Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2006-11-27
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
7 pages, to appear in the proceedings of the conference "Cosmology, galaxy formation and astroparticle physics on the pathway
Scientific paper
Dark energy is one of the greatest scientific challenges of the 21st century. One of the key questions facing cosmologists is whether dark energy is either a breakdown of General Relativity on large scales or a new form of matter in the Universe with a negative effective pressure. This question can only be answered through a suite of different observations as a function of redshift. In this paper, I briefly review various dark energy reports published in the last year, which all highlight the importance of the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) for probing the "dark physics" of the Universe. I also summarize the recent measurements of the BAO in large galaxy redshift surveys. I then look forward to a new instrument planned by the Subaru and Gemini communities called the "Wide-Field Multi-Object Spectrograph" (WFMOS) for the Subaru telescope. The baseline design of this facility includes ~4500 spectroscopic fibers over a field-of-view of 1.5 degree diameter, covering a wavelength range of 0.39 to 1 microns. The instrument is schedule for first-light early next decade and will perform massive spectroscopic surveys of both distant galaxies and faint stars in our own Galaxy. The WFMOS dark energy surveys will deliver ~1% errors on the angular-diameter distance and Hubble parameter to high redshift. WFMOS will also be a unique user-facility allowing astronomers to address a host of astrophysical problems like galaxy evolution, the intergalactic medium and calibrate photometric redshifts. The WFMOS archive will also provide a rich resource for further ancillary science much like the present-day SDSS archive.
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