Ultra wide‐field infrared astronomy in Antarctica

Abstract

The science enabled by the deep and high‐cadence survey that will be performed by the Vera Rubin Observatory has led to an increase of survey and follow‐up capabilities around the world. The infrared, has however, not match this growth due to the challenges caused by the atmospheric and the cost of large detector arrays. In this paper, we present solutions to resolve these challenges and a path toward an Antarctic observatory capable matching the volumetric speed of the Vera Rubin Observatory survey in the infrared k‐band. We will detail the current state of infrared survey telescopes, demonstrate the benefits of Antarctic high‐plateau for such observations, and show some of the development made in detector technologies to make large detector arrays a reality for such application.