1. Galaxy Evolution and Supernovae from a Deep-Wide WFC3 Survey
WFC3 IR observations of 5 well-studied reference fields at high galactic latitude:
The GOODS fields
Encompass the deepest fields from HST, Spitzer, Chandra, the VLA, and soon Herschel
The Extended Groth Strip
A small portion of the COSMOS field
The UKIRT Ultradeep Survey Field
Optimized for studies of galaxy evolution at z~2-10
Optimized for supernova cosmology
Theories crumble, but good observations never fade.— Harlow Shapley

2. Merger of two similar proposals
Sandy Faber’s team proposed a ‘wedding cake’ strategy with 2-orbit depth in the three non-GOODS fields, and 50% of GOODS to 15-orbit depth.
Our team proposed to cover both GOODS fields to intermediate depth and to measure supernovae spectra and light curves. We also proposed UV observations for GOODS-N.
The TAC liked the wedding cake, the supernova followup and the UV observations.
Teams were merged and told to try to preserve these features.

3. 90 Co-investigators

4. Supernova Cosmology
Refine the only constraints we have on the time variation of w, on a path to more than doubling the strength of this crucial test of a cosmological constant by the end of HST’s life.

5. Supernova Cosmology
Obtain a direct, explosion-model-independent measure of the evolution of Type Ia supernovae as distance indicators at z > 1.5, independent of dark energy.

6. Supernova Cosmology
Provide the first measurement of the SN Ia rate at z>1.5 to distinguish between prompt and delayed SN Ia production and their corresponding progenitor models.

7. Supernova Cosmology
Refine the only constraints we have on the time variation of w, on a path to more than doubling the strength of this crucial test of a cosmological constant by the end of HST’s life.

8. Supernova Cosmology

9. Cosmic Dawn
Greatly improve the estimates of the evolution of stellar mass, dust and metallicity at z = 4-8 by combining WFC3 data with very deep Spitzer observations.

10. Cosmic Dawn
Improve by ~10x the constraints on the bright end of the luminosity function at z~7 and 8, and make z~6 measurements robust using proper 2-color Lyman break selection.

11. Cosmic Dawn
Measure fluctuations in the near-IR background light, at sensitivities sufficiently faint and angular scales sufficiently large to constrain re-ionization models.
Extragalatic background:
Integrated galaxy counts below previous detection limits form a lower EBL bound
Gamma-Ray bursts (e.g Aharonian et al. 2005) form upper bound
Direct detections are difficult due to the EBL’s faint intensity
Detections currently conflict
Bock et al. 2006

12. WFC3 Fluctuation Measurements
The large angle (θ ~ 1/30 °) peak (green curve) is a linear-theory prediction of clustering of reionization sources.
Small scale power is sensitive to the slope and normalization of the luminosity function.
large area surveys with WFC3 can (barely) reach large angle peak
Reionization Simulation from Trac and Cen 2007
Large θ   Small θ 12

13. Cosmic high-noon
Test models for the co-evolution of black holes and bulges via the most detailed census of interacting pairs, mergers, AGN, and bulges, aided by the most complete and unbiased census of AGN from Herschel, improved Chandra observations, and optical variability.

14. Cosmic high-noon
Detect individual galaxy subclumps and measure their stellar mass, constraining the timescale for their dynamical-friction migration to the center leading to bulge formation.
Reveal the presence of fully formed passively evolving bulges out to z > 3, measure the bulge/disk ratio, and provide constraints on the relative ages of the bulge and disk populations.
Measure the rest-frame optical morphologies of passive galaxies up to z~2 and beyond, and combine with ACS data to quantify UV-optical color (age) gradients.

15. Cosmic variance

16. Observing strategy Wide fields: GOODS Deep: UV (GOODS-N):
~750 sq. arcmin
2/3 orbits J (debating F125W vs. F110W)
4/3 orbits H (F160W)
Half the GOODS area covered this way
GOODS Deep:
~130 sq. arcmin
12 orbit depth in F105W+F125W+F160W
At least 12 orbits new ACS F814W
UV (GOODS-N):
~70 sq. arcmin
Primary science is Lyman-escape fractions at z~2.5
3:1 ratio in F275W:F336W; leaning toward binning 2x2

17. Technical Issues
We need to reprocess and stack all the existing ACS data on these fields (for high-z galaxies):
With better geometric distortion corrections and astrometry than the original GOODS stacks
With CTE corrections (Anderson algorithm?)
Need alignment to WFC3 to within 0.1 pixel
Correcting crosstalk for the EBL fluctuations project
We are looking closely at image subtraction and galaxy morphology versus number & size of dithers
We need to worry about scattered earthshine for the CVZ orbits
Persistence, blobs, etc. will be a challenge for the EBL fluctuations measurement.