Related papers: The Submillimeter Frontier: A Space Science Impera…
Departures of the energy spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from a perfect blackbody probe a fundamental property of the universe -- its thermal history. Current upper limits, dating back some 25 years, limit such spectral…
The frequency spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a relatively untapped source of data which can allow us to peer beyond the surface of last scattering. Small deviations away from a perfect blackbody shape will encode…
Submillimeter and millimeter wavelengths provide a unique view of the Universe, from the gas and dust that fills and surrounds galaxies to the chromosphere of our own Sun. Current single-dish facilities have presented a tantalising view of…
ATLAS (Astrophysics Telescope for Large Area Spectroscopy) is a concept for a NASA probe-class space mission. It is the spectroscopic follow-up mission to WFIRST, boosting its scientific return by obtaining deep NIR & MIR slit spectroscopy…
Submillimeter observations are a key for answering many of the big questions in modern-day astrophysics, such as how stars and planets form, how galaxies evolve, and how material cycles through stars and the interstellar medium. With the…
IRIS (InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph) is a first light near-infrared diffraction limited imager and integral field spectrograph being designed for the future Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). IRIS is optimized to perform astronomical studies…
Starting in 2008, NASA has provided the exoplanet community an observational program aimed at obtaining the highest resolution imaging available as part of its mission to validate and characterize exoplanets, as well as their stellar…
Past millimeter-wave galaxy surveys have primarily probed the brightest starburst galaxies only and suffered heavily from confusion. The interpretation of existing surveys has also been hindered by the lack of reliable redshift indicators…
Cosmological observations in the new millennium have dramatically increased our understanding of the Universe, but several fundamental questions remain unanswered. This topical group report describes the best opportunities to address these…
Roughly half of the radiation from evolving galaxies in the early universe reaches us in the far-infrared and submillimeter wavelength range. Recent major advances in observing capabilities, in particular the launch of the Herschel Space…
Far-infrared (FIR) surveys are critical to probing the co-evolution of black holes and galaxies, since of order half the light from accreting black holes and active star formation is emitted in the rest-frame infrared over $0.5\lesssim z…
The first unbiased surveys for high-redshift galaxies in the submillimeter (submm) and far-infrared (FIR) wavebands have been made over the last two years. When combined with the intensity of extragalactic background radiation in the same…
We describe observations in the nearby universe (<100 Mpc) with a 10-m or larger space-based telescope having imaging and spectral capabilities in the range 912-9000 \AA that would enable advances in the fields of massive stars, young…
A 10 meter diameter submillimeter-wave telescope has been proposed for the NSF Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. Current evidence indicates that the South Pole is the best submillimeter-wave telescope site among all existing or proposed…
The discovery of cosmic acceleration has inspired ambitious experimental and observational efforts to understand its origin. Many of these take the form of large astronomical surveys, sometimes using new, special-purpose instrumentation,…
We simulate the scientific performance of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) High Latitude Survey (HLS) on dark energy and modified gravity. The 1.6 year HLS Reference survey is currently envisioned to image 2000 deg$^2$ in…
The ESA cornerstone mission The Far-Infrared and Submillimetre Sapce Telescope (FIRST) has the ideal combination of sensitivity and angular resolving power to determine the bright counts of galaxies over a large area of sky in the…
Cosmological observations usually map our present-day past light cone. However, it is also possible to compare different past light cones. This is the concept behind the redshift drift, a model-independent probe of fundamental cosmology. In…
The experimental search for ultra high energy cosmic messengers, from $E\sim 10^{19}$ eV to beyond $E\sim 10^{20}$ eV, at the very end of the known energy spectrum, constitutes an extraordinary opportunity to explore a largely unknown…
Spectral distortions of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) offer the possibility of probing processes which occurred during the evolution of our Universe going back up to Z$\simeq 10^7$. Unfortunately all the attempts so far carried out…