The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer

Autor: Hall, Pat, Balogh, Michael, Barmby, Pauline, Blakeslee, John, Bovy, Jo, Bradley, Colin, Bridges, Terry, Cami, Jan, Chapman, Scott, Chateauneuf, Francois, Cowan, Nick, Cote, Patrick, Damjanov, Ivana, Drout, Maria, Eadie, Gwendoyn, Ellison, Aara, Ferrarese, Laura, Fraser, Wesley, Gaensler, Bryan, Gallagher, Sarah, Haggard, Daryl, Henault-Brunet, Vincent, Herwig, Falk, Hill, Alexis, Hlavacek-Larrondo, Julie, Hudson, Mike, Johnson, Matt, Khatu, Viraja, Laporte, Chervin, McConnachie, Alan, McNamara, Brian, Mohammad, Faizan, Muzzin, Adam, Neilson, Hilding, Nemec, James, O'dea, Christopher, Parker, Laura, Patton, David, Percival, Will, Rogerson, Jesse, Ruan, John J., Sakara, Charli, Sawicki, Marcin, Simons, Doug, Sivakoff, Greg, Szeto, Kei, Tesfamariam, Solomon, Thanjavur, Karun, Thibeault, Simon, Thomas, Guillaume, Van Waerbeke, Ludovic, Venn, Kim, Webb, Tracy, Willis, Jon, Woo, Joanna
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3765452
Popis: The Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer (MSE) is a project to design and construct a wide-field spectroscopic telescope at a site with excellent natural seeing, and in so doing to continue the tradition of Canadian leadership in wide-field astronomy established with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. MSE is an end-to-end science platform for the design, execution and scientific exploitation of transformative, high-precision spectroscopic surveys at low-, medium-, and high-resolution from 0.37 to 1.8 microns. It will unveil the composition and dynamics of the faint Universe and impact nearly every field of astrophysics across spatial scales from individual stars to the largest scale structures in the Universe. Major pillars in the MSE science program include: (i) high spectral resolution Gaia follow-up to understand the chemistry and dynamics of the distant Milky Way in unprecedented detail; (ii) a revolutionary study of galaxy formation and evolution over billions of years back to `cosmic noon' when the Universe was at its peak of star formation; (iii) a large-volume, redshift survey to constrain inflationary physics and determine the mass of the neutrino; (iv) high fidelity measurements of the density profiles of the dark matter halos of Milky Way satellites; and (v) the largest sample yet of quasars with black hole masses measured from reverberation mapping, used to calibrate relationships enabling black hole mass estimates for millions of quasars. The MSE design features an 11.25m aperture telescope dedicated to multi-object spectroscopy over a 1.5 square degree field of view. A total of 3249 fibers will feed spectrographs operating at low (R ~= 3000) and moderate (R ~= 6000) spectral resolution, and an additional 1083 fibers will simultaneously feed high resolution spectrographs (R ~= 20,000-40,000). It is expected that 80% of useful observing time will be dedicated to large, multi-year Legacy Surveys proposed by MSE partners and chosen in a competitive, peer-reviewed process. The remaining 20% of observing time will be allocated to the partners, based on their relative share in MSE, for smaller Strategic Surveys. All MSE data will be available to all partners, with a proprietary period of several years before becoming publicly available. A set of Design Reference Surveys will be created and iterated during the design and construction phases so that the MSE science community is ready to propose surveys that take full advantage of all of the capabilities of MSE. Numerous international studies have concluded that the capabilities provided by MSE would be a critical hub in the emerging international network of front-line astronomical facilities over the coming decades, naturally complementing and extending the scientific power of TMT, SKA, Euclid, LSST, and many other facilities. High rankings in ongoing national reviews and success in peer-reviewed funding competitions will pave the way for detailed design of MSE in 2021-2025, construction in 2026-2031, and operation in the 2030s and well beyond. The cost to build the MSE conceptual design is US$420M, including risk margins, and the cost to operate the facility is estimated at US$25M/year, all in 2018 dollars. A model with several roughly equal major partners instead of one dominant partner is anticipated. The current MSE partnership consists of Canada, France, U. Hawaii, Australia, China, and India, plus observers from Texas A&M University, the US National Optical Astronomy Observatories, and a consortium of UK universities and research institutes. The MSE Science Team consists of approximately 400 scientists worldwide, including about 36 from Canada and an equal number from France, exceeded only by the number of members from the US. Recommendations: It is not realistic to expect that Canada can be a part of every single scientifically exciting astronomical facility that exists, will be built, or is proposed. Projects and facilities undertaken at a national level in Canada therefore need to be strategic investments that increase scientific and industrial capacity, build upon strengths, leverage past investments, and provide collaborative and leadership opportunities within the worldwide community. The MSE project fulfills those criteria and fills a major missing link in the future international network of multi-wavelength astronomical facilities. In that context, and given the benefits of an MSE facility to the Canadian community, we recommend: 1) that the community prioritizes continued Canadian involvement in the MSE project through its preliminary design phase, its final design phase, and its construction and operation on a suitable site, subject to successful design reviews and successful funding by an international partnership. 2) that the community supports a Canadian share in an MSE facility of at least 20%, ensuring that Canada has a significant voice in the project as one of the top 3 or 4 partners.
White paper identifier W030
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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