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The wide-field, multiplexed, spectroscopic facility WEAVE: Survey design, overview, and simulated implementation : Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Jin, Shoko ; Bensby, Thomas LU orcid ; Feltzing, Sofia LU orcid ; Feuillet, Diane LU orcid and Zurita, Cristina (2024) In Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 530(3). p.2688-2730
Abstract
WEAVE, the new wide-field, massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey facility for the William Herschel Telescope, saw first light in late 2022. WEAVE comprises a new 2-deg field-of-view prime-focus corrector system, a nearly 1000-multiplex fibre positioner, 20 individually deployable ‘mini’ integral field units (IFUs), and a single large IFU. These fibre systems feed a dual-beam spectrograph covering the wavelength range 366–959 nm at R ∼ 5000, or two shorter ranges at R ∼ 20 000. After summarizing the design and implementation of WEAVE and its data systems, we present the organization, science drivers, and design of a five- to seven-year programme of eight individual surveys to: (i) study our Galaxy’s origins by completing Gaia’s... (More)
WEAVE, the new wide-field, massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey facility for the William Herschel Telescope, saw first light in late 2022. WEAVE comprises a new 2-deg field-of-view prime-focus corrector system, a nearly 1000-multiplex fibre positioner, 20 individually deployable ‘mini’ integral field units (IFUs), and a single large IFU. These fibre systems feed a dual-beam spectrograph covering the wavelength range 366–959 nm at R ∼ 5000, or two shorter ranges at R ∼ 20 000. After summarizing the design and implementation of WEAVE and its data systems, we present the organization, science drivers, and design of a five- to seven-year programme of eight individual surveys to: (i) study our Galaxy’s origins by completing Gaia’s phase-space information, providing metallicities to its limiting magnitude for ∼3 million stars and detailed abundances for ∼1.5 million brighter field and open-cluster stars; (ii) survey ∼0.4 million Galactic-plane OBA stars, young stellar objects, and nearby gas to understand the evolution of young stars and their environments; (iii) perform an extensive spectral survey of white dwarfs; (iv) survey ∼400 neutral-hydrogen-selected galaxies with the IFUs; (v) study properties and kinematics of stellar populations and ionized gas in z < 0.5 cluster galaxies; (vi) survey stellar populations and kinematics in ∼25 000 field galaxies at 0.3 ≲ z ≲ 0.7; (vii) study the cosmic evolution of accretion and star formation using >1 million spectra of LOFAR-selected radio sources; and (viii) trace structures using intergalactic/circumgalactic gas at z > 2. Finally, we describe the WEAVE Operational Rehearsals using the WEAVE Simulator. © 2023 The Author(s). (Less)
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keywords
cosmology: observations, galaxies: general, Galaxy: general, instrumentation: spectrographs, stars: general, surveys, Cosmology, Ionization of gases, Kinematics, Phase space methods, Radio astronomy, Spectrographs, Supernovae, White dwarfs, Cosmology observations, Galaxies general, Instrumentation:spectrographs, Integral Field Unit, Spectroscopic surveys, Stars: general, Stellar populations, Survey design, Wide-field, Galaxies
in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
volume
530
issue
3
pages
43 pages
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85192165107
ISSN
1365-2966
DOI
10.1093/mnras/stad557
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6078df06-3a63-46c8-a449-d23d7c8ed273
date added to LUP
2024-05-14 14:18:01
date last changed
2024-05-14 14:18:40
@article{6078df06-3a63-46c8-a449-d23d7c8ed273,
  abstract     = {{WEAVE, the new wide-field, massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey facility for the William Herschel Telescope, saw first light in late 2022. WEAVE comprises a new 2-deg field-of-view prime-focus corrector system, a nearly 1000-multiplex fibre positioner, 20 individually deployable ‘mini’ integral field units (IFUs), and a single large IFU. These fibre systems feed a dual-beam spectrograph covering the wavelength range 366–959 nm at R ∼ 5000, or two shorter ranges at R ∼ 20 000. After summarizing the design and implementation of WEAVE and its data systems, we present the organization, science drivers, and design of a five- to seven-year programme of eight individual surveys to: (i) study our Galaxy’s origins by completing Gaia’s phase-space information, providing metallicities to its limiting magnitude for ∼3 million stars and detailed abundances for ∼1.5 million brighter field and open-cluster stars; (ii) survey ∼0.4 million Galactic-plane OBA stars, young stellar objects, and nearby gas to understand the evolution of young stars and their environments; (iii) perform an extensive spectral survey of white dwarfs; (iv) survey ∼400 neutral-hydrogen-selected galaxies with the IFUs; (v) study properties and kinematics of stellar populations and ionized gas in z &lt; 0.5 cluster galaxies; (vi) survey stellar populations and kinematics in ∼25 000 field galaxies at 0.3 ≲ z ≲ 0.7; (vii) study the cosmic evolution of accretion and star formation using &gt;1 million spectra of LOFAR-selected radio sources; and (viii) trace structures using intergalactic/circumgalactic gas at z &gt; 2. Finally, we describe the WEAVE Operational Rehearsals using the WEAVE Simulator. © 2023 The Author(s).}},
  author       = {{Jin, Shoko and Bensby, Thomas and Feltzing, Sofia and Feuillet, Diane and Zurita, Cristina}},
  issn         = {{1365-2966}},
  keywords     = {{cosmology: observations; galaxies: general; Galaxy: general; instrumentation: spectrographs; stars: general; surveys; Cosmology; Ionization of gases; Kinematics; Phase space methods; Radio astronomy; Spectrographs; Supernovae; White dwarfs; Cosmology observations; Galaxies general; Instrumentation:spectrographs; Integral Field Unit; Spectroscopic surveys; Stars: general; Stellar populations; Survey design; Wide-field; Galaxies}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{2688--2730}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}},
  title        = {{The wide-field, multiplexed, spectroscopic facility WEAVE: Survey design, overview, and simulated implementation : Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad557}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/mnras/stad557}},
  volume       = {{530}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}