Roman Galactic Plane Survey Definition Committee Report

TL;DR

The Roman Galactic Plane Survey is a comprehensive, community-defined astrophysics project aiming to study the Galactic plane, bulge, star formation regions, and the nuclear stellar disk through wide-field, time-domain, and deep-field observations.

Contribution

This report introduces the detailed survey design and science goals of the first community-defined Galactic plane survey using the Roman Space Telescope.

Findings

Survey covers 700 sq deg of the Galactic plane.

Includes wide-field, time-domain, and deep-field components.

Provides detailed observational strategies and science objectives.

Abstract

The Roman Galactic Plane Survey (RGPS) is a 700-hour program approved for early definition as a community-designed General Astrophysics Survey. It was selected following a proposal call for science programs that would benefit from an early community-based definition (Sanderson et al 2024). The community was invited to submit white papers and science pitches with a deadline of May 20, 2024; the Roman Galactic Plane Survey Definition Committee (RGPS-DC) first met on Sep 11, 2024. Based on the input provided, the RGPS-DC recommends a survey consisting of three elements: (1) a wide-field science element (691 sq deg, 541 hrs) covering the Galactic plane, Galactic latitude |b|<2 deg and Galactic longitude l=+50.1 deg to -79 deg (281 deg), in four filters (F129, F159, F184, and F213) with higher latitude extensions for the bulge, the Serpens South/W40 star formation region, and Carina, (2) a time-domain science element (19 sq deg , 130 hrs) of six fields, including the full Nuclear Stellar Disk (NSD) and Central Molecular Zone (CMZ), with coverage in seven filters and repeat observations in one or more filters with cadences from 11 minutes to weeks, and (3) a deep-field/spectroscopic science element (4 sq deg , 30 hrs) consisting of fifteen Roman pointings (with a wide range of extinction, diffuse emission, stellar density and population) using longer exposure times in seven filters in addition to grism and prism observations. This document summarizes the science that can be done with this survey, the process of survey definition, and details on all of the program elements.