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Performance Summary in Key Science Areas

Performance Summary in Key Science Areas. Verify that WFC3 as designed is capable of carrying out the WFC3 science as described in the WFC3 Science White Paper and in the Design Reference Mission. Performance Summary in Key Science Areas – cont’d.

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Performance Summary in Key Science Areas

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  1. Performance Summary in Key Science Areas Verify that WFC3 as designed is capable of carrying out the WFC3 science as described in the WFC3 Science White Paper and in the Design Reference Mission WFC3 Critical Science Review

  2. Performance Summary in Key Science Areas – cont’d The figure illustrates the exposure time such that background noise equals the detector noise. For longer exposure times the observations are background limited. Note that full orbit WFC3 exposures with broad band filters in the visible and in the near-IR are generally background limited. WFC3 Critical Science Review

  3. High-z Universe WFC3 is capable of detecting star forming galaxies with star formation rate of 50 MO yr-1 up to z=5 and those with SFR of 160 MO yr-1 up to z=10. WFC3 Critical Science Review

  4. Point source limiting magnitudes WFC3 science requires reaching faint magnitude limits for point-like or compact sources. The figure shows the limit for a detection in 10,000 s with S/N=5. The point source photometry components of the nearby galaxies, resolved stellar populations, stars and ISM science themes are enabled by the present CEIS. WFC3 Critical Science Review

  5. Resolved Stellar Populations • Goal: resolve individual stars in Virgo Cluster galaxies • Assumptions: • DM = 31.5 • absolute magnitude of giant stars MV=-2.5 (B2 or red giant) • no more than 1 bright star per 9 pixels • The brightest stars in Virgo cluster galaxies can be individually resolved down to surface brightness = 23.5 mag arcsec-2 WFC3 Critical Science Review

  6. Resolved Stellar Populations • Goal: resolve individual stars in reddened regions in the LMC • Assumptions: • DM = 18.6 • AV = 3.0 • All main sequence stars down to M6 are bright enough to be observed. WFC3 Critical Science Review

  7. Extended source limiting magnitudes WFC3 is a sensitive instrument for extended sources photometry. The figure shows the magnitude limits for S/N=1 in a 10,000 s exposure. On chip binning in the UVIS increases only marginally the S/N for the broad band filters but has important effects for narrow band observations (up to 70 per cent more S/N.) WFC3 Critical Science Review

  8. Limiting flux of emission lines WFC3 allows detection of faint emission line sources. The table illustrates the limiting flux for obtaining a S/N=5 in a square arcsec in a 10,000 s exposure. WFC3 Critical Science Review

  9. Conclusions WFC3 is capable of carrying out the WFC3 science as described in the WFC3 Science White Paper and in the Design Reference Mission. WFC3 Critical Science Review

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