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Wide-Field Optical/IR Telescope on Dome C for Extragalactic Studies on Galaxy Evolution

This article discusses the potential of using a wide-field optical/IR telescope on Dome C in Antarctica for studying galaxy evolution. It explores the unique characteristics of Dome C and its suitability for conducting extragalactic astronomy research. The article also examines the parameter space for galaxy studies and proposes the need for a telescope with a wide field of view, high angular resolution, and simple operations. Additionally, it explores the possibility of using adaptive optics to overcome the turbulent ground layer. Overall, the article aims to identify a niche in extragalactic astronomy research that can be explored using the resources available in Antarctica.

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Wide-Field Optical/IR Telescope on Dome C for Extragalactic Studies on Galaxy Evolution

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  1. Extragalactic Studies on Galaxy Evolution with a Wide Field Optical/IR telescope on Dome C A telescope for an ANtarctica Imaging & Survey denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  2. Outline • Interesting characteristics of Dome C from an astronomer working in the topic of galaxies • Definition of the science project and how to carry it out • Conclusions denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  3. Atmospheric Emission (Burton et al. 2005) Bands @ ~200m Bands @ 350, 450 m ? denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  4. Thermal Emission at South Pole and Mauna Kea  for the same S/N:DDome C ≥ 3  Delsewhere (ground-based) • in mJy/arsec2 and magnitudes/arcsec2 (approx.) • (1)from : Ashley et al. 1996, Nguyen et al. 1996, Phillips et al. 1999, Burton et al., 2001 denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  5. Lawrence et al. (2004) • Exceptional Natural seeing: ~ 300 masabove an altitude of ~ 30 - 50m • Wide Isoplanetic Angle: ~ 6 arcsecs in visible denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  6. Agabi et al. (2006) Balloon @ 30m 2.0’’ 1.5’’ 1.0’’ 0.5‘’ 0.0’’ denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  7. Characteristics of Dome C • Very cold (average -50°C down to -90°C) • Very far away • Dry atmosphere (250 m) • Superb natural seeing (above ~30m) • Wide isoplanetic angles (up to arcmin-sized in NIR) • Long coherence times (+ isoplanetic angles   # NGS) • Long « nights »  continuous observations • High stability (clear skies for 74% of the time in winter) GOOD / BAD • Very cold (average -50°C down to -90°C) • Very far away • Boreal aurorae (but close to geomagnetic South Pole) • Tough conditions • Human psychology denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  8. What path for Extragalactic Antarctica Astronomy ? • Given the known characteristics of Dome C • Given the known characteristics of galaxies • Given the (ground-based or space) facilities already in use or in (already funded) project • Assuming that any type of project must be (relatively) cheap Is there a « niche » that would provide Original Data to (at least) galaxy people ? denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  9. Parameter Spacefor Galaxy Studies denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  10. What are we left* with ?*color coding can be further discussed… • Wide field of view (Ø ~1 deg) • Optical / NIR • High angular resolution (but not diffraction-limited in visible) • Imaging / SED (/ Spectroscopy) • Operations : the simpler the better denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  11. What do we need ? • Telescope M1: Ø ~ 3m • An optical design for a wide field telescope providing < ~1/4’’ PSF ? • Can we build a telescope on top of a 30-50m tower ? • What if we can’t ? Some kind of AO ? denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  12. For instance : Optical Design from Gérard Lemaître • Dprimary = 2 - 3m • Wide FOV ~ 1 deg2 • 0.3 <  (m) < 1 • Size of spot: 0.25’’ RMS • Room for AO ? • Behavior at  > 1m ? denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  13. How to get rid of the turbulent ground layer ? • Build some sort of light and stiff 30 to 50m high tower ? h=30-50m denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  14. If that proves possible, it is probably the simple way to reach the specifications but … I recommend not using palm-trees ! denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  15. Wider isoplanetic angles • From Aristidi et al. (2006): • 0 (Dome C) ~6 arcsec  3 x 0 (Other sites)  x 10 probability of finding NGS in visible denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  16. Even wider in NIR • 0 (Dome C): ~ 6 arcsecs @ 0.5m • 0 (Dome C): ~ 1/2 arcmin @ 2.2m denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  17. GLAOSimulations are being carried out by ONERA (Thierry Fusco) • Adaptive optics enable large telescopes to provide diffraction limited images, but their corrected field is restrained by the angular decorrelation of the turbulent wave-fronts. • However many scientific goals would benefit a wide and uniformly corrected field, even with a partial correction. • Ground Layer Adaptive Optics (GLAO) systems are supposed to provide such a correction by compensating the lower part of the atmosphere only. • Indeed, this layer is in the same time highly turbulent and isoplanatic on a rather wide field. denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  18. Point source sensitivity of a WF survey (borrowed to Nicolas) • Aperture: 3 m • pixel scale = 0.24’’ • Throughput = 30% • Deep ‘standard’ Survey • 30 sec per field • 1000 deg2 in 133h or « 5 days » • Very deep survey (Kd et L’) • 30 min per field • 100 deg2 in 35 « days » • Passively cooled 200K and Low background telescope (e = 1%) • Diffraction limited, AO • Green italics: same telescope at best tropical site NICMOS HDF-N Limiting magnitudes: denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  19. Complementary to SWIRE (7 fields 65 deg2) & WISE (All-sky survey) • Green: same telescope at best tropical site NICMOS HDF-N Limiting magnitudes: denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  20. OH suppressors studied at OAMP/LAM(jean-luc.gach@oamp.fr for details) • Sky brightness at 650 nm <<2.2 μm dominated by OH emission will be essentially identical at Dome C to that at all other observatory sites, including Mauna Kea (Kenyon & Storey 2006) • Decreasing OH airglow -> increasing SNR (by a factor of 2) but also increasing maximum exposure times before saturation -> better efficiency denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  21. Multiband filters studied at OAMP/LAM (jean-luc.gach@oamp.fr for details) • Lebrun et al. (1998) designed to detect LBGs at z ~ 3 • Can be also be done in NIR • Gain in exposure times -> better efficiency • No need to frequently change filters denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  22. What would be the « killer » science case of the Antarctica Imaging Survey (ANIS) ? • SDSS/VISTA-like survey (several thousands deg2) • with JWST-like angular resolution (about 0.2’’) • from visible to near-infrared wavelengths • Galaxy Formation & Evolution (morphology, SEDs, photometric redshifts, …) • Cosmology (cosmic shear, large scale structures, …) • Galactic plane (stellar evolution and star formation) • (Extra-)Solar system bodies denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  23. FIR/sub-mm prospective must not be forgotten • IRAS discovered Ultra Luminous IR Galaxies (ULIRG) • Are there any Ultra Luminous Sub-mm Galaxies (ULSG) ? • First All-Sky survey in the sub-mm range denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  24. Conclusions • We propose a 2-3m visible - NIR (MIR) telescope that includes GLAO, a OH suppressor device and multi-band filters to carry out a SDSS/VISTA-like survey with JWST angular resolution : ANIS • Must start soon to be useful for JWST, SPICA, ALMA • More to come before Roscoff (hopefully) • Think about a funding strategy (especially in Europe) denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  25. Dome C Let’s dream … Dome C / visible Dome C / near-IR Dome C / sub-mm denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

  26. M e r c i Dome C denis.burgarella@oamp.fr Optical and Infrared Wide-Field Astronomy in Antarctica

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