Events at Physics |
<br>
HETDEX will outfit the 10 m HET with a new wide field and an array of at least 150 integral-field spectrographs to survey a 400 sq. degree area in the north galactic cap. Each fiber-coupled unit spectrograph will cover 350-550 nm, simultaneously at 6 A resolution, providing ~36,000 spectra per exposure. This instrument, called VIRUS, will open up surveys of the emission-line universe for the first time, and in particular will be used to detect ~0.8 million LAE galaxies with 1.9 < z < 3.5 and more than a million [OII] emitting galaxies with z < 0.5. The 3-D map of LAE galaxies in 9 cubic Gpc volume will be used to constrain the expansion history at this early epoch.<br>
<br>
The prototype of the VIRUS unit spectrograph (VIRUS-P) is a powerful instrument in its own right. Used on the McDonald 2.7 m Smith reflector, it covers the largest area of any integral field spectrograph, and has coverage down to 340 nm. It is currently in use for a pilot survey to better measure the properties of LAE galaxies in support of HETDEX, among other investigations where it is uniquely powerful.<br>
<br>
I will describe the motivations for HETDEX and preliminary results from the Pilot Survey and look forward to completion of VIRUS on the upgraded HET as a unique facility in Astronomy <br>