Abstract
Large galaxy surveys, either spectroscopic or photometric, are changing the landscape of Astronomy, since they are the best strategy to understand one of the most profound mysteries of contemporary cosmology: the nature of dark energy, the dominant component of the Universe, responsible for the acceleration of its expansion. From a cosmological perspective, galaxy redshift surveys are necessary to build 3-D maps of the galaxy distribution, which can then be used to estimate cosmological parameters through statistical studies of features imprinted in this distribution. The nature of dark energy is actually only one of the many scientific challenges that may be pursued with large surveys. In fact, as exemplified by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), which is regardedas the most productive project of all time in Astronomy, galaxy redshift or photometric surveys are powerful tools to study from asteroids in the Solar System to our own Galaxy, from galaxy evolution to the large-scale structures of the Universe. Indeed, large galaxy surveys are the most efficient way (if not the only one) to approach properly some of the big challenges of contemporary astronomy. At present, we are currently participating in the design of two new surveys: the Javalambre Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey (J-PAS) and the Prime Focus Spectrograph for the Subaru Measurement of Images and Redshifts survey (PFS/SuMIRe). Their potential is enormous from both the scientific and technological point of view. We already have graduate students and post-docs developing projects which have these surveys in mind. We also have strong participation in the development of instruments for these surveys: the panoramic CCD camera of J-PAS and the optical fiber sub-system for PFS/SuMIRe. The objective of this Thematic Project is twofold: i) to consolidate our scientific work with galaxy surveys, and ii) to obtain the funding in order to build the optical fiber sub-system of the PFS/SuMIReinstrument. (AU)
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