Millimetron Science Drivers
- Millimetron is capable of peering deep into dusty regions and can probe the birth places of stars and planets, as well as the epochs of galaxy formation. The use of state-of-the-art submm cameras with high-to-medium resolution imaging spectrometers, will allow a complete picture of the energy balance and dynamical processes in young astrophysical systems. Therefore, Millimetron will be a major step forward after Herschel, ESA’s cornerstone mission to be launched in 2009.
The wavelength range 50-600 um is ideally suited to study warm gas (T>100 K) and dust (T>10 K) for a range of astrophysical objects, e.g.:
- acive galaxies like Seyferts and ULIRGs,
- irradiated gas clouds in the Milky Way and (local) starburst galaxies,
- AGN exposed to feedback effects from accreting black and shock waves,
- high redshift systems, and Galactic (high-mass) star-forming regions including proto-planetary disks.
- For example, Millimetron can detect warm dust (30-50 K), fine-structure lines ([OI], [CII], [NII], [CI] etc.), and water lines. Millimetron also covers CO lines from J=5-4 to J=41-40, in the rest frame. So high redshift galaxies can be probed since high J CO lines have frequencies that are shifted into the Millimetron window for redshifts of z=0-6. The same holds for the important [CII] 158 um cooling line that can be observed for z~0-4, an epoch when the bulk of the stars in the universe is formed.
- Millimetron's wavelength range can compliment and overlap with ALMA band 9 and 10, allowing for strong synergy, also in terms of space-VLBI. Furthermore, Millimetron can image the (redshifted) dust continuum emission from evolving galaxies and can obtain spectroscopic redshifts for many sources, allowing the origins of galaxies to be probed.
- Specific topics that can be addressed by Millimetron are, among others:
- The energetics and kinematics of power sources inside obscured galaxies;
- stars versus AGN, feedback effects.
- Star formation-dense molecular gas scaling laws for local quiescent and active galaxies.
- The growth of black holes with redshift and the Magorrian relationship.
- Physical properties of the multi-phase ISM in galaxies; turbulence, UV dominated and X-ray dominated regions, shocks and outflows, ionization balance, chemistry and magnetic fields.
- Resolving the far-infrared background at 100 micron.
- Differences between low- and high-mass star formation;
- the impact of environment (e.g., the Milky Way center and Orion), initial conditions, fragmentation and the origin of the IMF.
- Young stellar object evolution and proto-planetary disk physics.