| Description |
MUSE is a second generation instrument for the ESO-VLT being built in Lyon. This integral field spectrograph is planned to start observing in autumn 2012. One of the major goals of MUSE is to detect thousands of high redshift galaxies thanks to their Lyman-alpha emission. MCLya is a 3D Lyman-alpha radiation transfer code developed by the applicant. It has been used to fit a small sample of observed Lyman-alpha lines from high redshift galaxies, constraining the gas and dust content and the star formation history of these galaxies. By performing Lyman-alpha radiation transfer through state-of-the-art hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy formation in cosmological volumes, we plan to make accurate predictions on MUSE detections, and influence the observation strategy. Secondly, we propose to analyze MUSE first data taking into account Lyman-alpha radiation transfer effects, to determine properties on the interstellar medium of high redshift galaxies on a statistical sample of objects, and possibly put constraints on the epoch when the Universe became reionized.
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