Seminario DAS: The SDSS-V Local Volume Mapper (LVM): Resolving the Physics that Drive Galaxy Evolution

Speaker: Prof. Guillermo Blanc, Researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Head of Scientific-Technical Development at Las Campanas Observatory, and Adjunct Professor at Universidad de Chile (DAS)

Abstract: I will present the SDSS-V Local Volume Mapper (LVM) survey. The LVM is an ambitious project that will build the first optical integral-field spectroscopic data-cube of the Milky Way disk and the Magellanic Clouds. With its unprecedented combination of sky coverage (>3,500 square degrees) and physical spatial resolution (sub-pc in the MW and ~10 pc on the LMC/SMC), the LVM data will spatially resolve the interface between the ISM and individual sources of feedback and ionization, while providing full spectral information over the optical window (360-980 nm). The main scientific goal of the LVM is to trace the star-formation, feedback, and chemical enrichment processes that drive galaxy evolution from small energy injection scales out to galactic scales. It will do so by mapping the physical conditions of the ionized ISM (electron temperature, electron density, chemical abundances, ionization, kinematics) and connecting them to the properties of the local environment, including multi-wavelength datasets tracing other ISM phases, and the presence and spatial distribution of individual ionizing massive stars. To conduct the survey the LVM team is deploying a new facility at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile called the LVM-Instrument (LVM-I), and planning for first-light in early 2023. I will present a description of the LVM project, including the deployment of the LVM Instrument (LVM-I), the characteristics of the planned LVM survey, and will provide an update of the current project status.