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曲海贝克市的ABB公司合作，开发了一种用于可见光天文学的新型成像光谱仪，成像傅立叶变换光谱仪（iFTS）。在完成了SpIOMM的工作后，这项工作将在2014年达到高潮，届时SITELLE将作为加拿大-法国-夏威夷望远镜的客座仪器投入使用；它将在2014年夏天对整个CFHT社区开放。SITELLE是一种iFTS，旨在获得11‘ x 11’视场中每个像素（0.32“）的光谱，在可见光波段（350 - 900 nm）的选定带通中，光谱分辨率在R = 10和20,000之间变化。这台仪器将用于确定彗星、银河系星云和附近星系的物理特性，以及更遥远宇宙中恒星形成速率的特征。**在本次提案中，我提出了一个优化SITELLE科学回报的方案，并利用它来研究星系中恒星形成和化学演化的过程。我把确保SITELLE在CFHT社区的很大一部分中充分发挥其潜力作为我未来五年工作的主要目标。对SITELLE及其用户的持续支持对于该仪器的成功至关重要，特别是考虑到其非常规的高光谱成像方法。目前正在开发和测试SpIOMM和模拟SITELLE数据立方体的数据模拟、采集、处理和后处理软件；然而，它们需要在真实的SITELLE数据上进行测试，并在仪器的整个使用寿命期间不断更新，以最大限度地提高其科学产出。**我也将在三个项目中使用SITELLE，从一开始就以它的设计为导向，并强调它的全部潜力：**-用SITELLE （SNAGS）对星系中星云丰度的调查主要是为了确定几十个附近星系盘中的丰度分布。我打算利用SITELLE的高分辨率（视力有限），集中研究与大质量恒星存在有关的局部波动证据及其对周围ISM的影响，特别是氮富集、电离和运动学。SITELLE的数据将由8米级望远镜的长缝光谱、HST & Galex档案和UVIT数据补充。**-在与Iglesias （IAA，西班牙）和Plana （latto -巴西）的合作中，我将用SpIOMM和SITELLE观察低红移（z < 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，以便了解这些星系群中发生的现象，特别是潮汐尾中的恒星形成。对最明显的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的年轻恒星群，而且研究与整个星系群的维里区相互作用有关的潮汐特征。**- SITELLE是一种理想的仪器，通过它们的[OII]（高达z ~ 1）或Lya （z ~ 2 - 5）发射，以相对低的偏差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在广阔的宇宙体积中对发射线星系进行深入调查，以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.