The Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey: HerMES

Oliver, S. J. and Bock, J. and Altieri, B. and Amblard, A. and Arumugam, V. and Aussel, H. and Babbedge, T. and Beelen, A. and Béthermin, M. and Blain, A. and Boselli, A. and Bridge, C. and Brisbin, D. and Buat, V. and Burgarella, D. and Castro-Rodríguez, N. and Cava, A. and Chanial, P. and Cirasuolo, M. and Clements, D. L. and Conley, A. and Conversi, L. and Cooray, A. and Dowell, C. D. and Dubois, E. N. and Dwek, E. and Dye, S. and Eales, S. and Elbaz, D. and Farrah, D. and Feltre, A. and Ferrero, P. and Fiolet, N. and Fox, M. and Franceschini, A. and Gear, W. and Giovannoli, E. and Glenn, J. and Gong, Y. and González Solares, E. A. and Griffin, M. and Halpern, M. and Harwit, M. and Hatziminaoglou, E. and Heinis, S. and Hurley, P. and Hwang, H. S. and Hyde, A. and Ibar, E. and Ilbert, O. and Isaak, K. and Ivison, R. J. and Lagache, G. and Le Floc'h, E. and Levenson, L. and Faro, B. Lo and Lu, N. and Madden, S. and Maffei, B. and Magdis, G. and Mainetti, G. and Marchetti, L. and Marsden, G. and Marshall, J. and Mortier, A. M. J. and Nguyen, H. T. and O'Halloran, B. and Omont, A. and Page, M. J. and Panuzzo, P. and Papageorgiou, A. and Patel, H. and Pearson, C. P. and Pérez-Fournon, I. and Pohlen, M. and Rawlings, J. I. and Raymond, G. and Rigopoulou, D. and Riguccini, L. and Rizzo, D. and Rodighiero, G. and Roseboom, I. G. and Rowan-Robinson, M. and Sánchez Portal, M. and Schulz, B. and Scott, Douglas and Seymour, N. and Shupe, D. L. and Smith, A. J. and Stevens, J. A. and Symeonidis, M. and Trichas, M. and Tugwell, K. E. and Vaccari, M. and Valtchanov, I. and Vieira, J. D. and Viero, M. and Vigroux, L. and Wang, L. and Ward, R. and Wardlow, J. and Wright, G. and Xu, C. K. and Zemcov, M. (2012) The Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey: HerMES. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 424 (3). pp. 1614-1635. ISSN 0035-8711

Other (pdf)
1203.2562
Download (11MB)

Abstract

The Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) is a legacy programme designed to map a set of nested fields totalling ˜380 deg2. Fields range in size from 0.01 to ˜20 deg2, using the Herschel-Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) (at 250, 350 and 500 μm) and the Herschel-Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) (at 100 and 160 μm), with an additional wider component of 270 deg2 with SPIRE alone. These bands cover the peak of the redshifted thermal spectral energy distribution from interstellar dust and thus capture the reprocessed optical and ultraviolet radiation from star formation that has been absorbed by dust, and are critical for forming a complete multiwavelength understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. The survey will detect of the order of 100 000 galaxies at 5σ in some of the best-studied fields in the sky. Additionally, HerMES is closely coordinated with the PACS Evolutionary Probe survey. Making maximum use of the full spectrum of ancillary data, from radio to X-ray wavelengths, it is designed to facilitate redshift determination, rapidly identify unusual objects and understand the relationships between thermal emission from dust and other processes. Scientific questions HerMES will be used to answer include the total infrared emission of galaxies, the evolution of the luminosity function, the clustering properties of dusty galaxies and the properties of populations of galaxies which lie below the confusion limit through lensing and statistical techniques. This paper defines the survey observations and data products, outlines the primary scientific goals of the HerMES team, and reviews some of the early results. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.