Folie 1

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Quasi infinite flat land exclusively dedicated
to science
A 5-hour flight from Australia
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Outline

• CONCORDIA station (Antarctica, Dome C) as an
  astronomical site
• ARENA EC network
• Science cases and associated working groups
• Antarctica as part of the ASTRONET roadmap
• Concluding remarks

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Extreme stability of the ATMOSPHERE
BRAIN to study the polarization of CMB
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Implementation of a large international facility
must be validated step by step

• site quality evaluation (2004-2010)
• small size instruments (dedicated) (2006 -2013)
• medium size (pathfinder/facility) (2013-2020)
• very large size (ELT, Arrays) (gt2020)

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Seeing statistics based on 3 years of observations
On the roof of CONCORDIA (20 m above ice)
CONCORDIASTRO facility to monitor the sky
turbulence properties (DIMM/GSM)
Seeing arcsec
7 m above ice
Seeing arcsec
Fossat et al. 2008, in press
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Fraction of time to be above the boundary
layer vs. height above ice
Distribution of the seeing above the boundary
layer

• P(10m) 23
• P(20m) 45
• P(24m) 50
• P(35m) 65

• Seeing(Pmax) 0.29  
• Seeing median 0.34 

From Fossat et al. 2008, in press
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NIR-MIR Sky Transmission/Emission
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Antarctic Research a European Network for
Astrophysics

• A 4-year (2006-2009) EC FP6 network to foster
  large Antarctic Astronomical Research
  Infrastructure developments at Dome C
• budget, 1.335 M, 23 partners , 7 countries
• Generate and give access to site testing data
• Identify most compelling science cases (ARENA2,
  POTSDAM)
• Propose adequate instrumental components
• Request Polar Agencies to upgrade the logistics
• Conclusions will be presented at the 3rd ARENA
  Conference Frascati (Rome) 11-15 May, 2009
• http//arena.unice.fr

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ARENA working groups

• Wide field NIR/optical D. Burgarella (LAM/OAMP)
  /M. Burton (UNSW)
• Submillimetric astronomy V. Minier (CEA,
  Saclay)/L. Olmi (INAF)
• Interferometry (NIR) V. Coudé du Foresto (Obs.
  Paris)/J. Surdej (U. Liège)
• Variability monitoring H. Rauer (DLR, Berlin)/
  H. Deeg (IAC, Tenerife)
• CMB Y. Giraud Héraud (APC, Paris 7)/P. De
  Bernardis (INAF, U. Roma)
• Solar corona L. Damé (Obs. Paris) / V. Andretta
  (INAF)

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WG1 a WF 2.5m class telescope

• Ideal for deep, optical/ near IR/thermal IR,
  Wide Field, diffraction limited imaging (and
  spectro-imaging) surveys
• Most compelling K dark and L surveys. New
  windows in MIR ?
• First step IRAIT 80 cm, set up during 2008-2009
  summer
• Most mature next generation project PILOT
  (UNSW)
• phase A study will be presented at SPIE (June
  2008)
• phase B 2009-10, construction 2011-2013 (seeking
  funds)
• First light 2013/14
• Primary science drivers Cosmic shear,
  Distant universe, Early stellar populations, H2
  in our Galaxy, extragalactic stellar populations
  and history (Magellanic Clouds) from SF to AGB
• ARENA solicits French/Italian/European
  contributions

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Pathfinder for an International Large
OpticalTelescope (PILOT)

• 2.4 m Ritchey Chrétien
• Twin Nasmyth foci
• Fast Tip tilt secondary
• 0.35 ? 25 µm
• Diffraction limited over 1
• On a 30m tower (and/or GLAO)
• Enclosure thermally controlled
• Wide field image quality matching median free
  seeing
• Science pathfinder
• Phase A study June 2008
• Phase B 2009/2010
• First light 2013

Credit W. Saunders, J. Storey, UNSW
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WG2- A submillimeter dish

• Exceptional sky transmission and stability
• 200 µm window!
• Proposed an antarctized  copy  of an ALMA
  antenna as a pathfinder towards
• a larger dish, up to 25 m
• a submillimeter interferometer (ideal site)

