11:00 am–12:00 pm ERC 401
Dongwoo Chung (University of Toronto) "Millimetre-wave line-intensity mapping: multiple lines of enquiry into astrophysics and cosmology"
Microwave broadband observations of the sky have unveiled much about our cosmic history, but new lines of work emerging over the past decade now propose to leverage this expertise towards undertaking hyperspectral mapping in the same observing frequencies. By sampling both spectral and angular dimensions, cm- to mm-wave line-intensity mapping (LIM) experiments aim to detect the cosmological clustering of emission in spectral lines associated with the star-forming interstellar medium. These experiments will inform a three-dimensional, multi-tracer view of the high-redshift universe, improving our understanding of both astrophysics and cosmology. Millimetre-wave LIM pathfinders are now planting their flags on this experimental landscape, which will eventually expand to large-format focal planes of spectrometers capable of cosmological mapping of large-scale structure as far back as the epoch of reionisation. I discuss some notable landmarks of the current landscape including experiments like TIME, SPT-SLIM, and CCAT, deploying over the next several years to demonstrate the feasibility of this technique with astrophysical results, and showing the way forward for scaling towards cosmology.
