Description du projet
Étudier la facette gazeuse de la formation des galaxies
La concentration en gaz froid reflète en grande partie l’histoire d’une galaxie et son potentiel en termes de formation future d’étoiles. Tout processus physique susceptible de modifier la teneur en gaz d’une galaxie a donc des conséquences importantes sur son évolution. L’objectif principal du projet GASP, financé par l’UE, est de comprendre comment, quand et pourquoi le gaz est éliminé des galaxies dans différents environnements. Pour étudier ces processus, le projet exploitera de grandes quantités de données, dont la plupart ont été recueillies avec l’instrument MUSE sur le Très Grand Télescope de l’Observatoire européen austral, ainsi qu’avec ALMA, APEX et HST. Les résultats du projet permettront de mieux comprendre les galaxies méduses, à savoir les galaxies qui sont vidées de leur gaz.
Objectif
The build up of galaxies is mainly driven by the availability of gas that can cool and form new stars. Any physical process that is able to alter the gas content of a galaxy has therefore important consequences for its evolution. The study of processes that can remove gas from galaxies is the subject of GASP (GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies), an ESO Large Program I am leading. GASP has obtained integral field spectroscopy (IFS) with MUSE of 114 low-z galaxies with masses in the range 10^9-10^11.5 Msun, hosted in X-ray selected clusters, in groups and filaments. The GASP sample includes the largest existing IFS sample of so- called “jellyfish galaxies” that have long tails of ionised gas, as well as other galaxies in different stages of ram pressure stripping in clusters and galaxies undergoing gas disturbance due to various phenomena in groups and filaments. GASP has the unique capability to combine the power of spatially resolved observations covering galaxy disks, outskirts and surroundings with the virtues of a statistical study of a significant number of galaxies. The MUSE GASP dataset, combined with ALMA, APEX, JVLA, UVIT and HST follow-up programs, form the basis for this ERC program. The goal is to accomplish an unprecedented break-through in our understanding of jellyfish galaxies, ram pressure stripping, gas removal processes in different environments and their consequences for the stellar history of galaxies. This multi faced, coherent program will investigate the physics of the baryonic cycle between the various gas phases (ionised, molecular and neutral) and the star formation under extreme conditions, the connection between ram pressure and AGN activity, the quenching of galaxies undergoing gas removal phenomena, and the physics of such phenomena in clusters, groups and filaments. The GASP ERC program will be a game changer in this field of research: there is no previous similar study, nor there can be a comparable one for quite a long time.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Thème(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantInstitution d’accueil
00136 Roma
Italie