Unveiling the Obscured Formation of Stars and Galaxies: Large-Scale Legacy Surveys with a New Three Color Imaging Polarimeter on a 50-m Millimeter-Wave Telescope

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

This research program will develop, construct, and deploy a new millimeter-wavelength camera (known as Toltec) for the 50m Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT), located in central Mexico. The main scientific goal is to carry out four major surveys of star formation in the Galaxy and in external galaxies. The external galaxy survey will include mapping the large scale structure in the universe. Broader impacts of the work include training of undergraduate students, graduate students, and a postdoc in instrumentation development, a major focus of MSIP. Enhancing participation, female astronomers will serve as Project Scientist and Deputy Project Scientist for the project. The team will present a series of public outreach activities centered on the science and instrumentation of the project. The camera will operate in the three bands 2.1 mm (900 detectors), 1.4mm (1800 detectors), and 1.1mm (3600 detectors), and it will offer the capability of measuring linear polarization. According to current plans, over the next year the outer two rings of the telescope surface, which cover the area between 32 m and 50 m diameter, will be resurfaced and brought under active control in time for TolTEC to be deployed. Four wide-field legacy surveys are planned: (1) The Clouds-to-Cores Legacy Survey will address questions about the stellar initial mass function;(2)nThe Fields-to-Filaments Legacy Survey will build on recent Herschel space telescope findings of the importance of filaments in star formation and the role of the magnetic field; (3)The Ultra-Deep Survey of Star-forming Galaxies will be a confusion-limited survey of the luminous infrared galaxy population over redshifts 2-10; and (4) The Large Scale Structure Survey will use the Sunyeav Zel'dovich effect to study galaxy cluster formation and dynamics at high redshifts.