The CfA is collaborating with several other institutions in the construction of a 10 meter diameter millimeter- and submillimeter-wave telescope located at the National Science Foundation Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The so-called South Pole Telescope is designed to feed large arrays of detectors and provide a low-background, low-noise environment. The first project, scheduled for 2007 and 2008, is a survey of 4000 square degrees of the southern sky at 2 mm wavelength to an rms noise level of 10 microKelvin (0.8 mJy). Thousands of previously unknown clusters of galaxies will be detected through their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect signal; these data will be used to determine cosmological parameters, including the equation of state of the Dark Energy and its time evolution, with unprecedented accuracy. Possible future uses include submillimeter-wave arrays containing tens of thousands of detector elements.

The South Pole Submillimeter Telescope

Tony Stark