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Evaluating the potential of Dome C for FIR/submm
astronomy
From Minier et al. 2008

• Unique science cases
• Cosmic history of star formation
• Early phases of star formation in the Magellanic
  Clouds
• Why Dome C might be the best place ?
• 450 µm opens gt 50 of time ? deep extragalactic
  surveys (synergy with ALMA)
• 200 µm opens a significant fraction of time ?
  constrains peak of
• SED of prestellar and protostellar population
  ? IMF and luminosity function
• (follow-up of Herschel Key Programs)
• Concordia Station already in place.
• Foreseen facility and roadmap
• 2007-2010 assessment of atmospheric
  transmission at 200 µm
• and polar constraints on telescope systems (in
  progress - CEA led experiments).
• 2009 - 2015 Deployment of small and medium size
  telescopes
• 2015 - Potential site for a FIR interferometer
  as technological pathfinder for FIRI.

irfu.cea.fr/Sap/Antarctica
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Expected submm transmission at Dome C
From Minier et al. 2008
25 of time

• 50 of time

450 µm 350 µm 200 µm
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WG3- Infrared km-size interferometric array

• Exceptional atmospheric parameters
• No space limitation, flat ? km array
• To monitor isopistonic angle, ro, qo
• Pathfinder Aladdin (2 x 1m telescopes on a 40 m
  ring)
• Long term objective kilometric array (KEOPS)
• ARENA workshop to be held at ESO- Garching
  (13-15 October 2008)

Court. V. Coudé du Foresto
Court. F. Vakili
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WG4- Long time series observations

• Small dedicated team instruments
• Planetary transits (A-step, ICE-T)
• Stellar asteroseismology (SIAMOIS)
• ARENA workshop to be held in Catania (Sicily)
  http//www.oact.inaf.it/arenact/ (17-19 September
  2008)

A step court. T. Guillot
Ice-T, court. K. Strassmeier
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CONCLUDING Remarks

• Antarctic Plateau features unique conditions for
  astronomy from UV? mm
• Site evaluation parameters should continue to be
  monitored intensively
• Europe (Fr It) has successfully developed
  CONCORDIA (winterover)
• Other stations (SP, Dome A, Dome F) are
  challenging Dome C
• Dome C must be seriously considered in the
  ASTRONET roadmap as a potential site for future
  instruments and the recommendations of ARENA
  (end 2009) should be taken into account.
• A 2.5m Wide Field telescope seems to be a
  realistic and necessary milestone. Europe should
  participate in phase B of PILOT.
• Studies for larger instruments such as a
  submillimeter dish/array, an infrared km array,
  large solar corona instrument, large CMB
  collectors should be enabled and given support
  NOW by the funding agencies
• CONCORDIA should become a multidisciplinary
  European Research Infrastructure supported by EU
  FP7 FP8 ? upgrade logistics

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credit

• D. Burgarella
• V. Coudé du Foresto
• C. Eiroa
• E. Fossat
• T. Guillot
• T. Le Bertre
• V. Minier
• P. Persi
• W. Saunders
• K. Strassmeier
• J. Storey

• The ARENA NA, tasks, and working group leaders
• The ARENA consortium
• IPEV/PNRA, Polar Agencies
• CNRS, CEA, INAF and other National Agencies
• EU FP6 Research Infrastructures funding
  contract RICA

And the teams operating CONCORDIA day and night
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Thank you for your attention !
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Unique science cases

• Photometry of very young embedded sources in
  25-40 µm
• Mosaic imaging in the Q window (17-40 µm)
• Exoplanet secondary transits in LMN bands (NIR
  and MIR)

Embedded young stellar objects SEDs, showing the
wealth of physical insight gained when adding
mid-IR information to other wavelengths
Robitaille et al.(2007)
Secondary transit depths for HD 189733b
and estimated planet-star flux ratio vs
wavelength Charbonneau et al. (2008)
From Eiroa, 2008
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Finally, how much better is it?