CCAT-Prime: science with an ultra-widefield submillimeter observatory on Cerro Chajnantor

Abstract

We present the detailed science case, and brief descriptions of the telescope design, site, and first light instrument plans for a new ultra-wide field submillimeter observatory, CCAT-prime, that we are constructing at a 5600 m elevation site on Cerro Chajnantor in northern Chile. Our science goals are to study star and galaxy formation from the epoch of reionization to the present, investigate the growth of structure in the Universe, improve the precision of B-mode CMB measurements, and investigate the interstellar medium and star formation in the Galaxy and nearby galaxies through spectroscopic, polarimetric, and broadband surveys at wavelengths from 200 m to 2 mm. These goals are realized with our two first light instruments, a large field-of-view (FoV) bolometer-based imager called Prime-Cam (that has both camera and an imaging spectrometer modules), and a multi-beam submillimeter heterodyne spectrometer, CHAI. CCAT-prime will have very high surface accuracy and very low system emissivity, so that combined with its wide FoV at the unsurpassed CCAT site our telescope/instrumentation combination is ideally suited to pursue this science. The CCAT-prime telescope is being designed and built by Vertex Antennentechnik GmbH. We expect to achieve first light in the spring of 2021. 1 gjs12@cornell.edu; phone 1 (607) 255-5900

Forecasting [C ii] Line-intensity Mapping Measurements between the End of Reionization and the Epoch of Galaxy Assembly

“…The [C II] 157.7 µm line in particular is a promising choice for its brightness-as bright as 1-2% of the bolometric far-infrared luminosity of individual low-and high-redshift galaxies-and its role as a tracer of diffuse gas and star-formation activity in the interstellar medium (Casey et al 2014). Work on this technique is abundant in recent literature, both in signal forecasting (Gong et al 2012;Uzgil et al 2014;Silva et al 2015;Yue et al 2015;Serra et al 2016;Dumitru et al 2018), and in the design of observational programmes including TIME 1 (Crites et al 2014), CONCERTO 2 (Lagache 2018), and CCAT-prime 3 (Stacey et al 2018).…”

Data Analysis for Precision 21 cm Cosmology

“…At slightly higher redshifts, CO rotational lines and [CII] hyperfine transitions have been proposed for cross-correlations. It is possible that CO may be insufficiently abundant at z 6 due to photo dissociations (Lidz et al 2011), but [CII] intensity mapping observations have been planned for up to z ∼ 9 (Stacey et al 2018). At even higher redshifts, there is the potential of cross-correlating with Lyman-α, Hα, [OII], and [OIII] intensity maps that will be provided by satellite missions such as the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx; Doré et al 2018), and possibly by futuristic proposed missions such as the Cosmic Dawn Intensity Mapper (Cooray et al 2019) and the Origins Space Telescope (Battersby et al 2018;Meixner et al 2018).…”

The Design of the CCAT-prime Epoch of Reionization Spectrometer Instrument

“…EoR-Spec's intensity maps will therefore track the evolution of star and galaxy formation, including diffuse emission from dim dwarf galaxies and the brightest galaxies. Preliminary plans for survey areas and sensitivity estimates can be found in [8,9].…”

“…CCATprime is a 6 m aperture telescope being constructed at 5600 m on Cerro Chajnantor in northern Chile [10]. With its exceptionally dry site, CCAT-prime is designed to take advantage of the extremely low water vapor in the millimeter and sub-millimeter bands [8]. EoR-Spec will occupy one instrument module in the Prime-Cam receiver, which will provide continuous cooling power with a dilution refrigerator, keeping the detector arrays at 100 mK [11].…”