Driving science cases and instrument goals for UV imaging and spectroscopy with HWO
Conference Proceeding
Overview
abstract
The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) mission concept is anticipated as NASA’s next astronomical flagship observatory after Roman and the top large, space-based mission recommendation in the 2020 US Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey. HWO, which combines leaps in scientific discovery space relative to the Hubble Space Telescope with the ability to find and characterize Earth-like exoplanets, is currently being matured by NASA and its potential international partners. The worldwide astronomical community is developing the scientific framework for this mission concept, and it has become widely recognized that most of the cosmic ecosystem, exoplanet, and stellar science goals of HWO require high-throughput imaging and/or spectroscopy at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. This paper summarizes current progress by the HWO Community Science and Instrumentation Team to identify and quantify the potential driving science cases that motivate the capabilities of the UV instrument suite for HWO. Key topics currently include the regulation of star formation over cosmic time through galactic feedback, the intergalactic ionizing radiation field, the properties of local analogs of early universe massive stars, and the evolution of chemical complexity in stars and galaxies. We will describe the current driving science cases relevant to UV observations and the measurement goals they imply for the HWO, ranging from UV high-resolution point-source spectroscopy, multi-object and integral field spectroscopy, and far-UV imaging capabilities.
