Fourier transform imaging spectrocopy and the environment of massive stars

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The first objective of my program is to develop a novel approach to integral field spectroscopy by improving the performance of the Fourier transform imaging spectrometer built recently by our team, by developing more efficient data acquisition and reduction techniques for this instrument, and by bringing it to its full potential by performing detailed mappings of emission lines in galactic nebulae and late-type galaxies. The second objective is to characterize the physical properties of massive stars in different evolutionary phases and environments. This will be achieved by (a) performing a survey for evolved, massive stars of the Wolf-Rayet class in the Milky Way galaxy; (b) performing a detailed quantitative analysis of a hundred spectra of massive stars in galaxies of the Local Group; (c) mapping chemical abundances of Galactic wind-blown bubbles around individual massive stars and of gas-rich galaxies, and comparing the observations with hydrodynamic simulations.