The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)

ORAL

Abstract

The recently commissioned Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) is a fiber-fed spectroscopic instrument installed on the 4-meter Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO). It is now embarking on an ambitious survey to explore the nature of dark energy with spectroscopic observations of 35 million galaxies and quasars in just five years using the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation method to measure distances from the nearby universe out to redshift z = 3.5, and Redshift Space Distortions to measure the growth of structure and probe potential modifications to general relativity. In this talk we describe the significant instrumentation development for the 4-m Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory that enables the DESI survey.

*This research is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE–AC02–05CH1123, and by the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, a DOE Office of Science User Facility under the same contract; additional support for DESI is provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation, Division of Astronomical Sciences under Contract No. AST-0950945 to the NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory; the Science and Technologies Facilities Council of the United Kingdom; the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; the Heising-Simons Foundation; the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA); the National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico; the Ministry of Economy of Spain, and by the DESI Member Institutions. The authors are honored to conduct astronomical research on Iolkam Du’ag , a mountain with particular significance to the Tohono O’odham Nation.

–

Authors

  • Claire Poppett

    • University of California, Berkeley