Physical Society Colloquium
The Leighton Chajnantor Telescope
Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy
Caltech
The Leighton Chajnantor Telescope (LCT) will be a new facility for submillimeter
and millimeter astronomy and cosmology. It will explore a new frontier
in the transient astronomical sky at these wavelengths via unparalleled
spectral coverage and flexibility to focus on transient alerts. It will
enable new probes of the hot gas in galaxy clusters and the circumgalactic
medium and tomography in [CII] and CO from Cosmic Noon out to the Epoch
of Reionization. LCT will undertake new surveys to study the role of and
nature of dust in environments ranging from planetary and stellar nurseries
in our own galaxy to galaxies at cosmological distances. Critical to these
new capabilities will be a suite of instruments building on cutting-edge
technologies including multiband focal planes, single-chip spectrometers, and
quantum-limited amplifier arrays. LCT will redeploy the 10m Leighton Telescope
of the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory — the highest accuracy submm
telescope that currently exists — to Cerro Toco in Chile, with first
light planned for 2027. I will discuss the science planned for LCT, the
instrumentation that will enable it, and the current status of the project.
Friday, October 11th 2024, 15:30
Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, Keys Auditorium (room 112)
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