Characterizing Dust-Enshrouded Activity at the Peak of the Galaxy Formation Epoch with MUSIC

该项目是为实现毫米波探测器新技术的天文学潜力而作出的第一次重大努力。在NSF先前的支持下，该团队已经建造了多色亚毫米电感相机（MUSIC），这是一种基于微波动力学电感探测器（MKID）的576像素成像相机，正在夏威夷莫纳克亚的加州理工学院亚毫米天文台（CSO）进行调试。主要研究者和合作团队将使用CSO和MUSIC进行至少4平方度的宽场调查，波长为850微米，1.1，1.3和2.0毫米。这项调查将增加在这些波长映射的天空数量的10倍。该调查的主要科学目标是检测和表征大样本的亚毫米星系（SMG）。这些尘埃笼罩的星系是天空中亚毫米波长最亮的物体，是宇宙学红外辐射密度的主要贡献者。利用来自其他天文台的辅助数据，特别是赫歇尔太空望远镜，该团队将推导出估计1,000个或更多SMG的光谱能量分布和光度分布函数。此外，该仪器还将用于测量Sunyaev-Zel'dovich效应，即星系团中炽热的星系间等离子体产生的宇宙背景辐射的扭曲。从调查中得出的校准地图和源目录将通过网络界面公布，并将在阿尔马设施开始运行时进行重要的后续观测。

This project represents the first major effort to realize the astronomical potential of a new technology in millimeter-wave detectors. With previous support from NSF, this team has built the Multicolor Sub/millimeter Inductance Camera (MUSIC), a 576-pixel imaging camera based on microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs), being commissioned at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The Principal Investigator and the collaborating team will conduct a wide-field survey of at least 4 square degrees, at wavelengths of 850 microns, 1.1, 1.3, and 2.0 millimeters, using CSO and MUSIC. This survey will increase the amount of sky mapped at these wavelengths by a factor of 10. The primary science goal of the survey is to detect and characterize a large sample of submillimeter galaxies (SMGs). These dust-enshrouded galaxies are the brightest objects in the sky at submillimeter wavelengths, and are a major contributor to the cosmological density of infrared radiation. Using ancillary data from other observatories, notably the Herschel Space Telescope, the team will derive spectral energy distributions and luminosity distribution functions for an estimated 1,000 or more SMGs. Additionally the instrument will be used for measurements of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, the distortion in the cosmic background radiation produced by hot intergalactic plasma in galaxy clusters. The calibrated maps and source catalogs derived from the survey will be made public via a web interface, and will be designed to enable important follow-up observations when the ALMA facility begins operation.