Introducing NIKA2Sky

NIKA2Sky is funded by the ANR (French national agency for research) for the period 2016-2019, and organized in four tasks that share the same instrument, the same analysis pipeline, and are developed within the same guaranteed time program. Each task focuses on using NIKA2 data to achieve ambitious scientific objectives, or to improve the quality of NIKA2 data.

The first task aims at high-resolution observations of high-redshift clusters of galaxies via the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect for which the NIKA2 camera is optimal as it operates in a dual band mode. The main goal is an in-depth study of a sample of 50 tSZ-selected clusters from previous arcmin-resolution catalogues.

In the second task, our goal is to map the dusty star formation at high redshift. We will use NIKA2 to observe a 0.2 square degree cosmological field at the confusion limit, enabling the detection of hundreds of dust-obscured optically-faint galaxies during their major episodes of formation in the early universe.

The third task focuses on the polarization capabilities of NIKA2 to map magnetic fields in star-forming regions. The scientific objective is to use NIKA2 observations of the polarized dust continuum emission at 1.2 mm to clarify the role played by magnetic fields in regulating the fragmentation/evolution of dense filaments and in channeling filament material into prestellar cores

The fourth task supports the first three and it is dedicated to the optimization of the NIKA2 camera performance.

Kickoff meeting : May 19th and 20th at LPSC, click