The Experiment for Cryogenic Large-aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM)

TL;DR

EXCLAIM is a balloon-borne cryogenic instrument designed to map large-scale galaxy and star formation history through intensity mapping of CO and [CII] emissions across redshifts 0 to 3.5, providing insights into star formation decline.

Contribution

It introduces a novel intensity mapping approach with a cryogenic balloon-borne instrument targeting CO and [CII] lines over a broad redshift range.

Findings

Design overview of the EXCLAIM instrument

Status update on instrument development

Potential to advance understanding of star formation history

Abstract

The EXperiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM) is a cryogenic balloon-borne instrument that will survey galaxy and star formation history over cosmological time scales. Rather than identifying individual objects, EXCLAIM will be a pathfinder to demonstrate an intensity mapping approach, which measures the cumulative redshifted line emission. EXCLAIM will operate at 420-540 GHz with a spectral resolution R=512 to measure the integrated CO and [CII] in redshift windows spanning 0 < z < 3.5. CO and [CII] line emissions are key tracers of the gas phases in the interstellar medium involved in star-formation processes. EXCLAIM will shed light on questions such as why the star formation rate declines at z < 2, despite continued clustering of the dark matter. The instrument will employ an array of six superconducting integrated grating-analog spectrometers (micro-spec) coupled to microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs). Here we present an overview of the EXCLAIM instrument design and status.