Physics & Astronomy Colloquium – Fall 2018 – Dupke

Speaker: Renato Dupke (National Observatory of Brazil)

Title: The Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey

Abstract: The Javalambre-Physics of the Accelerated Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) is a narrow band, very wide field Cosmological Survey to be carried out from the Javalambre Observatory in Spain with a purpose-built, dedicated 2.5m telescope and a 4.7 sq.deg. camera with 1.2Gpix. Starting in 2019, J-PAS plans to observe >8000sq.deg. of Northern Sky and measure sigma_z~0.003(1+z) photo-z for 9E7 LRG and ELG galaxies plus several million QSOs, sampling an effective volume of ~ 14 Gpc^3 up to z~1.3. J-PAS is expected to detect >5E5 galaxy clusters and groups, setting constraints on Dark Energy which rival those obtained from its BAO measurements. Thanks to the superb characteristics of the site (seeing ~0.7 arcsec), J-PAS is expected to obtain a deep, sub-arcsec image of the Northern sky, which combined with its unique photo-z precision will produce a powerful cosmological lensing survey. J-PAS unprecedented spectral time domain information will enable a self-contained SN survey that, without the need for external spectroscopic follow-up, will detect, classify and measure sigma_z~ 0.5% redshifts for ~ 4000 SNe Ia and ~ 1000 SNecc. The key to the J-PAS potential is its innovative approach: a contiguous system of 54 filters with 145A width, placed 100A apart over a multi-degree FoV is a powerful “redshift machine”, with the survey speed of a 4000 multiplexing low resolution spectrograph. Its commissioning camera, PathFinder, has been running and collecting data since the beginning of 2018 with all J-PAS filters of a variety of targets and fields, in particular of the AEGIS field (mini-JPAS) as a proof of concept for photo-z depth. Here I will present the current status of J-PAS.

Speaker Biography: Homepage