UNC-CH “Chalk Talk” Astronomy Seminar

Matt Bayliss, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

“Galaxy Clusters and Lensing with LSST, SPT-3G, and JWST: My Vision for Lensing Science at UNC”

New large samples of strong lenses feed a wide range of science programs using both the highly magnified, strongly lensed background galaxies and the foreground lensing structures. I will summarize 5- and 10-year plans to build a group at UNC to tackle high-profile science programs using large allocations of resources—including our recently awards on Hubble & Chandra, and an Early Release Science program on the James Webb Space Telescope. There are numerous entry points for students to step in and take ownership of core science objectives using these data beginning as soon as summer 2018. New large survey datasets from the South Pole Telescope and LSST will also begin to ramp by ~2021. These surveys will yield transformative new samples of strong lenses and galaxy clusters by ~2024, setting up new, high-impact research tracks extending out to ~2030 and beyond. Large, dedicated ground-based follow-up will be critical for maximizing the science that we glean from these data and upcoming surveys. UNC’s resources, especially SOAR and SALT, are ideally suited to this task, while also presenting exciting opportunities for instrument upgrade/development that would feed high-impact science for decades to come.