The TIMER Project: Time Inference with MUSE in Extragalactic Rings

The TIMER project is a survey with the integral-field spectrograph MUSE (at the VLT) of nearby barred galaxies with prominent central structures, such as nuclear rings or inner discs. The powerful instrumental setup provides an unprecedented view of the central regions of these galaxies. The main goals of the project include: (i) estimating the cosmic epoch when discs of galaxies settle, leading to the formation of bars and the onset of internal secular evolution; (ii) testing the downsizing hypothesis for galaxy formation, whereby more massive galaxies are formed first; and (iii) estimating the history of external gas accretion in disc galaxies. I will briefly describe how the survey is built and the derivation of high-level data products. The latter include maps of the spatial distribution of parameters describing the stellar line-of-sight velocity distribution, and of mean stellar ages and metallicities. We also derived the spatial distribution of star formation histories and physical properties of the warm phases of the ISM across our MUSE fields. In addition, we also obtained the spatial distribution of the kinematic parameters of the warm ISM. I will summarise some of our first results and illustrate how this dataset can be used for a plethora of other scientific applications, e.g., studying stellar feedback into the ISM, AGN outflows, properties of nuclear and primary bars, stellar migration and chemical enrichment, and the gaseous and stellar dynamics of the rich variety of central components in disc galaxies (such as nuclear rings and spiral arms, barlenses, box/peanuts and bulges).