast radio bursts (FRBs), presumably of extra-galactic origin, have the potential to become a powerful probe of the intergalactic medium (IGM). We point out a few such potential applications. We provide expressions…
A laboratory prototype spectral/spatial interferometer has been constructed to demonstrate the feasibility of the double Fourier technique at Far Infrared (FIR) wavelengths (0.15 - 1 THz). It is planned to use this demonstrator to…
Using the redshift evolution of the neutral hydrogen density, as inferred from observations of damped Ly$\alpha$ clouds, we calculate the evolution of star formation rates and elemental abundances in the universe. For most observables our…
This article presents recent work to constrain the physical and chemical properties in high-mass star formation based largely on interferometric high-spatial-resolution continuum and spectral line studies at (sub)mm wavelengths. After…