Science Requirement Document (SRD) for the European Solar Telescope (EST) (3rd Edition, December 2025)
Abstract
The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) included the European Solar Telescope (EST) as an ESFRI Project in its 2016 Roadmap and confirmed this status in 2021. During the Preparatory Phase (2017 to 2022), the EST Science Advisory Group (SAG) was established in 2017. Its first task was to revise the Science Requirements Document (SRD), originally formulated in 2011. This second edition of the SRD was published in December 2019 (Schlichenmaier et al. 2019, 2019arXiv191208650S). Since 2019, the EST Project Office has advanced the telescope design and developed the Science Instrumentation Suite (SIS). All telescope subsystems and the SIS have now passed their Design Reviews. Aligned with the discussions and resolutions of the SAG, the SIS comprises three categories of first-generation instruments: (1) Tunable Imaging Spectropolarimeters coupled with Fixed Band Imagers (TIS/FBIs), employing large-aperture Fabry-P\'erot etalons; (2) Integral Field Spectropolarimeters based on microlens arrays (IFS-M); (3) The near-infrared spectropolarimeter EMBER (spectropolariMeter Based on slicEr-mirrors for the near-infraRed), using image-slicing technology. This configuration enables simultaneous observations of the same two-dimensional solar region across a broad wavelength range (380-2200 nm), giving EST a uniquely powerful multi-wavelength observing capability. This has made it necessary to revise the Observing Programmes so that they accurately reflect the capabilities of the SIS and ensure that all science objectives can be met. This third edition of the EST SRD integrates the outcomes of numerous SAG meetings held between 2020 and 2025 and incorporates all design developments up to 2025. It updates the Observing Programmes accordingly and assesses their alignment with the scientific objectives defined by the SAG.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1912.08650,
title = {Science Requirement Document (SRD) for the European Solar Telescope (EST) (3rd Edition, December 2025)},
author = {Rolf Schlichenmaier and Luis R. Bellot Rubio and Manuel Collados Vera and Robertus Erdelyi and Alex Feller and Lyndsay Fletcher and Jan Jurčák and Elena Khomenko and Jorrit Leenaarts and Sara Matthews and Luca Belluzzi and Mats Carlsson and Sanja Danilovic and Peter Gömöry and Christoph Kuckein and Rafail Manso Sainz and Marián Martínez González and Mihalis Mathioudakis and Ada Ortiz and Tino L. Riethmüller and Luc Rouppe van der Voort and Paolo J. A. Simoes and Javier Trujillo Bueno and Dominik Utz and Francesca Zuccarello and Jaime de la Cruz Rodriguez and Luca Giovanelli and Shahin Jafarzadeh and David B. Jess and Ivan Milic and Chris Nelson and Michiel van Noort and Claudia Ruiz de Galarreta and Franziska Zeuner},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1912.08650},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
3rd edition (December 2025) with new concept for Science Instrumentation Suite and adapted Observing Programmes