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SHARP: Beyond JWST -- Revealing the galaxy birth and growth with the resolution of the ELT

P. Saracco, P. Conconi, C. Arcidiacono, H. Mahmoodzadeh, I. Di Antonio, E. Portaluri, P. Franzetti, A. Gargiulo, E. Molinari, J. M. Alcala', S. Bisogni, R. Bonito, E. Bortolas, M. Cantiello, E. Cascone, V. Cianniello, E. M. Corsini, F. D'Ammando, E. Dalla Bonta', M. Dall'Ora, V. De Caprio, G. De Lucia, B. Di Francesco, G. Di Rico, C. Eredia, M. G. Guarcello, L. Izzo, F. La Barbera, M. Lippi, M. Longhetti, A. Longobardo, C. Mancini, M. Mirabile, E. Piconcelli, A. Pizzella, L. Podio, L. Prisinzano, C. Tortora, G. Vietri, H. -F. Wang

TL;DR

SHARP proposes an AO-assisted near-IR spectrograph concept for the ELT to study the birth and growth of massive galaxies with ~30 mas resolution, 0.95–2.45 μm coverage, and two main units (NEXUS MOS and VESPER IFU) enabled by MORFEO MCAO. It targets GMC-scale physics across cosmic time to map star formation, chemical enrichment, and quenching while probing galaxy environments and inflows from the IGM/CGM, exemplified by GLASS-180009 at $z\sim 2.66$. The instrument is designed to overcome JWST’s spatial limitations by providing wide-field, spatially resolved spectroscopy of multiple galaxies and their surroundings, enabling reconstruction of mass assembly histories and quenching pathways. The work emphasizes SHARP’s role alongside MOSAIC and ANDES in delivering a holistic view of high-redshift galaxy evolution and CGM/IGM interactions with practical gains for understanding galaxy life-cycles.

Abstract

A deep understanding of the life-cycle of galaxies, particularly those of high mass, requires clarifying the mechanisms that regulate star formation (SF) and its abrupt shutdown (quenching), often capable of stopping SF rates of hundreds of solar masses per year. What initially triggers quenching, and what sustains the quiescent state thereafter, especially given the frequent presence of large gas reservoirs or even massive gas inflows, are unsolved key issues. Ultimately, the crucial connection between the galaxy life-cycle and the surrounding Intergalactic (IGM) and Circumgalactic (CGM) Medium remains largely unclear. Addressing these issues requires studying star formation, chemical enrichment, and quenching homogeneously up to high redshift. The upcoming AO-assisted Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), will deliver sharper and deeper data than the JWST. SHARP is a concept study for a near-IR (0.95-2.45 mu) spectrograph designed to fully exploit the capabilities of ELT. Designed for multi-object slit spectroscopy and multi-Integral Field spectroscopy, SHARP points to achieve angular resolutions (~30 mas) far superior to NIRSpec at JWST(100 mas) to decipher and reconstruct the life-cycle oa galaxies.

SHARP: Beyond JWST -- Revealing the galaxy birth and growth with the resolution of the ELT

TL;DR

SHARP proposes an AO-assisted near-IR spectrograph concept for the ELT to study the birth and growth of massive galaxies with ~30 mas resolution, 0.95–2.45 μm coverage, and two main units (NEXUS MOS and VESPER IFU) enabled by MORFEO MCAO. It targets GMC-scale physics across cosmic time to map star formation, chemical enrichment, and quenching while probing galaxy environments and inflows from the IGM/CGM, exemplified by GLASS-180009 at . The instrument is designed to overcome JWST’s spatial limitations by providing wide-field, spatially resolved spectroscopy of multiple galaxies and their surroundings, enabling reconstruction of mass assembly histories and quenching pathways. The work emphasizes SHARP’s role alongside MOSAIC and ANDES in delivering a holistic view of high-redshift galaxy evolution and CGM/IGM interactions with practical gains for understanding galaxy life-cycles.

Abstract

A deep understanding of the life-cycle of galaxies, particularly those of high mass, requires clarifying the mechanisms that regulate star formation (SF) and its abrupt shutdown (quenching), often capable of stopping SF rates of hundreds of solar masses per year. What initially triggers quenching, and what sustains the quiescent state thereafter, especially given the frequent presence of large gas reservoirs or even massive gas inflows, are unsolved key issues. Ultimately, the crucial connection between the galaxy life-cycle and the surrounding Intergalactic (IGM) and Circumgalactic (CGM) Medium remains largely unclear. Addressing these issues requires studying star formation, chemical enrichment, and quenching homogeneously up to high redshift. The upcoming AO-assisted Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), will deliver sharper and deeper data than the JWST. SHARP is a concept study for a near-IR (0.95-2.45 mu) spectrograph designed to fully exploit the capabilities of ELT. Designed for multi-object slit spectroscopy and multi-Integral Field spectroscopy, SHARP points to achieve angular resolutions (~30 mas) far superior to NIRSpec at JWST(100 mas) to decipher and reconstruct the life-cycle oa galaxies.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 8 sections, 2 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Massive galaxies
  2. Star formation
  3. Metallicity and enrichment
  4. Quenching and quiescence
  5. Mass growth and hierarchical assembly
  6. Observational needs: SHARP
  7. GLASS-180009 ($z$$\sim$2.66)
  8. SHARP complementarity

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Left - NIRCam image of the field (51"x51") centered on galaxy GLASS-180009, adapted from bevacqua25 (Fig. 5). The red small circles mark galaxies with similar redshift within a radius of about 150 kpc (large red circle). The FoV of NEXUS ($72" \times 72"$) fully encompasses the GLASS-180009 field. The light-blue small double-lines represent the slits of NEXUS, whose subtended field can be rotated thanks to the inversion prisms saracco24 Right - Zoom-in ($38" \times 38"$) composite JWST image centered on GLASS-180009. The big red rectangle marks the area ($\sim 20.5" \times 40"$) probed by the 12 probes (small red squares, $\sim 1.7" \times 1.5"$ each) of VESPER.
  • Figure 2: Left - Zoom in of the composite JWST image centered on GLASS-180009. The big red square is the area ($\sim1.7" \times1.5"$) of a single FS of VESPER. The thin red lines schematically represent the slicing at 0.031". Highlighted in green are the central spaxel with a corresponding simulated spectrum representing a SSP 1.75 Gyr old and the sum of four spaxel in the outer region with a corresponding SSP of 0.9 Gyr old. The gray square represents the pixel size of NIRSpec (0.1").