Extragalactic Spectral Line
Extragalactic Spectral Lines Working Group Introduction
The Extragalactic Spectral Lines science working group (SWG) focusses on the many astrophysically important lines besides the HI 21 cm line. With its unique sensitivity, SKA opens up the study of redshifted lines from distant galaxies or intrinsically weak lines from nearby galaxies, allowing us to trace material and various environments from the local to the distant Universe. In a pan-chromatic multi-messenger astronomy era, the SKA will complement and be operated along with other existing facilities such as ALMA, or instruments being built like the ELT, matching their angular resolution in the low frequency domain.
The science case for extragalactic spectral lines strongly advocates for an increase in coverage toward high frequencies (>15 GHz, SKA1 upgrade or SKA2).

Working Group Membership
Members of the (Non-HI) Extragalactic Spectral Line Working group can be found here
We actively encourage interested researchers to participate in the working group.
Please contact the co-chairs if you are interested in joining the group, with a brief description of your area of research.
The current co-chairs are:
- Francoise Combes (Observatoire de Paris, France), francoise.combes@obspm.fr
- Sebastien Muller (Chalmers, Sweden), sebastien.muller@chalmers.se
Guidelines on who can join the group can be found here
The SKAO Project Scientist liaison is Tyler Bourke.
Related 2015 “Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array” Chapters
- See appropriate section here
Previous Chairs
- John Conway (2014-2017)
- Rob Beswick (2014-2018)