Science with NIFS, Australia's First Gemini Instrument

The Near-infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) will be Australia's first Gemini instrument. NIFS is a near-infrared, imaging spectrograph that will be used with the ALTAIR facility adaptive optics system on Gemini North to perform near-diffraction-limited imaging spectroscopy over a 3.0'' × 3.0'' field of view with 0.1'' wide slitlets and a spectral resolving power of ~5300. NIFS will operate in the wavelength range from 0.94-2.50 μm where ALTAIR delivers its greatest gains. Its primary purpose is to study moderate-surface-brightness structures around discrete objects that are revealed at high spatial resolution by ALTAIR. NIFS will address a wide range of science from studies of Galactic star formation and the Galactic centre to the nature of disk galaxies at z ~ 1. Studies of the demographics of massive black holes in galactic nuclei and studies of the excitation conditions in the inner narrow-line regions of Seyfert galaxies have been identified as two core NIFS programs. These and other science drivers for NIFS are discussed.