Euclid Definition Study Report
Abstract
Euclid is a space-based survey mission from the European Space Agency designed to understand the origin of the Universe's accelerating expansion. It will use cosmological probes to investigate the nature of dark energy, dark matter and gravity by tracking their observational signatures on the geometry of the universe and on the cosmic history of structure formation. The mission is optimised for two independent primary cosmological probes: Weak gravitational Lensing (WL) and Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations (BAO). The Euclid payload consists of a 1.2 m Korsch telescope designed to provide a large field of view. It carries two instruments with a common field-of-view of ~0.54 deg2: the visual imager (VIS) and the near infrared instrument (NISP) which contains a slitless spectrometer and a three bands photometer. The Euclid wide survey will cover 15,000 deg2 of the extragalactic sky and is complemented by two 20 deg2 deep fields. For WL, Euclid measures the shapes of 30-40 resolved galaxies per arcmin2 in one broad visible R+I+Z band (550-920 nm). The photometric redshifts for these galaxies reach a precision of dz/(1+z) < 0.05. They are derived from three additional Euclid NIR bands (Y, J, H in the range 0.92-2.0 micron), complemented by ground based photometry in visible bands derived from public data or through engaged collaborations. The BAO are determined from a spectroscopic survey with a redshift accuracy dz/(1+z) =0.001. The slitless spectrometer, with spectral resolution ~250, predominantly detects Ha emission line galaxies. Euclid is a Medium Class mission of the ESA Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme, with a foreseen launch date in 2019. This report (also known as the Euclid Red Book) describes the outcome of the Phase A study.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1110.3193,
title = {Euclid Definition Study Report},
author = {R. Laureijs and J. Amiaux and S. Arduini and J. -L. Auguères and J. Brinchmann and R. Cole and M. Cropper and C. Dabin and L. Duvet and A. Ealet and B. Garilli and P. Gondoin and L. Guzzo and J. Hoar and H. Hoekstra and R. Holmes and T. Kitching and T. Maciaszek and Y. Mellier and F. Pasian and W. Percival and J. Rhodes and G. Saavedra Criado and M. Sauvage and R. Scaramella and L. Valenziano and S. Warren and R. Bender and F. Castander and A. Cimatti and O. Le Fèvre and H. Kurki-Suonio and M. Levi and P. Lilje and G. Meylan and R. Nichol and K. Pedersen and V. Popa and R. Rebolo Lopez and H. -W. Rix and H. Rottgering and W. Zeilinger and F. Grupp and P. Hudelot and R. Massey and M. Meneghetti and L. Miller and S. Paltani and S. Paulin-Henriksson and S. Pires and C. Saxton and T. Schrabback and G. Seidel and J. Walsh and N. Aghanim and L. Amendola and J. Bartlett and C. Baccigalupi and J. -P. Beaulieu and K. Benabed and J. -G. Cuby and D. Elbaz and P. Fosalba and G. Gavazzi and A. Helmi and I. Hook and M. Irwin and J. -P. Kneib and M. Kunz and F. Mannucci and L. Moscardini and C. Tao and R. Teyssier and J. Weller and G. Zamorani and M. R. Zapatero Osorio and O. Boulade and J. J. Foumond and A. Di Giorgio and P. Guttridge and A. James and M. Kemp and J. Martignac and A. Spencer and D. Walton and T. Blümchen and C. Bonoli and F. Bortoletto and C. Cerna and L. Corcione and C. Fabron and K. Jahnke and S. Ligori and F. Madrid and L. Martin and G. Morgante and T. Pamplona and E. Prieto and M. Riva and R. Toledo and M. Trifoglio and F. Zerbi and F. Abdalla and M. Douspis and C. Grenet and S. Borgani and R. Bouwens and F. Courbin and J. -M. Delouis and P. Dubath and A. Fontana and M. Frailis and A. Grazian and J. Koppenhöfer and O. Mansutti and M. Melchior and M. Mignoli and J. Mohr and C. Neissner and K. Noddle and M. Poncet and M. Scodeggio and S. Serrano and N. Shane and J. -L. Starck and C. Surace and A. Taylor and G. Verdoes-Kleijn and C. Vuerli and O. R. Williams and A. Zacchei and B. Altieri and I. Escudero Sanz and R. Kohley and T. Oosterbroek and P. Astier and D. Bacon and S. Bardelli and C. Baugh and F. Bellagamba and C. Benoist and D. Bianchi and A. Biviano and E. Branchini and C. Carbone and V. Cardone and D. Clements and S. Colombi and C. Conselice and G. Cresci and N. Deacon and J. Dunlop and C. Fedeli and F. Fontanot and P. Franzetti and C. Giocoli and J. Garcia-Bellido and J. Gow and A. Heavens and P. Hewett and C. Heymans and A. Holland and Z. Huang and O. Ilbert and B. Joachimi and E. Jennins and E. Kerins and A. Kiessling and D. Kirk and R. Kotak and O. Krause and O. Lahav and F. van Leeuwen and J. Lesgourgues and M. Lombardi and M. Magliocchetti and K. Maguire and E. Majerotto and R. Maoli and F. Marulli and S. Maurogordato and H. McCracken and R. McLure and A. Melchiorri and A. Merson and M. Moresco and M. Nonino and P. Norberg and J. Peacock and R. Pello and M. Penny and V. Pettorino and C. Di Porto and L. Pozzetti and C. Quercellini and M. Radovich and A. Rassat and N. Roche and S. Ronayette and E. Rossetti and B. Sartoris and P. Schneider and E. Semboloni and S. Serjeant and F. Simpson and C. Skordis and G. Smadja and S. Smartt and P. Spano and S. Spiro and M. Sullivan and A. Tilquin and R. Trotta and L. Verde and Y. Wang and G. Williger and G. Zhao and J. Zoubian and E. Zucca},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1110.3193},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
116 pages, with executive summary and table of contents