Will Saunders, AAO
"A proposed design for a 25m wide-field telescope at Dome-C"
There are various plans for 25 metre-class telescopes, but the optical and
engineering challenges are formidible. A reflective Schmidt-type design
derived from the Chinese LAMOST telescope offers a (relatively) cheap and
straightforward way to achieve a fast (f/2) 25 metre telescope with 0.1"
image quality over 0.5 degree fields, and 0.5" image quality over 2 degree
fields. The product of resolution elements and aperture would be at least
40 times larger than any telescope in existence, and an order of magnitude
larger than LSST (or PANSTARS). Such a telescope would have a dramatic
impact on many areas of astronomy.
Dome-C offers powerful advantages for ground-based astronomy, being cold,
dry and with very stable image quality. In particular, superb image
quality over wide fields is readily achieved. It appears to be ideally
matched to this design.
Lucio Piccirillo, Cardiff University
"A 256 element bolometric interferometer to measure the polarisation
B-modes from Dome-C"
Bolometric interferometry is a powerful new technique that can be used for
the mm and sub-mm
wavelength range. It combines the unsurpassed sensitivity of bolometric
detectors at mm and sub-mm
wavelengths with the powerful signal processing of interferometry. The
design of a bolometric interferometer
capable of detecting the polarisation B-modes, to be installed at Dome-C,
will be discussed.
James Lloyd, Caltech
"Sidestepping Seeing in Antarctica"
The relatively poor ice level seeing at the South Pole erodes much of
the advantages a general purpose optical/infrared telescope
would have from low background and water vapor. Techniques
in adaptive optics and interferometry can mitigate the
effects of turbulence and are reaching maturity at mid-latitude
sites. The turbulence in Antarctica is fundamentally different
and allows for different niches, some of which are otherwise
only available from space. I will explore the science
and technical case for exploiting the conditions of antarctic
turbulence for interferometry and adaptive optics.
Antony Stark, Harward University
"The Case for a 30m Diameter Submillimeter Telescope
on the Antarctic Plateau"
Observatory sites on the Antarctic Plateau have exceptional
submillimeter-wave sky transparency and stability. Technological
progress in submillimeter-wave detectors will make possible
focal-plane arrays containing many thousands of array elements on
a single-dish telescope. A 10-meter class telescope designed for
such arrays and located at the South Pole has been approved and
construction is expected to begin this year. Looking ahead, a
30-meter class single-dish telescope could be made sufficiently
accurate for submillimeter and far-infrared work through a modest
application of active surface techniques. The 2 to 5 arcsecond
beamsize of such a telescope would be well coupled to protogalaxies.
This instrument could survey the entire southern sky with arcsecond
resolution and milliJansky sensitivity in a year. Almost all
protogalaxies and protostellar cores would be found, and could
be distinguished on the basis of color. The resulting catalog
would be a treasure trove for high-resolution study with the ALMA.
James Jackson, Boston University
"AIRS: Antartic Infra-Red Survey"
We aim to exploit the unique conditions on the Antarctic Plateau
by establishing a new permanent international facility, the Antarctic
Infrared Observatory. AIRS will be optimized for wide-field imaging
in the thermal infrared. The unique conditions in Antarctica
provide several advantages, such as extrememly low thermal backgrounds,
long periods of darkness, and very stable skies. Because it requires an
aperture of only ~2 meters to achieve similar sensitivities as the 8-meter
telescopes, an Antarctic telescope is cost-effective. Moreover,
upgrades to mid-infrared, spectroscopic, or polarimatric instruments
can be implemented rapidly and relatively cheaply. The large field of
view and excellent sensitivity of AIRS are optimally suited for the
first deep, widefield surveys and global studies in the 3 to 5 micron
waveband. With this unique capability, AIRS will make important
observations of brown dwarfs, protoplanetary disks, the Magellanic
clouds, and star-forming regions.
Mark Swain, Jet propulsion Lab
"Antarctic Planet Interferometer"
The Antarctic Planet Interferometer (API) is a concept designed to
detect and characterize extrasolar planets by exploiting the unique
potential of the best accessible site on Earth for thermal infrared
interferometry. The best sites on the Antarctic plateau are excellent
for infrared interferometry because the atmosphere at these locations
is characterized by slow, low-altitude turbulence, low water vapor
content, and low temperature. The three high-precision
interferometric techniques under development for extrasolar planet
detection and characterization (astrometry, differential phase and,
nulling) all benefit substantially from these unique properties of the
Antarctic plateau atmosphere. At these locations (such as the site
being developed at Dome C), an interferometer with two-meter diameter
class apertures has the potential to deliver space-like performance.
Jon Lawrence, University of New South Wales
"Antarctic ELT:
Near-vacuum atmosphere of Dome A?"
The primary limitation to the performance of any large telescope is the
atmospheric properties of its site, particularly the sky emission and the
turbulence structure. These parameters are well characterised at the South
Pole, are currently being collected at Dome C, but it will be several years
until data is available from Dome A, the highest point on the Antarctic
plateau. There are, however, many factors we can examine now to determine
its potential. In this talk the site qualities of Dome A are inferred from
existing knowledge of South Pole and Dome C. Performance estimates
(sensitivity and adaptive-optics corrected resolution) of extremely large
telescopes located at the these three Antarctic plateau sites are then
determined and compared with similar telescopes at a mid-latitude location
Peter Gillingham, AAO
"Diffraction-limited wide field IR imaging from the Antarctic Plateau"
We have long been confident that the atmospheric stability at high
Antarctic plateau sites offers wonderful prospects for high resolution
IR imaging in addition to the more certain gains in sensitivity
already demonstrated at South Pole. Atmospheric data being gathered
this winter at Dome C are confirming our most optimistic expectations
concerning the seeing (or lack of it!) at the plateau domes.
This opens opportunities for a succession of IR telescopes and
interferometers in Antarctica which will clearly out-perform
instruments under development on lesser sites, especially in providing
diffraction-limited images over wide fields, without the expense and
limitations of multi-conjugate adaptive optics.
Giorgio Sironi, University of Milano Bicocca
"A centre for mm and sub-mm astronomy at Dome C"
Abstract: The unique combination of elevation, low water vapour content
and stability of its atmosphere, make Dome C one of the best places for
astrophysical observations at mm and sub-mm wavelengths. To exploit this
opportunity and the winter station which soon will become operational at
Dome C a working group has been set up with the aim of studying and
supporting the construction at Dome C of a facility for mm and sub-mm
astronomical observations. Open to the international community, it will
complement systems already in operation or in preparation at other sites on
the Antarctic Plateau or at high mountain observatories. Plans and present
status of the workinh group are presented.
Jeff Peterson
"PAST: The PrmeavAl Structure Telescope"
The PrimevAl Structure Telescope (PAST) will be used to find the first
stars. Because this telescope senses the emission of hydrogen atoms, the
most common atoms in the Universe, and because the wavelengths used by
PAST provide the clearest possible view, the telescope will allow
us to see back to just 100 million years after the start of the
Big Bang. The telescope will consist of an array of 1000 simple antennae
spread across several square kilometers of ice surface near the
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. At the wavelengths used by PAST, 1.5
to 7 meters, the South Pole is the quietest known site, allowing PAST to
image the end of the cosmic dark ages.