The Galaxy Evolution Probe: a concept for a mid and far-infrared space observatory

24 July 2018 The Galaxy Evolution Probe: a concept for a mid and far-infrared space observatory

Proceedings Volume 10698, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave; 106980L (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314076
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2018, Austin, Texas, United States

Abstract

The Galaxy Evolution Probe (GEP) is a concept for a mid and far-infrared space observatory designed to survey sky for star-forming galaxies from redshifts of z = 0 to beyond z = 4. Furthering our knowledge of galaxy formation requires uniform surveys of star-forming galaxies over a large range of redshifts and environments to accurately describe star formation, supermassive black hole growth, and interactions between these processes in galaxies. The GEP design includes a 2 m diameter SiC telescope actively cooled to 4 K and two instruments: (1) An imager to detect star-forming galaxies and measure their redshifts photometrically using emission features of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. It will cover wavelengths from 10 to 400 μm, with 23 spectral resolution R = 8 filter-defined bands from 10 to 95 μm and five R = 3.5 bands from 95 to 400 μm. (2) A 24 – 193 μm, R = 200 dispersive spectrometer for redshift confirmation, identification of active galactic nuclei, and interstellar astrophysics using atomic fine-structure lines. The GEP will observe from a Sun-Earth L2 orbit, with a design lifetime of four years, devoted first to galaxy surveys with the imager and second to follow-up spectroscopy. The focal planes of the imager and the spectrometer will utilize KIDs, with the spectrometer comprised of four slit-coupled diffraction gratings feeding the KIDs. Cooling for the telescope, optics, and KID amplifiers will be provided by solar-powered cryocoolers, with a multi-stage adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator providing 100 mK cooling for the KIDs.

Conference Presentation

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Jason Glenn, C. Matt Bradford, Rashied Amini, Bradley Moore, Andrew Benson, Lee Armus, Katherine Alatalo, Jeremy Darling, Peter Day, Jeanette Domber, Duncan Farrah, Adalyn Fyhrie, Brandon Hensley, Sarah Lipscy, David Redding, Michael Rogers, Mark Shannon, John Steeves, Carole Tucker, Gordon Wu, and Jonas Zmuidzinas "The Galaxy Evolution Probe: a concept for a mid and far-infrared space observatory", Proc. SPIE 10698, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, 106980L (24 July 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314076

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