The PRIMA promise of deciphering interstellar dust evolution with observations of the nearby Universe
Frédéric Galliano, Maarten Baes, Léo Belloir, Simone Bianchi, Caroline Bot, Francesco Calura, Viviana Casasola, Jérémy Chastenet, Christopher Clark, Lucie Correia, Ilse de Looze, Mika Juvela, Hidehiro Kaneda, Stavroula Katsioli, Francisca Kemper, Vianney Lebouteiller, Suzanne Madden, Mikako Matsuura, Takashi Onaka, Lara Pantoni, Francesca Pozzi, Monica Relaño Pastor, Marc Sauvage, Matthew Smith, Vidhi Tailor, Tsutomu Takeuchi, Emmanuel Xilouris, Nathalie Ysard
Published: 2025/9/1
Abstract
This paper develops a few science cases, using the PRIMA far-IR probe, aimed at achieving several breakthroughs in our understanding of the dust properties and their evolution. We argue that the specific observational capabilities of PRIMA, namely its unprecedented sensitivity over the whole far-IR range and the possibility to obtain continuous spectra between wavelengths 24 and 235 microns, are essential to progress in our understanding of the physics of the interstellar medium and galaxy evolution. Our science cases revolve around observations of nearby galaxies. We discuss the importance of detecting the IR emission of the diffuse interstellar medium of these galaxies, including very low-metallicity systems. We also discuss the opportunity of detecting various solid-state features to understand the mineralogy of interstellar grains. Finally, we stress the unique opportunity brought by the possible simultaneous measures of both the dust continuum and the far-IR fine-structure gas lines. These science cases could be distributed in a few large programs.