SIMPLE is the Phase-A study of a high-resolution near-IR spectrograph
for the E-ELT.
International Consortium
• INAF (Italy) - L. Origlia (PI - OABologna), E. Oliva (PM - OAArcetri), R. Maiolino (IS - OARoma)
• UAO (Sweden) - N. Piskunov (Local Manger)
• TLS (Germany) - A. Hatzes (Local Manger)
• PUC (Chile) - L. Vanzi (Esc. Ing.) (Local Manger)
Science Team
B. Gustafsson (Chair), K. Eriksson, O. Kochukhov - UAO
P. Molaro, A. Bragaglia - INAF
E. Guenther - TLS
D. Minniti, M. Zoccali, M. Catelan - PUC
T. Lebzelter - UniWien, S. Gillessen - MPE, L. Testi - INAF/ESO
Science Case
The main areas where SIMPLE is expected to deliver unique results, and tackle outstanding astrophysical questions are:
- the detection and characterization of exo-planet atmospheres;
- the early nucleosynthesis and chemical enrichment in the inner Galaxy;
- the chemical and dust enrichment of proto-galaxies in the early Universe at the reionization epoch.
Other areas where SIMPLE will provide extremely important contributions, and likely breakthroughs, are the following:
- the detection of planets (and in particular rocky planets) around low mass stars;
- the formation of planetary systems;
- the nucleosynthesis of evolved red giant and supergiant stars;
- the origin of cool-star mass-loss linked to the fate of low- and intermediate-mass stars;
- the origins of stellar magnetic fields;
- the dynamics of the accretion phases in star formation;
- the origin and evolution of stars in the neighbourhood of the Galactic supermassive black hole and General Relativity effects;
- globular clusters in external galaxies as tracers of galaxy formation and chemical enrichment;
- the initial mass function in starburst galaxies.
Instrument Concept
The concept we propose is a relatively simple (hence the name) instrument, consisting of a canonical cross-dispersed
echelle spectrometer, whose entrance aperture is a few times the diffraction limit at the longer wavelengths (K band).
Therefore the design is independent on the telescope diameter and the instrument can be developed using standard,
low-risk and relatively low-cost technologies.
The following tables summarize the main features of the spectrometer, observing modes and expected performances.
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