The BIFROST instrument will open the field of high-spectral resolution interferometry for VLTI and extend the accessible wavelength range down to 1.0 micrometer, covering the Y, J, and H band. These bands include exquisite spectral line tracers that have not be accessible with interferometry before, including the hydrogen Paschen-beta 1.282 micrometer, Paschen-gamma 1.094 micrometer line, the [Fe II] 1.257 micrometer shock-tracing line, and the He I 1.083 micrometer accretion-tracing line.
Mapping the origin of these line at high spatial and high spectral resolution will unlock powerful venues for studying accretion and mass-loss processes at the early and late stages of stellar evolution, for detecting accreting protoplanets around young stars, for exoplanet spectroscopy, and for probing the spin-orbit alignment in multiple star systems and directly-imaged planetary systems.
The science cases of BIFROST and the optical design are outlined in Kraus et al. 2022. The instrument has been accepted as visitor instrument for the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), where it will be part of the Asgard Suite of VLTI Instruments.
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