The CONCERTO (CarbON CII line in post-rEionisation and ReionisaTiOn epoch) instrument is a low-resolution spectrometer based on the lumped element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKID) technology. It has large-field-of-view and operates in the range between 130 – 310 GHz. CONCERTO’s Principal Investigator is Guilaine Lagache from the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (France) and the Instrument Scientist is Alessandro Monfardini from Institut Néel (France).
The two main scientific goals of CONCERTO are a [CII]-intensity mapping survey and the observation of galaxy clusters. The line intensity mapping technique, applied to integrated emission from unresolved galaxies or gas clouds provides an observational window to measure the large-scale properties of structures in the Universe. Finally, the study of these structures will help scientist to have a better understanding about the physical processes that drive galaxy formation and evolution.
The instrument installation started in late March 2021. It sits now onboard APEX inside the Cassegrain cabin. After a period of technical verification, CONCERTO produced the first test images of the Cat’s Paw nebula and the Crab Nebula (see ESO announcement). The rawdata from the commissioning runs conducted between April and August 2021 are available through the ESO archive.
Fact Sheet
The instrument was installed onboard APEX in the Cassegrain cabin in April 2021
- Frequency range: 125 – 310 GHz
- Angular resolution: ~ 30 arcsec (integrated beam for the two arrays)
- Field of view: Round diameter ~ 18.6 arcmin
- Number of pixels: 2 x 2152
- Focal plane: LEKID detectors
- Cryostat: closed circle 3He-4He dilution, operating at 70 mK
- Spectral resolution: Can be settable up to a maximum of 1.5 GHz
- Spectrometer: Martin-Puplett interferometer
To know more…
You can visit the instrument web site at the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille.
You can also check the following publications about the instrument:
• Concerto Collaboration ; Ade, P. ; Aravena, M. ; Barria, E. ; Beelen, A. ; Benoit, A. ; Béthermin, M. ; Bounmy, J. ; Bourrion, O. ; Bres, G. ; De Breuck, C.Calvo, M. ; Cao, Y. ; Catalano, A. ; Désert, F. -X. ; Durán, C. A. ; Fasano, A. ; Fenouillet, T. ; Garcia, J. ; Garde, G. ; Goupy, J. ; Groppi, C. ; Hoarau, C. ; Lagache, G. ; Lambert, J. -C. ; Leggeri, J. -P. ; Levy-Bertrand, F. ; Macías-Pérez, J. ; Mani, H. ; Marpaud, J. ; Mauskopf, P. ; Monfardini, A. ; Pisano, G. ; Ponthieu, N. ; Prieur, L. ; Roni, S. ; Roudier, S. ; Tourres, D. ; Tucker, C., 2020, A Wide field-of-view low-resolution spectrometer at APEX: Instrument design and scientific forecast. 2020, Astronomy & Astrophysics Vol 642, A60.
• A. Monfardini; A. Beelen; A. Benoit; J. Bounmy; M. Calvo; A. Catalano; J. Goupy; G. Lagache; P. Ade; E. Barria; M. Bethermin; O. Bourrion; G. Bres; C. De Breuck; F.-X. Desert; G. Duvauchelle; A. Fasano; T. Fenouillet; J. Garcia; G. Garde; C. Hoarau; W. Hu; J.-C. Lambert; F. Levy-Bertrand; A. Lundgren; J. Macias-Perez; J. Marpaud; G. Pisano; N. Ponthieu; L. Prieur; S. Roni; S. Roudier; D. Tourres; C. Tucker; M. Cantzler; P. Caro; M. Diaz; C. Duran; F. Montenegro; M. Navarro; R. Olguin; F. Palma; R. Parra and J. Santana, CONCERTO at APEX: Installation and technical commissioning, arXiv:2106.14028, 2021, in press on Journal of Low Temperature Physics.
• A. Catalano; P. Ade; M. Aravena; E. Barria; A. Beelen; A. Benoit; M. Béthermin; J. Bounmy; O. Bourrion; G. Bres; C. De Breuck; M. Calvo; F.-X. Désert; C.A Duràn; G. Duvauchelle; L. Eraud; A. Fasano; T. Fenouillet; J. Garcia; G. Garde; J. Goupy; C. Groppi; C. Hoarau; W. Hu; G. Lagache; J.-C. Lambert; J.-P. Leggeri; F. Levy-Bertrand; J. Macìas-Pérez; H. Mani; J. Marpaud; M. Marton; P. Mauskopf; A. Monfardini; G. Pisano; N. Ponthieu; L. Prieur; G. Raffin; S. Roni; S. Roudier; D. Tourres; C. Tucker; L. Vivargent, CONCERTO at APEX: Installation and first phase of on-sky commissioning, arXiv:2110.14984, 2021, To appear in the Proceedings of the International Conference “mmUniverse@NIKA2”, Rome.
• A. Monfardini and G. Lagache, A magnum opus on the Chajnantor plateau , Nature Astronomy, Volume 5, 970 (2021)