Face-to-Face with the Local Universe: ISM’s Empowerment (LOCAL)
Understanding the interplay between the components of the cold interstellar medium (ISM: dust, gas, metals) in galaxies of the Local Universe is of crucial importance for studies of galactic formation and evolution. In the last decade, thanks in particular to the Herschel satellite, we made considerable progress in the study of dust. Our effort culminated in the INAF participation in the FP7-funded DustPedia project, a multi-band analysis of all nearby galaxies observed by Herschel. Since the European financial support to DustPedia has ended, we ask for funding to consolidate and strengthen the participation of the INAF community to ISM studies in nearby galaxies by complementing the analysis on dust with that on gas and metals and promoting new lines of research: the LOCAL collaboration.
Planned activities:
The planned activities will include the analysis of molecular gas using archival and proprietary ALMA CO data from the GATOS collaboration, the exploitation of existing MeerKAT HI observations and the preparation of a new HI survey with MeerKAT+, and the submission of SRT proposals (1.4–100 GHz) building on a successful 25 GHz pilot program.
Start: 15/05/2025
Duration: 2 years
Financing program: Ricerca fondamentale INAF
Referent: Viviana Casasola (INAF)