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Mapping dark matter and the emergence of large-scale structure

Jon Loveday, Jochen Liske, Ivan K. Baldry, Simon P. Driver, Aaron Robotham, Sabine Bellstedt, Luke Davies, Trystan Lambert

TL;DR

The paper argues that mapping dark matter and the emergence of large-scale structure requires a dedicated, 10m-class wide-field, high-multiplex spectroscopic facility with near-infrared capability to reach $z \sim 1.5$ (baseline) and $z \sim 3.5$ with an $H$-band extension. The proposed FSS would survey ~1e7 galaxies to $i<24$ over ~100 deg$^2$, producing halo catalogs and direct DM maps via velocity dispersions to test $\Lambda$CDM and alternative DM models. Its emphasis on near-complete redshift sampling aims to minimize biases in halo statistics and enable robust measurements of the halo mass function, GSMF, and galaxy–halo connections across cosmic time. The work envisions a transformative legacy dataset for structure formation, dark matter physics, and galaxy evolution, contingent on the feasibility of a 10m wide-field spectroscopic facility with broad spectral coverage including the $H$ band.

Abstract

We discuss a potential survey to map dark matter and the emergence of large-scale structure to redshift z ~ 1.5 (baseline) or z~3.5 (with near-IR extension) using a massively multiplexed spectrograph on a 10m-class telescope, such as the proposed Widefield Spectroscopic Telescope.

Mapping dark matter and the emergence of large-scale structure

TL;DR

The paper argues that mapping dark matter and the emergence of large-scale structure requires a dedicated, 10m-class wide-field, high-multiplex spectroscopic facility with near-infrared capability to reach (baseline) and with an -band extension. The proposed FSS would survey ~1e7 galaxies to over ~100 deg, producing halo catalogs and direct DM maps via velocity dispersions to test CDM and alternative DM models. Its emphasis on near-complete redshift sampling aims to minimize biases in halo statistics and enable robust measurements of the halo mass function, GSMF, and galaxy–halo connections across cosmic time. The work envisions a transformative legacy dataset for structure formation, dark matter physics, and galaxy evolution, contingent on the feasibility of a 10m wide-field spectroscopic facility with broad spectral coverage including the band.

Abstract

We discuss a potential survey to map dark matter and the emergence of large-scale structure to redshift z ~ 1.5 (baseline) or z~3.5 (with near-IR extension) using a massively multiplexed spectrograph on a 10m-class telescope, such as the proposed Widefield Spectroscopic Telescope.
Paper Structure (8 sections, 2 figures)

This paper contains 8 sections, 2 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Background
  2. Approach
  3. Requirements
  4. Completeness
  5. Telescope aperture and multiplex
  6. Field of view
  7. Near-infrared capability
  8. Summary

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Left: Cone plots from existing and planned surveys showing the significant improvement in sampling LSS that can come from a 10m+ wide-area near-infrared multiplexed spectroscopic facility. Right: Predicted maps of the dark matter distribution at redshift $z=0.2$ as observed by various facilities. Upper left: the original simulation; lower left: LSST using photo-$z$; upper right: 4MOST WAVES; lower right: FSS.
  • Figure 2: The cosmic star-formation history (grey band) and the spectroscopic coverage possible from a variety of facilities (including a future $H$-band extension for an ESO 10+m spectroscopic facility). System étendue is shown on the y-axis and the vertical lines indicate the observed wavelength of [OII] at different ages.