Parker Fagrelius, UC Berkeley

Title: "The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI): Creating a 3D Map of the Universe" (Video)

Abstract:  The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will be installed on the Mayall 4-m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in 2018. Using 5,000 robotic fiber positioners and ten 3-arm spectrographs, DESI will measure the spectra of up to 40 million galaxies and quasars enabling us to create a 3D map of the Universe out to redshift 3.5. This map of the Large Scale Structure (LSS) of the Universe will enable us to measure Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO), a standard ruler that emerges from primordial fluctuations in the Early Universe. Using BAO and Redshift Space Distortions (RSD), the DESI project will constrain our knowledge of the time evolution of Dark Energy, which is assumed to make up more that 70% of the energy density in the current universe. This talk will review the science goals and instrument design for the DESI project, highlighting recent demonstrations of its capabilities.