BigBOSS

BigBOSS is an international project to address fundamental questions in cosmology such as the evolution of the cosmic equation of state. It will allow studies  of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) in the early universe which provides a reference metric from which to measure fundamental cosmological parameters.

BigBOSS is designed for multiobject spectroscopy using 5000 individually-positionable fibres. It will be  installed on the Mayall 4m telescope at Kitt Peak near Tucson Arizona which will be modified by adding a new corrector and a fibre-positioner at the Prime Focus. The fibres will be routed via the prime-focus spider support down the telescope structure to 10 spectrographs located in a gravitationally-stable laboratory to eliminate the effect of flexure.

The Centre for Advanced Instrumentation of Durham University is working with the Lawrence-Berkely laboratory in California on the design of the fibre system, making use of CfAI's experience with production of the fibre system for the Subaru FMOS instrument and other state-of-the-art fibre systems.

For further infornation contact: Jeremy Allington-Smith (j.r.allington-smith@durham.ac.uk) or Graham Murray (g.j.murray@durham.ac.uk)

BigBOSS fibre system (J. Edelstein, Berkeley)