Kavli Affiliate: Susan E. Clark
| First 5 Authors: The BLAST Observatory Collaboration, Gabriele Coppi, Simon Dicker, James E. Aguirre, Jason E. Austermann
| Summary:
Sensitive wide-field observations of polarized thermal emission from
interstellar dust grains will allow astronomers to address key outstanding
questions about the life cycle of matter and energy driving the formation of
stars and the evolution of galaxies. Stratospheric balloon-borne telescopes can
map this polarized emission at far-infrared wavelengths near the peak of the
dust thermal spectrum – wavelengths that are inaccessible from the ground. In
this paper we address the sensitivity achievable by a Super Pressure Balloon
(SPB) polarimetry mission, using as an example the Balloon-borne Large Aperture
Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) Observatory. By launching from Wanaka, New
Zealand, BLAST Observatory can obtain a 30-day flight with excellent sky
coverage – overcoming limitations of past experiments that suffered from short
flight duration and/or launch sites with poor coverage of nearby star-forming
regions. This proposed polarimetry mission will map large regions of the sky at
sub-arcminute resolution, with simultaneous observations at 175, 250, and 350
$mu m$, using a total of 8274 microwave kinetic inductance detectors. Here, we
describe the scientific motivation for the BLAST Observatory, the proposed
implementation, and the forecasting methods used to predict its sensitivity. We
also compare our forecasted experiment sensitivity with other facilities.
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