AAS 198th Meeting, June 2001
Session 76. Beyond SIRTF/SOFIA/Herschel: New Generation FIR Telescopes
Display, Thursday, June 7, 2001, 9:20am-4:00pm, Exhibit Hall

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[76.02] Surveying Galaxy Evolution in the Far-Infrared

D.J. Benford, M.J. Amato, E. Dwek, M.M. Freund, J.P. Gardner, A. Kashlinksy, D.T. Leisawitz, J.C. Mather, S.H. Moseley, R.A. Shafer, J.G. Staguhn (NASA / GSFC)

Half of the total luminosity in the Universe is emitted at rest wavelengths ~0-100\,\mum. At the highest known galaxy redshifts (z~q6) this energy is redshifted to ~00\,\mum. Quantifying the evolution of galaxies at these wavelengths is crucial to our understanding of the formation of structure in the Universe following the big bang. Surveying the whole sky will find the rare and unique objects, enabling follow-up observations. A helium-cooled telescope with ultrasensitive detectors can image the whole sky to the confusion limit in 6 months. Multiple wavelength bands permit the extraction of photometric redshifts, while a large telescope yields a low confusion limit. We discuss the implications of such a survey for galaxy formation and evolution, large-scale structure, star formation, and the structure of interstellar dust.


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