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DGCE SIG Seminar

Diffuse Gas in Cosmic Ecosystems Science Interest Group

DATE

May 25, 2023

TIME

4:00 pm EST

COMMUNITY

DGCE SIG

TYPE

Seminar

Far-Ultraviolet Spectra: The Key to Bridging Galaxy Evolution Across Cosmic Time

Danielle Berg (UT Austin)

Rest-frame far-ultraviolet (FUV) spectra are fundamental to our understanding of star-forming galaxies, providing a unique window on massive stellar populations, chemical evolution, feedback processes, and reionization. The advent of the James Webb Space Telescope has opened our first window onto detailed abundance studies of high redshift (z > 6) galaxies. The coming years will provide the first spectroscopic samples of galaxies in the epoch of reionization with which we can constrain their chemical compositions and histories. The success of such endeavors hinges on a comprehensive understanding of the massive star populations and interstellar medium (ISM) gas conditions that power the observed FUV spectral features. I will present the COS Legacy Archive Spectroscopic SurveY (CLASSY) Treasury as a powerful and promising solution. The CLASSY atlas is the first high-quality, high-resolution FUV spectral catalog of star-forming galaxies at z~0. The spectra contain a suite of emission and absorption lines that simultaneously characterize the massive stellar populations that populate metal-poor galaxies, the physical properties of large-scale outflows that regulate star formation, and the chemical abundance patterns of the gas and stars. The CLASSY sample is consistent with the z∼0 mass-metallicity relationship, but is offset to higher star-formation rates by roughly 2 dex, similar to z~2 galaxies. This unique set of properties makes the CLASSY atlas the benchmark training set for studies of star-forming galaxies across cosmic time. While powerful, the CLASSY atlas is a small sample. I will, therefore, discuss the dire need for further FUV studies of nearby galaxies and their potential to help us unlock the mysteries encoded into the spectral signatures of the earliest galaxies.

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An illustration of Sun-like star HD 181327 and its surrounding debris disk. The star is at top right. It is surrounded by a far larger debris disk that forms an incomplete ellpitical path and is cut off at right. There’s a huge cavity between the star and the disk. The debris disk is shown in shades of light gray. Toward the top and left, there are finer, more discrete points in a range of sizes. The disk appears hazier and smokier at the bottom. The star is bright white at center, with a hazy blue region around it. The background of space is black. The label Artist's Concept appears at lower left.