CCAT-prime/FYST: a status report on the ultra-widefield submillimeter observatory on Cerro Chajnantor

We report on the CCAT-prime Project, including the science program, the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST), its instrumentation, and the schedule. FYST is a 6-m telescope sited at 5600 m elevation near the summit of Cerro Chajnantor in northern Chile. The site, together with its very large field-of-view optics, and high surface accuracy, low-emissivity surface enables pursuit of low surface brightness science over large fields. Our science goals include: tracing the formation and evolution of star forming galaxies from the epoch of reionization to the cosmic peak of star formation activity through wide-field, broad-band [CII] line imaging and dust continuum surveys; constraining thermodynamics and feedback in galaxy clusters through the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects on the CMB; improving constraints on primordial gravitational waves through precision removal of polarization foregrounds; and tracing local star formation processes through velocity-resolved spectroscopy at 15"spatial resolution over 110ï ° scales in the Galaxy. These goals are realized through sensitive wide-field surveys. Our main instruments are Prime-Cam, a large FoV direct detection imager and CHAI, a multi-beam submillimeter heterodyne spectrometer. We have also built Mod-Cam which serves as a Prime-Cam test facility and/or first light camera. Prime-Cam has seven instrument modules, four now under construction: three polarimetric cameras (at 280, 350, and 850 GHz) and a 210-420 GHz Fabry-Perot imaging spectrometer, EoR-Spec. CHAI will have 128 pixels covering important lines in the short submillimeter windows. The CCAT-prime team is an international group of universities, led by Cornell University. FYST is being designed and built by CPI Vertex Antennentechnik, GmbH, Germany with first light expected in 2024.

Duke Scholars

Author Eve M Vavagiakis Physics