South Pole Astrophysical Observatory Research Activities

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South PoleAstrophysical Observatory Research
Activities
Astronomy in Antarctica General Assembly
International Astronomical UnionSydney,
Australia, July 18, 2003
Vladimir Papitashvili and Dennis Peacock Office
of Polar Programs National Science
Foundation U.S.A. vpapita_at_nsf.gov dpeaco
ck_at_(retired May 30)
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Astronomy at South PoleHistorical Perspective

• Paul Siple Astronomical observatory, 1956
• Martin Pomerantz - Cosmic rays monitor, 1957 -
  present
• with Arny Wyller 5 optical telescope,
  1968-1969
• 1st astronomy proposal to NSF, 1970 (declined)
• 1st funded project 6 optical telescope,
  1978-1979
• with Eric Fossat Polar Solar Observatory,
  1979-1980
• and Helioseismology at Pomerantz Land,
  1981-1984
• with Mark Dragovan, Tony Stark, and Bob Pernic,
  1987
• Debut of Polar Cosmology 1-m parabolic,
  upward
• looking telescope with two bolometers
  at 0.3 K
• Martin Pomerantz, Astronomy on Ice (yet
  unpublished memoir) My efforts over many years,
  from 1970 to 1987 to get the ball rolling
  throughout the astronomical community had finally
  succeeded.

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Science at South Pole
Astrophysics and Cosmology 9 projects
Meteorology and Climatology 5 projects
Dark Sector
Clean Air Sector
AMANDA
Aeronomy and STP 12 projects
Geophysics and Glaciology 4 projects
Quiet Sector
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Astrophysics and Cosmology Dark Sector

• Radio telescopes to investigate formation and
  evolution of the early Universe, to study
  interstellar space and galaxies, and to discover
  star and galaxy formation regions

IceCube
2004-2009
10 m
MAPO
DSL
2007
AMANDA
SPASE

• Neutrino telescope an array of photo detectors
  frozen in the ice - to detect high-energy cosmic
  neutrinos from deep space

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South Pole Infrared Explorer SPIREX, 0.6-m, 1-5
?m wide-field survey of star formation in Milky
Way and Magellanic Clouds
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AASTO
Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope / Remote
Observatory 1.7-m survey instrument to study
Milky Way and other galaxies

• Antarctic Automatic Site Testing Observatory to
  study unique properties of South Pole atmosphere
• high-altitude (9300 ft)
• cold, low turbulence
• - dry, very low water vapor

AST/RO
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Martin A. Pomerantz Observatory (1994)

• Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropy with
  0.75-m Python telescope and then with Degree
  Angular Scale Interferometer (DASI)
• Small-scale CMD anisotropy with Arcminute
  Cosmology Bolometer Array (ACBAR)
• Galactic magnetic fields with Submillimeter
  Polarimeter for Antarctic

Observations (SPARO)
Python (1992-1997) DASI (since 2000)
Viper telescope ACBAR SPARO
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CMB Study Results
DASICMB power spectrum and polarization
Temperature variations (µK)(inflationary model
and data)
ACBARHigh moment peaks in CMB power spectrum
BOOMERanGCMB Sky
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Education and Outreach
South Pole telescopes make a wonderful
hook Captivating science and the lure of
Antarctica!
SPT is coupled to national network to increase
the contact between research scientists,
educators and students.
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South Pole Telescope PI John Carlstrom, U.
Chicago

• To study CMB polarization and SZ effect in galaxy
  clusters
• To test and constrain various cosmological models
  
• To search for Dark Energy and Dark Matter

Following recommendations from NRCs Astronomy
Astrophysics Decadal Report, NSF has recently
funded a new project to build at South Pole a
10m-class telescope
SPT FY07
New Dark Sector Laboratory FY04
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Other Cosmology and Astrophysics Projects

• Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic
  Polarization (BICEP) to detect signatures of
  gravity waves in CMB for experimental testing of
  Inflation (funded - Andrew Lange, Bill Holzapfel)
  
• Future potential projects for Antarctic Plateau
• AIRO The Antarctic Infrared Observatory (Jim
  Jackson, Boston University) ? Wide-field surveys
  of brown dwarfs and star-forming regions
• API Antarctic Planet Interferometer (Mark Swain,
  JPL/Univ. of Arizona) ? A concept designed to
  detect and characterize Earth-like extrasolar
  planets

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Relevant Projects at South Pole
Helioseismology
Extrasolar Planets Search
One month of observations at South Pole gives the
same discovery rate as three months of
observations at middle latitudesPI Doug
Caldwell, SETI
Solar Telescope - to study acoustic waves and
speed of sound in Suns atmosphere PI Stuart
Jefferies, UNM
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Particle Astrophysics at South Pole
Neutrino telescopes look through the Earth to
understand how Nature can accelerate particles
to very high energies
2000
Zenith 155.3? Azimuth 264.6?
1997-10-12 Event
Feeble interaction with matter makes neutrinos
ideal astro-messengers allowing to study highly
energetic cosmical events
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AMANDA and IceCube
Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector ArrayPI
Bob Morse
A new neutrino
detector array of 1-km3 scalePI Francis Halzen
University of Wisconsin
1014-1018 eV
IceCube
Hot Water Drilling
AMANDA
107-1016 eV
FY04 Hot Water Drill --gt South Pole FY05
Drilling first 6 holes, deploying DOMs FY06
FY09 Full construction of IceCube
80 strings 4800 sensors
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IceCubeA Kilometer-ScaleNeutrino Observatory

• Detects neutrinos as cosmic messengers at
  energies where Universe becomes opaque to light
• A kilometer-scale is dictated by observed
  high-energy gamma ray bursts and cosmic ray
  fluxes
• Will be able to detects neutrinos of energies
  from 107 eV to bursts 1016 eV
• Will allow black hole diagnostics with neutrinos
• Will extend the distances accessible to neutrino
  astronomy by five orders of magnitude

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BOOMERanG 1998-99 and 2002-03
Long-Duration Ballooningfrom McMurdo
ATICAdvanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter2002-03
Balloon Observations Of Millimetric Extragalactic
Radiation and Geophysics
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FY04 Proposed Astrophysics Projects

• Next Generation CMB Polarization Measurements
• South Pole Polarization Telescope
• The Primeval Structures Telescope
• Earthshine from the South Pole
• Wide-Field Imaging Spectroscopy in the
  Submillimeter
• Tomographic Imaging of the Velocity and Magnetic
  Fields in the Sun's Atmosphere
• Determination of Atmospheric Density, and
  Temperature Profiles using X-ray Source
  Occultation
• Middle Atmosphere Dynamics by Sub-Millimeter
  Radiometry

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South Pole and Concordia should become
world-class, complementary facilitiesScientist
should collaborate at both stations, jointly
attacking most outstanding problems of Astronomy,
Astrophysics, and Polar Cosmology
Antarctic Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics at Concordia?
Astrophysics at South Pole