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Astrophysics Colloquium

The Diagnostic Power of Galaxy Radio Spectra
Presented by Eric Murphy
National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Thursday, March 25, 2021
11:00 A.M. in Virtual Event and on Webex

Abstract
The question of how galaxies form and evolve over cosmic time is of fundamental importance in modern astrophysics. While centimeter radio continuum observations have proven to be a workhorse in our understanding of the star formation process (i.e., stellar birth and death) from galaxies both in the nearby universe and out to the highest redshifts, the full (decimeter to millimeter) wavelength range can provide far more information as it is powered by an eclectic mix of physical emission processes, each providing completely independent information on the star formation and ISM properties of galaxies. These processes include non-thermal synchrotron, free-free (thermal bremsstrahlung), anomalous microwave, and thermal dust emission that are directly related to the various phases of the ISM and provide a comprehensive picture of how galaxies convert their gas into stars. However, to date, the most sophisticated panchromatic modeling of galaxies has been focused on describing (in some cases simultaneously) their ultraviolet to sub-millimeter properties, most likely due to the coarseness in wavelength coverage of radio observations for most galaxies, which is currently the main challenge for multi-wavelength radio studies. It is only with the planned suite of future radio facilities, such as the Square Kilometre Array and next-generation Very Large Array, that observations will be able to deliver such a finely sampled spectrum over this entire wavelength range to allow for robust separation of the various emission components. In this talk, I will discuss how with enough sensitivity and spectral coverage, observations using these next generation facilities will robustly decompose and accurately quantify the individual energetic components powering the radio continuum, thus providing unique information on the non-thermal plasma, ionized gas, and cold dust content in the disks and halos for large samples of galaxies.

JPL Contact: Joseph Lazio


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