Extreme star formation in the ultraviolet: The CASTOR revolution

STFC: Maria Macarena Garcia del Valle Espinosa: ST/ v507209 /1紫外光包含了高密度的天体物理信息，对于理解恒星和热等离子体中的能量现象至关重要。它也是星系中恒星形成活动的最重要的示踪剂之一。虽然电磁波谱的光学和红外范围在很大程度上可以从地面获得，但紫外线完全被大气阻挡，需要空间观测站进行研究。CASTOR是一项由加拿大领导的太空任务，将在紫外光谱区域提供高分辨率成像和光谱。随着计划在本十年末发射，成像和光谱数据将远远超过任何现有的紫外线调查，在灵敏度和角度分辨率方面，以及补充即将到来的空间和地面设施，将观察不同区域的电磁频谱。在这个项目中，我们将为该任务的科学发展活动作出贡献。我们将评估CASTOR成像如何用于测量附近宇宙中低质量，强恒星形成星系的大样本的物理特性（恒星质量，恒星形成率和化学成分）。为此，我们将对CASTOR的紫外和蓝光成像进行真实模拟，并对即将发射的欧几里得太空望远镜进行红外成像。通过这些综合观测，我们将探索具有广泛恒星形成活动的星系的可探测极限。在这个项目中开发的软件工具和技术将被集成到该联盟正在开发的一套软件包中，以帮助天文学家规划未来的CASTOR科学项目。这次实习的培训将有助于加强英国和加拿大研究人员在紫外线天文学和空间任务发展等关键领域的合作。

STFC: Maria Macarena Garcia del Valle Espinosa: ST/V507209/1Ultraviolet light contains a high density of astrophysical information and is critically important for understanding energetic phenomena in stars and hot plasmas. It also is one of the most important tracers of star formation activity in galaxies. While the optical and infrared ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum are largely accessible from the ground, UV light is completely blocked by the atmosphere and space observatories are needed for its study. CASTOR is a proposed Canadian-led space mission that would provide high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy in the UV spectral region. With a planned launch by the end of the decade, the imaging and spectroscopic data would far surpass any existing UV surveys in terms of sensitivity and angular resolution, as well as complement upcoming space- and ground-based facilities that will observe at different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this project we will contribute to the science development activities of the mission. We will assess how CASTOR imaging could be used to measure the physical properties (stellar mass, star formation rate and chemical composition) for large samples of low-mass, strongly star-forming galaxies in the nearby Universe. To this end we will carry out realistic simulations of UV and blue-optical imaging from CASTOR, plus IR imaging from the soon-to-be launched Euclid space telescope. With these synthetic observations we will explore the detectability limits for galaxies with a wide range of star formation activities. The software tools and techniques to be developed in this project will be integrated into a suite of software packages that is being developed by the consortium to help astronomers plan future CASTOR science programmes. Training from this placement will help strengthen the collaboration between UK and Canada researchers in key areas such as UV astronomy and the development of space missions.