Giant Magellan Telescope Scientific Promise and Opportunities 2012 Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE DOCUMENT .................................................................................................. 1 1.2 OVERVIEW OF THE GIANT MAGELLAN TELESCOPE PROJECT ........................................................................... 1 1.3 STRUCTURE OF THE GMT SCIENCE CASE .................................................................................................... 3 1.4 DISCOVERY SPACE OPENED BY THE GMT ................................................................................................... 4 1.5 CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE GOALS ............................................................................................................. 6 1.6 SCIENTIFIC SYNERGIES ............................................................................................................................ 7 1.7 GMT INSTRUMENT CANDIDATES ............................................................................................................. 7 1.8 ADAPTIVE OPTICS SYSTEM ...................................................................................................................... 9 1.9 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 10 1.10 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS ........................................................................................................................ 11 2 FORMATION OF STARS AND PLANETARY SYSTEMS...................................................................... 12 2.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 12 2.1.1 Synergy with other instruments ............................................................................................ 13 2.2 ASTROPHYSICS OF YOUNG STARS ............................................................................................................ 13 2.3 THE INITIAL MASS FUNCTION AND THE POTENTIAL FOR PLANETS .................................................................. 16 2.4 HOW CIRCUMSTELLAR DISKS FORM PLANETS ........................................................................................... 17 2.5 VOLATILE DELIVERY AND PLANETARY SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE ...................................................................... 20 2.6 SOLAR SYSTEM CLUES TO PLANET FORMATION ......................................................................................... 22 2.7 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 23 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 24 3 THE PROPERTIES OF EXOPLANETARY SYSTEMS ........................................................................... 25 3.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 25 3.1.1 Current models of Planet Formation .................................................................................... 26 3.2 PROBING EXOPLANET ATMOSPHERES ...................................................................................................... 27 3.3 IMAGING EXOPLANETARY SYSTEMS ......................................................................................................... 28 3.3.1 Young Gas‐Giant Planets ...................................................................................................... 30 3.3.2 Spectroscopy in the Near‐Infrared ........................................................................................ 31 3.3.3 Thermal Imaging of Older and Smaller Planets .................................................................... 31 3.4 PROBING THE NEAREST HABITABLE PLANETS USING DOPPLER SPECTROSCOPY ................................................ 33 3.4.1 Earth‐analogues Orbiting Sun‐type Stars ............................................................................. 33 3.4.2 Habitable planets orbiting M‐dwarf Stars ............................................................................ 35 3.5 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 36 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 37 4 STELLAR POPULATIONS AND CHEMICAL EVOLUTION ................................................................... 38 4.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 38 4.2 STELLAR ARCHAEOLOGY ....................................................................................................................... 40 4.2.1 Characterizing the Most Metal‐poor Stars ........................................................................... 40 4.2.2 Age Dating the Oldest Stars .................................................................................................. 42 4.3 ABUNDANCES IN DWARF GALAXY STARS .................................................................................................. 43 4.4 PROBING THE ORIGIN OF THE MILKY WAY’S HALO .................................................................................... 45 4.5 GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN LOCAL GROUP GALAXIES AND BEYOND ................................................................... 46 4.6 STAR FORMATION IN THE MILKY WAY'S 5KPC RING ................................................................................... 47 4.7 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 49 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 49 5 GALAXY ASSEMBLY AND EVOLUTION .......................................................................................... 50 5.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 50 5.2 NEAR‐FIELD STUDIES OF GALAXY ASSEMBLY ............................................................................................. 50 5.3 THE GALAXY BUILDING EPOCH ............................................................................................................... 52 5.3.1 Star Formation, Mass Assembly and Chemical Evolution ..................................................... 52 5.3.2 Dynamical Masses ................................................................................................................ 53 5.3.3 Kinematics of Star Forming Galaxies .................................................................................... 55 5.3.4 The Mass‐Metallicity Relation .............................................................................................. 57 5.4 FEEDBACK AND THE GALAXY‐IGM CONNECTION ........................................................................................ 58 5.5 THE GALAXY‐BLACK HOLE CONNECTION .................................................................................................. 61 5.6 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 64 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 64 6 DARK MATTER, DARK ENERGY AND FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS ..................................................... 66 6.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 66 6.2 SYNERGY WITH LSST ........................................................................................................................... 68 6.3 CLUSTERS AND DARK MATTER ............................................................................................................... 70 6.4 DARK MATTER PROFILES IN DWARF GALAXIES .......................................................................................... 73 6.5 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 75 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 75 7 FIRST LIGHT AND REIONIZATION ................................................................................................. 77 7.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 77 7.2 THE FIRST DARK MATTER HALOS, STARS AND GALAXIES ............................................................................. 77 7.3 GALAXIES IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE .......................................................................................................... 79 7.4 DISCOVERING THE FIRST STARS