After Sloan 2 계획 - Eisenstein

2007. 1. 25일에 다니엘 아이젠시타인이 SDSS member들에게 보낸, AS2에 대한 편지입니다.

---

Dear SDSS-2 collaboration, ARC members, and ARC proposal co-signers,

As many of you know, we are beginning work on an ambitious new set of surveys to utilize the APO 2.5-meter telescope from 2008 until 2014. These projects build on the SDSS-2 and ET science legacy but require significant upgrades of the facility as well as new survey strategies.

We anticipate that these surveys will be unified into a collaboration structure similar to that of SDSS and SDSS-2. The collective project is currently being called AS2 until a more permanent name is found.

The main point of this email is to alert you that work on the design and funding of the AS2 project is beginning in earnest. If you wish to be involved, you should sign up to be on AS2 mailing list(s) and alert the relevant survey PI(s) that you are interested in contributing. The project has started a wiki at

   http://jeeves.astro.princeton.edu/as2trac/wiki

To register, go to http://jeeves.astro.princeton.edu/as2trac/register and make an account (make up whatever password you want, but don't use a high-value one). Please include your name and email. Then proceed to the mailing lists at

   http://jeeves.astro.princeton.edu/as2trac/wiki/MailingLists

You will need to make up a password here too; again, use something you don't trust for security elsewhere. It is fine to use the same low-value password for the wiki and all of the mailing lists.

We do NOT intend to continue to send AS2 email to the SDSS-2 or ARC email lists, so if you wish to receive AS2 email, you must sign up for the AS2 mailing lists.

The outline of AS2 and its surveys are:

SSS: In fall 2008 and spring 2009, we will use dark/grey time and the current SDSS spectrographs to complete a survey of 250,000 stars, mostly at high galactic latitude. This strategy will be similar to SEGUE, with the goal being to study the assembly and chemical enrichment of the outer parts of the Milky Way. (PI: Connie Rockosi)

ASEPS: In bright time from fall 2008 through spring 2014, we will conduct a large radial-velocity survey for extrasolar planets using the multi-object Exoplanet Tracker spectrograph. Approximately 100,000 stars will be surveyed, yielding over 1000 planets. We expect to build additional ET spectrographs beyond the current prototypes. (PI: Jian Ge)

APO-LSS: From fall 2009 through spring 2014, we will use dark/grey time and the upgraded SDSS spectrographs to perform a 10,000 degree survey of galaxies and the Lyman-alpha forest aimed at producing the state-of-the-art measurement of large-scale structure, including a 1% distance measurement from the baryon acoustic oscillation. The upgraded spectrograph will feature 1000 fibers, new CCDs and gratings, and extended UV and red coverage. Some additional imaging will be performed in fall 2008. (PI: David Schlegel)

APOGEE: Starting in 2011, we will use a high-resolution infrared (H-band) multi-fiber spectrograph to conduct a survey of stars. The goal is to study the dynamics and chemical enrichment of the Milky Way, primarily at low galactic latitudes where dust extinction makes the optical impractical. (PI: Steve Majewski)

The details of these science cases are not frozen and we welcome collaborators to join in the development of these surveys. We are actively investigating the opportunities to piggy-back these surveys and hence make the whole observing plan more than the sum of its parts.

With 3 new or upgraded instruments and 6 years of planned operations, the SDSS-2 to AS2 transition will be significantly more strenuous than the SDSS to SDSS-2 transition was. We need your help to develop these ideas into funding proposals and then to bring them to fruition. Please contact the survey PIs to see how you can help!

We expect that AS2 will be an institution-based collaboration, similar to SDSS and SDSS-2. It is not the case that all SDSS-2 members will be members of AS2, nor does co-authorship on one of the proposals to ARC automatically grant membership. The mechanisms for institutions and individuals to join are currently being developed by the AS2 steering committee. I'll hope to be able to give you news on this soon.

Thanks, Daniel Eisenstein