Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) science: Gas and dust in nearby galaxies

Liu, Daizhong, Saintonge, Amelie, Bot, Caroline, Kemper, Francisca, Lopez-Rodriguez, Enrique, Smith, Matthew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3532-6970, Stanke, Thomas, Andreani, Paola, Boselli, Alessandro, Cicone, Claudia, Davis, Timothy A., Hagedorn, Bendix, Lasrado, Akhil, Mao, Ann, Viti, Serena, Booth, Mark, Klaassen, Pamela, Mroczkowski, Tony, Bigiel, Frank, Chevance, Melanie, Cordiner, Martin A., Di Mascolo, Luca, Johnstone, Doug, Lee, Minju, Maccarone, Thomas, Thelen, Alexander E., van Kampen, Eelco and Wedemeyer, Sven 2024. Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) science: Gas and dust in nearby galaxies. Open Research Europe 4 , 148. 10.12688/openreseurope.17459.1

[thumbnail of 150b84ed-f712-49fc-974e-87591977efda_17459_-_amelie_saintonge.pdf] PDF - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (9MB)

Abstract

Understanding the physical processes that regulate star formation and galaxy evolution are major areas of activity in modern astrophysics. Nearby galaxies offer unique opportunities to inspect interstellar medium (ISM), star formation (SF), radiative, dynamic and magnetic ( B → ) physics in great detail from sub-galactic (kpc) scales to sub-cloud (sub-pc) scales, from quiescent galaxies to starbursts, and from field galaxies to overdensities. In this case study, we discuss the major breakthroughs in this area of research that will be enabled by the Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST), a proposed 50-m single-dish submillimeter telescope. The new discovery space of AtLAST comes from its exceptional sensitivity, in particular to extended low surface brightness emission, a very large 2° field of view, and correspondingly high mapping efficiency. This paper focuses on four themes which will particularly benefit from AtLAST: 1) the LMC and SMC, 2) extragalactic magnetic fields, 3) the physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium, and 4) star formation and galaxy evolution. With ~ 1000 − 2000 hour surveys each, AtLAST could deliver deep dust continuum maps of the entire LMC and SMC fields at parsec-scale resolution, high-resolution maps of the magnetic field structure, gas density, temperature and composition of the dense and diffuse ISM in ~ 100 nearby galaxies, as well as the first large-scale blind CO survey in the nearby Universe, delivering molecular gas masses for up to 106 galaxies (3 orders of magnitude more than current samples). Through such observing campaigns, AtLAST will have a profound impact on our understanding of the baryon cycle and star formation across a wide range of environments.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Published Online
Status: Published
Schools: Physics and Astronomy
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
ISSN: 2732-5121
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 14 October 2024
Last Modified: 14 Oct 2024 10:30
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/171872

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics