by
Lutz Wisotzki(Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik & University, Potsdam)
→
Europe/Stockholm
FA31
FA31
Description
Our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution in the young universe is still very fragmentary, and progress in observational techniques is crucial.
I report about the upcoming Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), a 2nd generation instrument for the ESO-VLT, scheduled for first light at the telescope in a few months. MUSE is an gigantic integral-field spectrograph
operating in the optical wavelength domain. The main science driver for MUSE is the investigation of the high-redshift universe through the detection of Ly-alpha emission from individual galaxies and the cosmic web. Each MUSE data cube will cover the redshift range from z=3 to 6.7 simultaneously in Ly-alpha, plus foreground galaxies at z < 3. A key aspect of MUSE will be its ability to perform ultra-long integrations, revealing star-forming high-z galaxies, with their gaseous environment, down to much fainter limits than presently possible.
I will give an overview about the status of the MUSE project and its scientific
prospects, including a summary of new theoretical and numerical work that went into predictions for the MUSE Deep Surveys. I will also argue that novel data handling strategies and analysis techniques are required to cope with such complex data sets.
