Wide-Field Imaging Spectroscopy in the Submillimeter: Deploying SPIFI on AST/RO

这项工作将把一个新的直接探测成像光谱仪（SPIFI =南极成像法布里-珀罗干涉仪）集成到南极站现有的望远镜中，以研究星系中星际介质的物理条件、动力学、组成及其与恒星形成的关系。SPIFI设计用于南极1.7米南极亚毫米望远镜和远程天文台（AST/RO）可用的远红外和亚毫米窗口；它已经在夏威夷莫纳克亚山的詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦望远镜上进行了类似的测试。SPIFI的探测器是一个5 x 5元素的单片硅热计阵列，在绝热消磁冰箱中冷却到0.06 K。该仪器的当前版本可以调到350微米窗口内的任何频率，并在任何给定波长连续扫描13个光谱分辨率元素。SPIFI将用于研究所谓星系中心分子带的分子、光解离和电离星际物质的激发条件；邻近星系中星际物质的物理状况，以及大小麦哲伦云的低金属丰度环境，看看这些是否模拟原星系——这是理解早期宇宙中恒星形成过程的关键

0094605StaceyThe proposed work will integrate a new direct detection imaging spectrometer (SPIFI = South Pole Imaging Fabry-Perot Interferometer) into an existing telescope at South Pole station, in order to study the physical conditions, dynamics, and composition of the interstellar medium and its relationship to star formation in galaxies. SPIFI is designed for use in the far-infrared and sub-millimeter windows available to the 1.7 m Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory (AST/RO) at the South Pole; it has been tested in similar windows at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. SPIFI's detector is a 5 x 5 element array of monolithic silicon bolometers cooled to 0.06 deg K in an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator. The current version of the instrument can be tuned to any frequency in the 350 micron window, and continuously scan 13 spectral resolution elements at any given wavelength. SPIFI will be used to study the excitation conditions of molecular, photodissociated, and ionized interstellar matter in the so-called central molecular zone of the galaxy; the physical condition of interstellar matter in nearby galaxies, and the low metalicity environment of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds to see whether these mimic protogalaxies - a key to understanding the star formation process in the early universe.***