When massive galaxies bend spacetime and create gravitational lenses, they produce some of the most spectacular cosmic phenomena—but also some of the most challenging observational puzzles. These lensing systems often contain multiple galaxies at different redshifts, each contributing overlapping spectral signatures that astronomers must carefully disentangle to understand the kinematics and dynamics of these distant objects.
Squirrel tackles this deblending challenge head-on, building upon the robust pPXF framework to extract kinematic measurements from Integral Field Unit (IFU) spectroscopy. The package streamlines the complex workflow of fitting multiple kinematic components simultaneously, handling the intricate task of separating stellar velocity distributions from lensed background galaxies and foreground lens systems. With quality-of-life features designed specifically for multi-component analysis, Squirrel transforms what was once a tedious manual process into an automated pipeline that preserves scientific rigor while dramatically reducing analysis time.
For researchers studying galaxy evolution, dark matter distributions, or the high-redshift universe through gravitational telescopes, Squirrel opens new possibilities for systematic kinematic studies. The tool’s ability to cleanly separate overlapping spectral components makes it invaluable for surveys like MUSE observations of lens systems, where understanding both the lens galaxy dynamics and the magnified background sources can reveal insights spanning billions of years of cosmic history.
⭐ Stars: 8
💻 Language: Jupyter Notebook
🔗 Repository: ajshajib/squirrel