Wide-Field InfrarRed Survey Telescope-Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets WFIRST-AFTA 2015 Report

• Main Authors: Spergel, D, Gehrels, N, Baltay, C, Bennett, D, Breckinridge, J, Donahue, M, Dressler, A, Gaudi, B. S, Greene, T, Guyon, O, Hirata, C, Kalirai, J, Kasdin, N. J, Macintosh, B, Moos, W, Perlmutter, S, Postman, M, Rauscher, B, Rhodes, J, Wang, Y, Weinberg, D, Benford, D, Hudson, M, Jeong, W. -S, Mellier, Y, Traub, W, Yamada, T, Capak, P, Colbert, J, Masters, D, Penny, M, Savransky, D, Stern, D, Zimmerman, N, Barry, R, Bartusek, L, Carpenter, K, Cheng, E, Content, D, Dekens, F, Demers, R, Grady, K, Jackson, C, Kuan, G, Kruk, J, Melton, M, Nemati, B, Parvin, B, Poberezhskiy, I, Peddie, C, Ruffa, J, Wallace, J. K, Whipple, A, Wollack, E, Zhao, F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 12.03.2015
• Subjects: Physics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1503.03757

This report describes the 2014 study by the Science Definition Team (SDT) of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) mission. It is a space observatory that will address the most compelling scientific problems in dark energy, exoplanets and general astrophysics using a 2.4-m telescope with a wide-field infrared instrument and an optical coronagraph. The Astro2010 Decadal Survey recommended a Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope as its top priority for a new large space mission. As conceived by the decadal survey, WFIRST would carry out a dark energy science program, a microlensing program to determine the demographics of exoplanets, and a general observing program utilizing its ultra wide field. In October 2012, NASA chartered a Science Definition Team (SDT) to produce, in collaboration with the WFIRST Study Office at GSFC and the Program Office at JPL, a Design Reference Mission (DRM) for an implementation of WFIRST using one of the 2.4-m, Hubble-quality telescope assemblies recently made available to NASA. This DRM builds on the work of the earlier WFIRST SDT, reported by Green et al. (2012) and the previous WFIRST-2.4 DRM, reported by Spergel et. (2013). The 2.4-m primary mirror enables a mission with greater sensitivity and higher angular resolution than the 1.3-m and 1.1-m designs considered previously, increasing both the science return of the primary surveys and the capabilities of WFIRST as a Guest Observer facility. The addition of an on-axis coronagraphic instrument to the baseline design enables imaging and spectroscopic studies of planets around nearby stars.