The PRIMA promise of deciphering interstellar dust evolution with observations of the nearby Universe

Galliano, Frederic, Baes, Martin, Belloir, Leo, Bianchi, Simone, Bot, Caroline, Calura, Francesco, Casasola, Viviano, Chastenet, Jeremy, Clark, Christopher, Correia, Lucie, de Looze, Ilse, Juvela, Mika, Kaneda, Hidehiro, Katsioli, Stavroula, Kemper, Fransico, Lebouteiller, Vianney, Madden, Suzanne, Matsuura, Mikako ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5529-5593, Onaka, Takashi, Pantoni, Lara, Pozzi, Francesca, Pastor, Monica Relano, Sauvage, Marc, Smith, Matthew W. L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3532-6970, Tailor, Vidhi, Takeuchi, Tsutomu T., Xilouris, Emmanujel and Ysard, Nathalie 2025. The PRIMA promise of deciphering interstellar dust evolution with observations of the nearby Universe. Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 11 (3) , 031612. 10.1117/1.JATIS.11.3.031612

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Abstract

We develop a few science cases, using the PRIMA far-infrared (FIR) probe, aimed at achieving several breakthroughs in our understanding of the dust properties and their evolution. We argue that the specific observational capabilities of PRIMA, namely, its unprecedented sensitivity over the whole FIR range and the possibility to obtain continuous spectra between λ=24 and 235 μm, are essential to progress in our understanding of the physics of the interstellar medium (ISM) and galaxy evolution. Our science cases revolve around observations of nearby galaxies. We discuss the importance of detecting the IR emission of the diffuse ISM of these galaxies, including very low-metallicity systems. We also discuss the opportunity of detecting various solid-state features to understand the mineralogy of interstellar grains. Finally, we stress the unique opportunity brought by the possible simultaneous measures of both the dust continuum and the FIR fine-structure gas lines. These science cases could be distributed in a few large programs.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers
ISSN:	2329-4124
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	25 April 2025
Date of Acceptance:	31 March 2025
Last Modified:	13 May 2025 11:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/177928

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