Maximizing the science return of SITELLE with applications to the evolution of galaxies near and far

在过去的十年里，我的团队与总部位于魁北克市的ABB公司合作，开发了一种用于可见光天文的新型成像光谱仪-成像傅里叶变换光谱仪(IFTS)。在完成SpIOMM的工作之后，这项工作将在2014年达到高潮，SITELLE作为加拿大-法国-夏威夷望远镜的客机仪器投入使用；2014年夏天，整个CFHT社区都可以使用它。SITELLE是一种IFTS，旨在获得11‘x 11’视场中每个像素(0.32‘)的光谱，在可见波段(350-900 nm)的选定带通中，光谱分辨率在R=10到20 000之间变化。该仪器将被用来确定彗星、银河系星云和附近星系的物理特征，以及表征更遥远的宇宙中的恒星形成率。 在这个提案中，我提出了一个优化SITELLE科学回报的计划，并将其用于研究星系中恒星形成和化学演化的过程。我将其视为未来五年我工作的主要目标，以确保SITELLE被CFHT社区的大部分人充分利用。对SITELLE及其用户的持续支持对该仪器的成功至关重要，特别是考虑到其对高光谱图像的非常规方法。目前正在开发数据模拟、采集、处理和后处理软件，并在SPIOMM和模拟的SITELLE数据立方体上进行测试；然而，它们需要在真实的SITELLE数据上进行测试，并在仪器的整个生命周期内不断更新，以便最大限度地提高其科学产出。 我还将在三个项目中使用SITELLE，这些项目从一开始就确定了它的设计方向，并强调了它的全部潜力： -SITELLE星系中星云丰度的调查(SNAGS)主要是为了确定附近几十个星系盘中的丰度分布。我打算利用SITELLE的高分辨率(视线受限)来集中研究与大质量恒星的存在有关的局部波动的证据及其对周围ISM的影响，特别是氮的富集化、电离和运动学。SITELLE数据将补充来自8米级望远镜的长缝光谱，档案HST&Galex和UVIT数据。 -与IGLESIAS(西班牙IAA)和Plana(拉托-巴西)合作，我将与SPIOMM和SITELLE一起观察低红移(z&lt；0.1)致密星系群的样本，所有这些星系群都有明显的相互作用迹象，以便了解在这些星系群中发挥作用的现象，特别是在潮汐尾巴中的恒星形成。对最明显发射线的测量将使我们能够研究电离气体的性质(密度、金属丰度、激发、运动学)，从而不仅研究星系主体中年轻恒星群的性质，而且还研究与该群维里区相互作用有关的潮汐特征。 -SITELLE是一种理想的仪器，可以用相对较低的偏差通过它们的[OII](直到z~1)或Lya(z~2-5)发射来探测非常遥远的恒星形成星系。在与SIMARD(NRC)和Willis(UVIC)的合作下，我将使用SITELLE对大宇宙体积中的发射线星系进行深入调查，以便研究不同红移下的恒星形成过程。

Over the past decade, my team has developped, in collaboration with the Québec City-based company ABB, a novel type of imaging spectrometers for visible-light astronomy, Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometers (iFTS). After having worked on SpIOMM, a prototype IFTS attached to the 1.6-m telescope of the Observatoire du Mont Mégantic, this work will culminate in 2014 with the commissioning of SITELLE as a guest instrument at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope; it will be available to the entire CFHT community in the summer of 2014. SITELLE is an iFTS designed to obtain a spectrum for every pixel (0.32'') in a 11' x 11' field of view, in selected bandpasses of the visible band (350 - 900 nm), with a spectral resolution varying between R = 10 and 20 000. This instrument will be used to determine the physical characteristics of comets, nebulae in the Milky Way, nearby galaxies, as well as to characterize the star-formation rate in the more distant Universe. In this proposal, I present a plan to optimize the science return of SITELLE, and use it to study the process of star formation and chemical evolution in galaxies.I see it as a prime objective of my work in the next five years to make sure that SITELLE is used at its full potential by a large fraction of the CFHT community. Continuous support for SITELLE and its users is of prime importance for the success of this instrument, especially given its non-conventional approach to hyperspectral imagery. Data simulation, acquisition, processing and post-processing softwares are now being developped and tested on SpIOMM and simulated SITELLE data cubes; they will however need to be tested on real SITELLE data, and constantly updated throughout the lifetime of the instrument in order to maximize its scientific output. I will also use SITELLE for three projects that oriented its design from the beginning and emphasize its full potential: - The Survey for Nebular Abundances in Galaxies with SITELLE (SNAGS) is mostly aimed at determining the abundance distribution in the disks of several dozen nearby galaxies. I intend to take advantage of SITELLE's high resolution (seeing-limited) to concentrate on evidences of local fluctuations related to the presence of massive stars and their effect on their surrounding ISM, in particular nitrogen enrichement, ionization and kinematics. SITELLE data will be supplemented with long-slit spectra from 8-m class telescopes, archival HST & Galex and UVIT data. - In collaboration with Iglesias (IAA, Spain) and Plana (LATO - Brazil), I will observe with SpIOMM and SITELLE a sample of low-redshift (z < 0.1) compact groups of galaxies, all of them with clear signs of interactions, in order to understand the phenomena at play in such groups, and in particular star formation in the tidal tails. Measurements of the most conspicuous emission lines will allow us to study the properties (density, metallicity, excitation, kinematics) of the ionized gas, and thus of the young stellar populations not only in the main bodies of the galaxies, but also in the tidal features associated to the interactions thoughout the virial region of the group. - SITELLE is an ideal instrument to detect, with relatively low biases, very distant star-forming galaxies through their [OII] (up to z ~ 1) or Lya (z ~ 2 - 5) emission. In collaboration with Simard (NRC) and Willis (Uvic) I will use SITELLE to undergo a deep survey for emission-line galaxies in a wide cosmological volume in order to study the star-formation process at different redshifts.