The Science Case for PILOT II: the Distant Universe

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Contents Vol 26(4)

doi:10.1071/AS08049

The Science Case for PILOT II: the Distant Universe

J. S. Lawrence ^A ^B ^K, M. C. B. Ashley ^A, A. Bunker ^C, R. Bouwens ^D, D. Burgarella ^E, M. G. Burton ^A, N. Gehrels ^F, K. Glazebrook ^G, K. Pimbblet ^H, R. Quimby ^I, W. Saunders ^C, J. W. V. Storey ^A, J. C. Wheeler ^J

^A School of Physics, University of New South Wales, NSW 2052
^B Present address: Department of Physics and Engineering, Macquarie University, NSW 2109 and Anglo-Australian Observatory, PO Box 296 Epping, NSW 1710
^C Anglo-Australian Observatory, NSW 1710
^D Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
^E Observatoire Astronomique de Marseille Provence, Université d’Aix-Marseille, Marseille 13388, France
^F NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
^G Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122
^H Department of Physics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072
^I Astronomy Department, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
^J Department of Astronomy, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, USA
^K Corresponding author. Email: jsl@science.mq.edu.au





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Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia 26(4) 397–414 http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AS08049
Submitted: 24 November 2008 Accepted: 15 April 2009 Published online: 4 November 2009

Abstract

PILOT (the Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope) is a proposed 2.5-m optical/infrared telescope to be located at Dome C on the Antarctic plateau. The atmospheric conditions at Dome C deliver a high sensitivity, high photometric precision, wide-field, high spatial resolution, and high-cadence imaging capability to the PILOT telescope. These capabilities enable a unique scientific potential for PILOT, which is addressed in this series of papers. The current paper presents a series of projects dealing with the distant (redshift >1) Universe, that have been identified as key science drivers for the PILOT facility. The potential for PILOT to detect the first populations of stars to form in the early Universe, via infrared projects searching for pair-instability supernovae and gamma-ray burst afterglows, is investigated. Two projects are proposed to examine the assembly and evolution of structure in the Universe: an infrared survey searching for the first evolved galaxies at high redshift, and an optical survey aimed at characterising moderate-redshift galaxy clusters. Finally, a large-area weak-lensing survey and a program to obtain supernova infrared light-curves are proposed to examine the nature and evolution of dark energy and dark matter.

Keywords: early universe — cosmology: observations — galaxies: clusters: general — galaxies: high-redshift — large-scale structure of universe — supernovae: general — telescopes