ESA Voyage 2050 white paper: Unveiling the faint ultraviolet Universe. (arXiv:1910.01194v1 [astro-ph.IM])

ESA Voyage 2050 white paper: Unveiling the faint ultraviolet Universe. (arXiv:1910.01194v1 [astro-ph.IM])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zanella_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. Zanella</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zanoni_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">C. Zanoni</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Arrigoni_Battaia_F/0/1/0/all/0/1">F. Arrigoni-Battaia</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Rubin_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. Rubin</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Pala_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. Pala</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Peroux_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">C. Peroux</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Augustin_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">R. Augustin</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Circosta_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">C. Circosta</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Emsellem_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">E. Emsellem</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+George_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">E. George</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Milakovic_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">D. Milakovic</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Burg_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">R. van der Burg</a>

New and unique science opportunities in several different fields of
astrophysics are offered by conducting spectroscopic studies of the Universe in
the ultraviolet (UV), a wavelength regime that is not accessible from the
ground. We present some of the scientific challenges that can be addressed with
a space-based mission in 2035 – 2050. (1) By detecting the intergalactic medium
in emission it will be possible to unveil the cosmic web, whose existence is
predicted by current theories of structure formation, but it has not been
probed yet. (2) Observations of the neutral gas distribution (by mapping the
Lyman-alpha emission) in low-redshift galaxy cluster members will clarify the
efficiency with which ram-pressure stripping removes the gas from galaxies and
the role of the environment in quenching star formation. (3) By observing
statistical samples of supernovae in the UV it will be possible to characterize
the progenitor population of core-collapse supernovae, providing the initial
conditions for any forward-modeling simulation and allowing the community to
progress in the understanding of the explosion mechanism of stars and the final
stages of stellar evolution. (4) Targeting populations of accreting white
dwarfs in globular clusters it will be possible to constrain the evolution and
fate of these stars and investigate the properties of the most compact systems
with the shortest orbital periods which are expected to be the brightest low
frequency gravitational wave sources. A UV-optimized telescope (wavelength
range ~ 90 – 350 nm), equipped with a panoramic integral field spectrograph
with a large field of view (FoV ~ 1 x 1 arcmin^2), with medium spectral (R =
4000) and spatial (~ 1″ – 3″) resolution will allow the community to
simultaneously obtain spectral and photometric information of the targets, and
tackle the science questions presented in this paper.

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