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We present a satellite mission concept to measure the dark energy equation of state parameter w with percent-level precision. The Very Ambitious Dark Energy Research satellite (VADER) is a multi-wavelength survey mission joining X-ray, optical, and IR instruments for a simultaneous spectral coverage from 4microns (0.3eV) to 10keV over a field of view (FoV) of 1 square degree. VADER combines several clean methods for dark energy studies, the baryonic acoustic oscillations in the galaxy and galaxy cluster power spectrum and weak lensing, for a joint analysis over an unrivalled survey volume. The payload consists of two XMM-like X-ray telescopes with an effective area of 2,800cm^2 at 1.5keV and state-of-the-art wide field DEPFET pixel detectors (0.1-10keV) in a curved focal plane configuration to extend the FoV. The X-ray telescopes are complemented by a 1.5m optical/IR telescope with 8 instruments for simultaneous coverage of the same FoV from 0.3 to 4 microns. The 8 dichroic-separated bands (u,g,r,z,J,H,K,L) provide accurate photometric galaxy redshifts, whereas the diffraction-limited resolution of the central z-band allows precise shape measurements for cosmic shear analysis. The 5 year VADER survey will cover a contiguous sky area of 3,500 square degrees to a depth of z~2 and will yield accurate photometric redshifts and multi-wavelength object parameters for about 175,000 galaxy clusters, one billion galaxies, and 5 million AGN. VADER will not only provide unprecedented constraints on the nature of dark energy, but will additionally extend and trigger a multitude of cosmic evolution studies to very large (>10 Gyrs) look-back times.
Starting around 2013, data from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will be analyzed for a wide range of phenomena. By separately tracing the development of mass structure and rate of expansion of the universe, these data will address the physics of dark matter and dark energy, the possible existence of modified gravity on large scales, large extra dimensions, the neutrino mass, and possible self interaction of dark matter particles.
Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are the most energetic eruptions known in the Universe. Instruments such as Compton-GRO/BATSE and the GRB monitor on BeppoSAX have detected more than 2700 GRBs and, although observational confirmation is still required, it is now generally accepted that many of these bursts are associated with the collapse of rapidly spinning massive stars to form black holes. Consequently, since first generation stars are expected to be very massive, GRBs are likely to have occurred in significant numbers at early epochs. X-red is a space mission concept designed to detect these extremely high redshifted GRBs, in order to probe the nature of the first generation of stars and hence the time of reionisation of the early Universe. We demonstrate that the gamma and x-ray luminosities of typical GRBs render them detectable up to extremely high redshifts (z~10-30), but that current missions such as HETE2 and SWIFT operate outside the observational range for detection of high redshift GRB afterglows. Therefore, to redress this, we present a complete mission design from the science case to the mission architecture and payload, the latter comprising three instruments, namely wide field x-ray cameras to detect high redshift gamma-rays, an x-ray focussing telescope to determine accurate coordinates and extract spectra, and an infrared spectrograph to observe the high redshift optical afterglow. The mission is expected to detect and identify for the first time GRBs with z > 10, thereby providing constraints on properties of the first generation of stars and the history of the early Universe.
Destiny is a simple, direct, low cost mission to determine the properties of dark energy by obtaining a cosmologically deep supernova (SN) type Ia Hubble diagram. Operated at L2, its science instrument is a 1.65m space telescope, featuring a grism-fed near-infrared (NIR) (0.85-1.7micron) survey camera/spectrometer with a 0.12 square degree field of view. During its two-year primary mission, Destiny will detect, observe, and characterize ~3000 SN Ia events over the redshift interval 0.4<z<1.7 within a 3 square degree survey area. In conjunction with ongoing ground-based SN Ia surveys for z<0.8, Destiny mission data will be used to construct a high-precision Hubble diagram and thereby constrain the dark energy equation of state from a time when it was strongly matter-dominated to the present when dark energy dominates. The grism-images simultaneously provide broad-band photometry, redshifts, and SN classification, as well as time-resolved diagnostic data for investigating additional SN luminosity diagnostics. Destiny will be used in its third year as a high resolution, wide-field imager to conduct a multicolor NIR weak lensing (WL) survey covering 1000 square degrees. The large-scale mass power spectrum derived from weak lensing distortions of field galaxies as a function of redshift will provide independent and complementary constraints on the dark energy equation of state. The combination of SN and WL is much more powerful than either technique on its own. Used together, these surveys will have more than an order of magnitude greater sensitivity than will be provided by ongoing ground-based projects. The dark energy parameters, w_0 and w_a, will be measured to a precision of 0.05 and 0.2 respectively.
The Advanced X-ray Timing Array (AXTAR) is a mission concept for X-ray timing of compact objects that combines very large collecting area, broadband spectral coverage, high time resolution, highly flexible scheduling, and an ability to respond promptly to time-critical targets of opportunity. It is optimized for submillisecond timing of bright Galactic X-ray sources in order to study phenomena at the natural time scales of neutron star surfaces and black hole event horizons, thus probing the physics of ultradense matter, strongly curved spacetimes, and intense magnetic fields. AXTARs main instrument, the Large Area Timing Array (LATA) is a collimated instrument with 2-50 keV coverage and over 3 square meters effective area. The LATA is made up of an array of supermodules that house 2-mm thick silicon pixel detectors. AXTAR will provide a significant improvement in effective area (a factor of 7 at 4 keV and a factor of 36 at 30 keV) over the RXTE PCA. AXTAR will also carry a sensitive Sky Monitor (SM) that acts as a trigger for pointed observations of X-ray transients in addition to providing high duty cycle monitoring of the X-ray sky. We review the science goals and technical concept for AXTAR and present results from a preliminary mission design study.
Quantum mechanical metric fluctuations during an early inflationary phase of the universe leave a characteristic imprint in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The amplitude of this signal depends on the energy scale at which inflation occurred. Detailed observations by a dedicated satellite mission (CMBPol) therefore provide information about energy scales as high as $10^{15}$ GeV, twelve orders of magnitude greater than the highest energies accessible to particle accelerators, and probe the earliest moments in the history of the universe. This summary provides an overview of a set of studies exploring the scientific payoff of CMBPol in diverse areas of modern cosmology, such as the physics of inflation, gravitational lensing and cosmic reionization, as well as foreground science and removal .